Mortgage and upcoming maternity leave

[MarianneVos]

I'm about to apply for a mortgage. Very affordable, less than our joint gross income. Do I need to declare my upcoming (in 3 months) maternity leave? Not concerned about affordability checks, but more the faff of getting extra evidence from personnel at my work (which are really really rubbish at responding to anything).

Google suggests you need to tell if you're currently on maternity leave, but there seem to be mixed opinions about if it's upcoming. WWYD?

I didn’t tell them. It was all ok. It was a few years back now though. I don’t remember them asking about changing circumstances then. I’ve just got a new mortgage and they did this time.

Just don't tell them. It's not just the ML - they'll then want to know how you will afford childcare and will include that on the affordability calculations - given that full time childcare costs most than peoples mortgages

I wouldn’t tell them if you’re not on May leave yet, however you might have to if they buying process doesn’t complete before you go on May leave as they might check your situation hasn’t changed before completion.

My mortgage provider didn’t care about mat leave, as long as I provided a letter from my employer confirming my salary upon return to work, but they did take into account childcare costs and a dependant. can you pass affordability taking into account childcare costs and any reduced hours when you return to work?

Mat leave*

I had to tell then if I knew of anything that would change my circumstances when I applied and maternity leave was specifically mentioned as an example

I was asked to declare anything I knew about that was coming up that would chnage my financial situation

I haven’t told them. No questions really steered me to and also there are too many unknowns even if they had asked specifically. Sadly you can never guarantee that you will come home with a baby and I can’t predict whether I’ll want to stay on mat leave beyond the point when I’ll receive enhanced mat pay.

Thanks all. I think there might be a q about any changes to financial circumstances but like one person said, who knows if there would be.

Definitely going back on same hours, and total childcare bill will be the same as now as older DC will get free hours at the end of mat leave.

If I decided not to go back, then there'd be no childcare costs and it would be less than 2x DH salary so I can't see an affordability issue.

I guess there is a possibility that I could be on mat leave by completion though.

It's the letter from an employer confirming anything about mat leave that I'm wary of, not because of anything dodgy but I've asked our People Services to send me confirmation of something else straightforward and I'm still waiting several months later despite chasing so don't want it to be the reason everything falls through! I guess they might appreciate anything to do with a mortgage is urgent though.

Some mortgages offer a payment holiday for maternity leave, especially the unpaid bit at the end. Ask your broker if he can recommend one.

Mortgages are for 25 or 30 years, they won't necessarily be put off by a few months break.

I didn't mentioned my impending maternity leave when applying for a mortgage. I was due to go on mat leave within a few months. I omitted the information as it would have caused more paperwork unnecessarily. We could easily afford the mortgage payments and I had lump sums saved to cover my whole mat leave.

It's fraud to not mention circumstances that you know are inevitable

There's nowhere on the application that mentions it or asks though so I don't see how that could be fraud? Not even a question about changes in circumstances. Just goes through income and current outgoings.

Plus I have no way of knowing that the circumstances are inevitable, I really hope that nothing bad happens but as someone has pointed out I can't be certain that I will be coming home with a baby until I come home with a baby.