Very stressed about mortgage application. Can someone talk me down.

[Fuckadoodledoooo]

Applying in Dh name only as I don't work at mo as baby is 6 months (and when I did it was min wage and zero hour contracts, all eaten up by childcare anyway), so it was easier to take me out of the equation.

We want to buy a house for £172,500. Dh parents have basically given him his inheritance early as a deposit of £26,000.

Dh earns 31k. We have no debts at all, our credit card was paid off in January with some savings.

Only debt is his student loan which is 27k.

Our bills come to £560 per month, 3 children (one is now 18).

Only other income is £500 a month universal credit, most of which is housing element as we are renting so we didn't even take that into account as we wouldn't be getting it if we bought - although obviously they (habito) have seen it on bank statement so asked.

Going through Habito, we were turned down by everyone bar TSB because of his student debt.

We are now just waiting in Limbo to see if they will actually give us the mortgage for 147k. I'm terrified it won't happen. We've been in shitty rented houses for so long. We moved 120 miles last year to a cheaper part of the country so we could maybe buy.

Dh has a really secure job that he's been in for 8 years - it's quite a high up position but the pay is a joke as it's for a local authority. He's been working remotely for two years, so he doesn't need to
Change job even though we are 120 miles away. He only has to go in twice a month for meetings.

I'm so, so sick of renting. We've been given notice three times over the years as landlords have wanted to sell, and have lived in some awful places. Current rental we are constantly scrubbing black mould from the walls.

The mortgage he was offered would be £300 cheaper than our rent.

I know that no one has a crystal ball. I'm just clutching at straws trying to get some reassurance!

OP could you get an evening/weekend job for a few hours a week so your DH can do childcare?

A) you wouldn't be classed as a dependent if you had an income
B) it doesn't have to be a big income to make a difference to what you might get on a mortgage

It doesn't have to be forever, six months to show regular income on the application and get yourselves into a house. So a year tops.

I hope it all works out for you.

I was told that if I were to earn £6000 per year we could borrow much more. We didn't need to borrow more but that was an option.

@AOwlAOwlAOwl

OP could you get an evening/weekend job for a few hours a week so your DH can do childcare?

A) you wouldn't be classed as a dependent if you had an income
B) it doesn't have to be a big income to make a difference to what you might get on a mortgage

It doesn't have to be forever, six months to show regular income on the application and get yourselves into a house. So a year tops.

I hope it all works out for you.

I was going to suggest this too.

Yea that's an idea. But it would mean Dh couldn't work overtime eves/weekends if he was looking after the baby. But if they won't take OT into account then it would be doable.

For what it's worth I don't know how easy it would be. We've moved to an area of very high unemployment. Ds has been applying for evening and weekend (and weekdays when he's not in college) jobs since we moved here with no luck.

I will speak to Dh and weigh it up though.

As a carer though there is generally always work available? You could work weekends, it depends on your priority here but six months of that would enable you to borrow what you wished to borrow. Yes you’d lose benefits. But you need to decide your priorities.

@Bluntness100

As a carer though there is generally always work available? You could work weekends, it depends on your priority here but six months of that would enable you to borrow what you wished to borrow. Yes you’d lose benefits. But you need to decide your priorities.

Yes I could do weekend day shifts if needed. That's a possibility.

@VikingsandDragons

* Or wait until I get a job - (will probably go back to care work when the baby is nearing one, will need to work nights again to save on childcare, it's a fucking killer to be honest I did it from when my now 7 year old was one).*

Thing is you don't need to do it forever, if you genuinely think you'll be fine covering the mortgage on just your husband's income, you need to do the job long enough to be out of probation and have 3 months wage slips to show the provider.

Please do however bear in mind that buying the house is only the start. I completely underestimated the amount of maintenance it would need. I would be budgeting for an absolute minimum of setting aside £8k a year to stay on top of things breaking, needing replacing. We're only in March and so far we've replaced the washer, had someone out to mend a drain, and now we've had a failure in the roof that's going to cost £6.5k to put right and we need to do this urgently as right now water comes into the house when it rains, and this is on a standard construction 1960s bungalow. We've easily spent £50k in the 10 years we've been here just keeping our house in decent condition.

I’ve owned properties for the last 25 years and never spent that much in a single year, even when I replaced the kitchen and bathroom, though that was a long time ago. I think you’ve had bad luck. I really don’t think 8k a year is a typical amount to need to spend to maintain a property at all.

@WetWeekends completely agree, that post is entirely mental. I've only owned for about 5 years admittedly but literally the only thing I've had to purchase that wasn't decorative in that time was a new bit of fencing that cost about £500. Literally everything else spent on our houses since then has been decorative and not "necessary", oh wait just remembered one boiler call out at £60!

£8000 a year on maintenance...mumsnet at its best.

In 2017 I went direct to HSBC, mortgage was in my name only so we could borrow more (better multiples for single person than a couple). However my husband is on the deeds. HSBC were fine with it, husband just had to sign some paperwork.
Downside to HSBC is they’re quite cautious on lending.
Good luck OP!

I would go with a free mortgage broker. I used london and country recommended by mn and I was happy.

Also I would look at both shared ownership schemes and help to buy.

Also if you went back to work for 3 months for the mortgage application you can still quit after you have bought if you hate it.

Sorry if this has been mentioned upthread but have you considered shared ownership? You would probably be eligible for your local housing authority programme with the income you describe. Typically all newbuilds and you get offered one rather than shopping around (you can say no to one's you don't want).

We are in 3bed detached shared ownership (40% mortgage, 60%rent), and our mortgage + rent is approx 650 per month. Benefit of shared ownership put into focus for me when smaller 3 bed semi detached next door was put up to rent for 1000 a month!

I won't pretend all is perfect with shared ownership but worth considering if it might be a good option for you.

@milkjetmum I agree. The shared ownership houses in my area are on brand new housing developments and really nice.

Tbh reading through your circumstances. It would probably be more beneficial to see a mortgage broker.
Tbh some lenders will take the UC into consideration.
I’m assuming you receive SMP?
If you could evidence you are receiving SMP and have a job to go back to once maternity comes to an end. Can’t see no reason why you couldn’t be added to the mortgage app.

If those options aren’t viable. Maybe look to see if you can get that deposit amount higher.

1. It will mean you needing to borrow less. Therefore be within the Max affordability
2. A lower loan to value should open up more products with better rates. For example borrowing 75% of the purchase price should offer a better rate than if you borrowed 85%

Failing all that, is it out of the possibility to move somewhere cheaper?
You mention partner working for LA? And you’re in care work? Both of which should be fairly easy to move work into, if living elsewhere.