buying a house jointly - but not being able to pass the bank's credit checks jointly - has this happened to you?

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I'm looking to buy a property with my partner. I outearn dp at the moment mainly because he has a lot more assets than me (he has his own business plus a property that he owned with his exw from his marriage 20 yrs ago). On paper he is actually worth a lot more than I am but on the bank's calculations, I am more credit worthy to them.

It appears as though I will have to apply for the mortgage on my own because when they look at joint mortgages, they look at affordability based on current earnings of each person and on dp's salary on his own, he won't be able to afford the mortgage. He will however be contributing 50%.

If I apply for the mortgage on my own, then I have to buy the house on my own too (i.e. it will all be in my name).

If we were married, I don't think this would be an issue because the asset would essentially fall into a joint estate but we're not married and of course, me buying the property on my own leaves dp with not many rights.

Has this happened to anyone? I've left a message for a solicitor to come back to me today about what our options are but I'm just wondering if this has happened in real life to someone else.

What do you mean, affordability based on the current earnings of each person?

Because I work part time, my take home pay is 1/3rd of DH's salary. We still have a joint mortgage though, and had no problem getting a good multiple. Unless your partner has a bad credit rating (CCJs and missed payments, for example) it shouldn't make any difference.

that's really interesting LBO as they are telling me that dp's salary is too low compared to mine for the size of the mortgage

he is earning a lot less than me at the moment, probably a tenth of my earnings

but they will let me take the mortgage out on my own. His credit rating is ok, no CCJs, it's not brilliant but it's ok (mine is better but that's not unusual), they are saying it's because his salary is too low

I wonder if I should try another bank

I'd go through a broker if I were you. We have a similar situation (I earn more than DH, who is essentially a SAHD, but he has a v. large investment portfolio from a family inheritance). We have a joint mortgage but it's all done on my salary. Our broker (who we've used several times) is brilliant - if you want a recommendation drop me a PM.

Banks sometimes apply different formulae for people who are self employed.
So it make me that he needs a much larger multiplier for the same amount of money.

Call the bank and ask them why. They should tell you. Or at least tell your dp why.

So it may be ...

We've just bought a house only in my husband's name as my earnings are too low. We went through a mortgage broker and every time we did a joint application the value we could get plummeted. We've managed to get a £200,000 mortgage just on my husband's wage but if I was added it went down to £148,000. Its strange as I have the better credit score but just earn a pittance 😂

that is exactly it @heeblejeeble, that's exactly what's happening!

@Mintjulia I've spoken to the bank and they say when they assess joint applications, they don't take combined earnings and apply a multiple (like they used to), they look at the affordability for each person and this mortgage is unaffordable for dp (and the self employed element does not help as they apply an even lower ranking to it)

thanks @JoanLewis, I'll send you a dm!

Yes, we did it and then added my name to the deeds at a later date.

Our house and mortgage is in my name only because DP is self-employed and it was just a whole lot easier that way.