Mortgage & maternity leave

[Danini]

I have applied for a sole mortgage since my DH is not eligible due to him having being self-employed for less than a year. Luckily, despite Corona virus I feel confident I will keep my job. We will have more than enough (around double amount!) to cover the monthly payments. However, I am 8 weeks pregnant and I do know that if maternity leave was to be taken into account I would not be able to get the full amount for the mortgage and would lose the house. I'm keen to get the house purchase sorted as soon as possible, but there might be delays due to Corona virus. What's the risk of not being 100% honest in your mortgage application? I'm sure I won't be the first one...?

It’s mortgage fraud, but you’re correct that you wouldn’t be the first to do it.

Apart from fraud, another risk is that for some reason the purchase drags out much longer than expected and as a result the lender carries out a pre-exchange confirmation of earnings and employment, by which point you could be on maternity leave, unable to provide this, and unable to continue. It happened to a colleague of mine who had reduced her hours to part time from X date and applied for a mortgage based on her full time hours and pay, expecting it would all be done and dusted before her pay went down. It wasn’t.

Indeed, with Coronavirus delaying everything, it’s entirely possible that even if you applied for a mortgage and had an offer on a house accepted now, your offer would expire (they are generally valid for six months) before you reached exchange and you’d have to reapply, and wouldn’t qualify.

You should tell lender but won't affect offer. You may need to sign something to say that you plan on returning to work after on same hours

We moved house when I was pregnant. Mortgage advisor said the lenders didn't factor in children that didn't yet exist into their affordability assessment so it was our responsibility to ensure we would be able to afford it.

Make sure you've accounted for still being able to afford the payments if you go back to work less than you currently work and also need to pay hundreds of pounds a month for childcare.

I don't think you need to lie, I think they are discriminating against you if they offer you less money because you are pregnant...I'm applying for a mortgage too at the moment and I'm on Maty leave. Check with a mortgage advisor maybe. I was also told yesterday that during this time with the coronovirus no exchanges will take place. I think things will go through, but at a slower pace.

My mortgage advisor said they don't take into account unborn babies.

I got a mortgage when I was receiving SMP but it was based on my full time salary. My work had to confirm that they were expecting me to return on £Xpa. Not all mortgage companies would accept that. Mine only accepted it because I had a certain amount in savings which would cover the full mortgage payment for the rest of my mat leave. If I didn't have the savings then I my mortgage advisor had found another mortgage company which would take into account my full time salary and £0 savings