Getting a mortgage when on maternity leave

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Re-mortgaging at the moment as we are moving house.

How difficult is it to re-mortgage when you are on maternity leave?

Our broker is recommending a 2 year fixed rate as that offers the best rates at the moment. However, we are considering trying for another baby, and based on when we'd start TTC, if we managed to conceive, it would be very likely that I would be on maternity leave around the time of the 2 year fixed rate would need renewing.

My employer only gives above SMP for the first couple of months, so my income may only be SMP when we are renewing our mortgage. We'd probably need to use credit (overdraft, credit cards) to manage on mat leave, as I am the main earner, so there would be a big drop in income. We could then work on paying that off when I am back at work.

I think it's foolish to chose to get a mortgage that will need renewing when our finances are at their worst if we have another baby.

I'd appreciate people's thoughts.

Just in case anyone suggests this - DP can't take paternity leave as an alternative to my maternity leave, as he is self-employed.

We moved on maternity leave with a new mortgage. All I had to do was provide evidence of my return to work salary and date and they were able to sort the new mortgage based on that. As a side note though is there any way for you to get a 5 year fixed? With rates likely to rise it is best to get it fixed for as long as possible.

Irrespective of maternity leave, do you think a 2 year fix is the best option? Rates are going up.

If you can't remortgage after the 2 years you'll have to go onto svr which would be comparatively high and negate any savings you may make by taking the lower rate 2 year fix.

The reason we are not going for a long term fix now is because we are planning to do an extension. We're putting some money aside for the extension. The broker thinks we should fix for 2 years as after 2 years, if we've had to take a personal loan for the extension if we haven't budgeted enough, or indeed if we have money left over, we can consolidate it all at the 2 year point.

As other people have said you really should go for a 5 year fixed if you can. You can extend within that time frame and when your mortgage is up for renewal, the property will be bigger and therefore you will have increased the value overall. This will help to secure a more favourable mortgage when it's time for renewal. 2 years is very limiting and does not all time for all your life plans.

I think you should get the 2 yr fixed deal. When we extended, we'd added so much value to the house, plus we'd paid down the mortgage during those 2 years that it meant we fell into the lowest LTV bracket. If you're in a similar position, any hike in interest rates in the next 2 years are likely to be cancelled out by having a lower LTV, plus you have the flexibility of managing your finances at the end of the 2 yrs.

Having said that we did have to shop around when I was on maternity leave - even though I was going back to work in 2 months on exactly the same terms, a few lenders would only take my SMP into account (I think it was Santander and Barclays off the top of my head).

But, I wouldn't make a decision based on TTC. There are so many variables and very difficult to predict timescales.

As others have said, 2yr fix right now isn't a smart move.
But to answer your question, our 3yr fix was due for renewal when DD was a couple of months old. We changed providers (to Coop) and my employers had to write to them confirming that my job and salary was still available to me after maternity leave. All was very straightforward but our LTV was under 50% and We didn't stretch too far in the first place so had lots of wiggle room in terms of multiples

Santander just required a letter from my employer stating I would be returning full time on x salary, and proof of my earnings prior to mat leave. They also required us to sign a document stating we'd not be paying childcare as that would have impacted on affordability.