Taking out a mortgage whilst on maternity leave...

[stillinpjs]

Will they take my normal income into consideration or will it be my mat pay they look at? (i'm not thinking of going back to work till sept but wanting to buy sooner) thanks.

I've seen lots of people saying that they don't take any into consideration in case you don't come back. Don't know if that's standard though

When I was buying last year on mat leave they told me that if I was returning to work within 3 months of applying for the mortgage then they would take my salary into account. I had to provide a letter/contract from my employer as proof. Some lenders may have different rules though.
I'd recommend London and Country for free mortgage advice, used them a few times and they're really good!

We were in this position - as others have said, some will consider your normal salary provided you're going back to work within a certain time frame (we used Nationwide - I had to provide a letter from my HR company) but others wont - even with the letter. If I remember correctly, it was all of the banks in the Santander group that refused to base it on my normal salary.

In 2004 the Financial Ombudsman (section 37/3) said it is discriminatory to refuse a mortgage because a woman is pregnant.

However I've just had a final position letter (you need this before the Ombudsman will help) from First Direct stating that it was their policy to discriminate against pregnant women as they might not return to work. They require an letter from the employer stating an agreed return to work date that is no more than 3 months from the start of the mortgage not practical if the due date is a couple of months away.

They kindly waived this policy for us and instead refused us the mortgage because in the 2 month half pay period at the end of the maternity leave we'd no longer meet the increased affordability criteria for a couple with children. (I don't know how much they thought we were planning to spend on childcare during maternity leave). They also refused to consider our savings, that were plenty to cover the 2 months drop in salary (we could have paid the first year's payments upfront). We had to buy ourselves out of a fixed term mortgage with First Direct and use a different provider.

If a bank / building society does something like this to you then please complain and ask for a written letter stating their final position - the Ombudsman took over a month to tell us they'd not look at our case without one. First Direct obviously thinks pregnant women (and those on maternity leave) are an easy target who will be too busy to complain.