House purchase & undeclared pregnancy

[RecklessRat]

When we applied for new mortgage I was very newly pregnant. As we didn't know if the pregnancy would stick, we didn't declare it to our lender.

Mortgage application approved with no issues. However, due to the length of time the purchase is taking (chain issues) its looking likely I'm going to be heavily pregnant when the time comes to sign the legal documents at the completion meeting with our solicitor.

The mortgage offer is based on my salary as I'm the primary earner; I'm going back to work after 6 months and DH is giving up his job to be the primary carer. We're going to be able to cover our outgoings without difficulty and we took the view (perhaps wrongly!) that as I was going back to work and we had savings to cover any possible shortfalls that there were no material changes to our situation.

Will our solicitor be obliged to inform our lender of the pregnancy? Do we actually have to have a completion meeting or can we sign the documents by post?

Obviously I'm concerned that we're going to be back to square one at the last minute, have to submit a new mortgage application, lose the house and not be able to move before the baby arrives.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

Slightly different situation, but we didn't tell the mortgage lender that I was taking any maternity leave (I've had 2 years since we bought this house), and equally we haven't told them we are now forking out for 2 full time nursery places.

How will the solicitor know the mortgage company don't already know? Or that you are the main earner?

next I don't know how she won't know that they don't know!

Sorry, what a ridiculous sentence..... But its a good point you make & I'd like to know the answer to it

Just say you're not taking maternity leave if anyone asks.

You don't have to meet with the solicitor. You could just ask for the documents to be sent to you and have them witnessed by someone else.

I don't think you need to tell them. Even if you're getting life insurance to cover your mortgage "normal pregnancy is not a medical condition"

I did all my paperwork by post.

I was actually put on a four day week before the signing and was planning to quit and go freelance but didn't think that was any of the lenders' business. We could cover the mortgage payments easily but the lender refused to put DH on the mortgage because he'd recently changed job. I got quite angry at it all as we were going to be far better off each month than renting and neither of us had ever missed a payment on a previous property or when renting.

It's a game to be played and as long as you are aware of what you're signing I'm all for non-disclosure (I never lied when asked outright about anything).

Your pregnancy is your private business.
If you are sure you can cover the costs of the mortgage when you are on leave and you are then returning to your job which pays as you declared, I can really not see a legal issue here.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer/solicitor

Thanks all for your responses, really helpful.

If we dont have to have a meeting, sounds like might be best to just deal with the paperwork by post.

Waiting agree it's a game! Like you I cant lie if I'm asked outright.

I have never met any solicitor face to face in several house purchases/sales.

Please don't stress about it :)

I was in exactly the same position, mortgage arranged in my name as I was/am primary earner and DH wasn't working and was to become a SAHD after DD's birth. I never told anyone / wasn't asked. We signed the papers in the solicitor's office but had the option of doing it by post. Even if you went to solicitor's and he/she saw you were pg, it's unlikely they'd ask any questions as they were not involved in the mortgage application / decision making so it's none of their business....

I asked that question to my mortgage broker at the time who said that once the baby was born it would be a dependant and have to be on the forms but until the day of birth it was none of the mortgage companies business as legally not a separate person yet.

Hope that helps.

Thanks all for responses.

english good to hear from someone else in the same boat and that it all went smoothly, thanks.

iburnt that's useful info, thanks. Fingers crossed no more problems in the chain to slow us down even more.....

Wouldn't it be discrimination to change an offer just because you were pg?

Fwiw when we last moved, 150 miles, our mortgage was based on my salary I our previous town, because we were moving with DHs job. There was no chance I would ever earn the same money in our new town, but they look at the staus quo, not what might be.

The lady who helped me get a mortgage as a single parent knew I was pg & that I had no intention of working full time but filled in the paperwork for me as though I was looking to work full time & never mentioned the pregnancy. Made all the payments so no harm done!!!