Mortgage whilst pregnant/on maternity leave

[Youreatragedystartingtohappen]

Morning all,

We've been house hunting for a few months now and I've found out I'm pregnant. In terms of a mortgage can you get a new one when you're pregnant or on maternity leave? It has added a new dimension and stress to a process that has already proven much more challenging than I could have dreamt! Thanks

There are a few things lenders are likely to care about: while you're on maternity leave, they want to know how the mortgage will be paid while your income is lower than usual; they want to know what your income will be like after maternity leave (ie whether you're going back part time); and most of all, they will take your childcare costs into account, if you'll have any. Basically, they ask you to tell them if you know if any upcoming changes to your finances. So you don't technically need to tell them you're pregnant in and of itself, but if it's going to impact your finances then they will expect you to tell then about that.

I'm in the process of (hopefully) moving house, which I started while still on maternity leave. They weren't bothered about that, but I have accepted help from my dad to pay my childcare costs and frankly there's no way on god's green earth that they would have lent me even my current mortgage, let alone more, if I had that expense on top of the rest. They did literally ring me a couple of days ago to double check I don't have childcare costs, so they take that bit seriously.

So, it's not necessarily a huge issue but it does depend rather on your wider financial situation. The tighter things are without taking your pregnancy into account, the more it's likely to be tricky, but if you have a reasonable cushion in terms of savings/income, it's less likely to be an issue

And congratulations!

I did there was no issues.

As pp said, we got asked about child care when i would be going back and if my hours would change but we had no problems.

This is why we relied on one income only for mortgage purposes and used my income to save for a bigger deposit - at the time I had no idea if I’d want to go back to work and/or when so it seemed the safest option. Mind you 100% mortgages were the norm then!

Yes i did, no issues just had to get a letter from my employer confirming my salary and that i was coming back after maternity leave

Does anyone know how remortgaging whilst on maternity leave works? Will probably decide to stay with our current lender as I guess they will ask fewer questions but if we decided to apply elsewhere, what do you do about the lack of salary for several months on your last few pay slips? I seem to recall they want to see statements for the previous 3 months. I am due to go back to work just as our current deal is expiring.

As I understood it (having secured my last mortgage when pregnant and wondering whether I would be on mat leave when it came into effect) they cannot treat you differently if pregnant or on mat leave as it’s discriminatory. They have to base the deal on your “normal” salary. You may get asked for letter confirming your return date to work and/or demonstrate how you will meet increased childcare costs and/or meet current costs whilst on mat leave and less income. In my experience, I wasn’t asked any of these things.

I’m currently on mat leave and am getting a mortgage. They just want to see my previous pay slips and proof that I’m returning back to work. This can be in the form of a contract or letter from your employer. I’d recommend going to a mortgage broker because they’ll know which mortgage lenders look more favourably upon mat leave (which I think is most of them because it’s illegal to discriminate)

This was a few years ago now, and it may be because I was on unpaid maternity leave when we applied (i.e. I'd extended my maternity leave beyond the paid period) and my payslips for the previous 3 months showed zero income, but quite a few banks would not consider my "normal" income, even though I had a letter from my employer saying I was returning on my "normal" salary. IIRC, it was the Santander group of banks.

Following as hoping it doesn’t affect mine! We’ve just applied this week and I am on unpaid leave but will be back on full pay by time mortgage is drawn down so hoping it’s not an issue!!

We got our mortgage when I was pregnant a couple years ago. We didn't bring it up and I went back after just under a year (including some holiday etc). We managed our payment fine with just DH furlough pay.

I went back part time, but we keep a close eye on finances and knew that would be the trade off with childcare costs. Just remortgaged, we looked at our current mortgage provider's options online, chose one. No further questions asked, even any changes to salaries etc etc. As far as they know, we don't have a DC, and I am still full time!

We’ve just got a mortgage right before going on Mat leave. Gave the broker payslips and a letter from my boss stating what my salary would be when I went back part time. They didn’t ask about childcare. We didn’t stretch ourselves though, so I suppose that might make a difference.