Hello all,

After recently becoming self-employed again, my husband and I have been looking into buying our own place.

It seems the housing people won't accept my income as a consideration for mortgage because I don't have 2 to 3 years of projected accounts.

I've done self-assessment forms before but have never hired an accountant to do my paperwork.

If we were to consider buying a place in 2 to 3 years time, does it mean I have to get an accountant to verify all my earnings before we can buy a place?

Since my income is classified as rather 'unstable' we can only afford places on my husband's income alone and that's not much bigger than a shoebox in London!

Are there other paperwork or proof I can show to housing people to let them take my earnings into account? Before taking up piano teaching again in UK I've done a series of temping jobs until my marriage visa came through so have never been out of work. I've been in UK for little over 2 years so certainly don't have years of self-employment accounts! I'm from Australia, by the way...

Thanks for all your help,

I found myself in exactly the same position as you just over a year ago, after seperation, and ended up getting a mortgage with Northern Rock, who seemed at that time the most willing to take into account all sorts of income, including child maintenance and the like, and the least demanding about asking for detailed accounts. I could never have organised the whole thing on my own, however, and it was dealt with by a company called Mortgage IQ. Their services are free as long as you take out your house insurance through them, and I found their efforts on my behalf to be excellent. We sat down and worked out detailed personal accounts, with all my income and expenditure included to see what I could actually afford, and then she looked at my options. With regard to accounts, she was happy just to pass on my last year's income, which was more than the previous year. I have a feeling that things might be more stringent now, though. I don't think I'd get a mortgage with NR now , but if you find mortgage advisor I'm sure they could come up with something. Good luck!

My sister and her partner just brought a house. He is self employed and so they went to a special company that does mortgages for self employed people. I'm not sure which one they went to but as I understand it there are a few and they help with all the ins and outs of it. You might find them on a yahoo search or in your phone book. Good luck!

I've had this problem too. Find a good Financial Adviser that specialises in arranging mortgages, and there is every chance that he (usually it is a he) will match you up with a suitable lender.

Cheers
Tom

A mortgage broker will save you a lot of time and energy and will have all the options at his/her fingertips. Good luck.

I too would say it's best to go through an financial advisor.

When I split up from my ex, he didn't pay the mortgage. I could afford it, but the existing mortgage company wouldn't give me a mortgage in my sole name.

Perhaps it would be best to employ an accountant for the next couple of years and then go back to doing your own books once the mortgage has gone through.

The climate is very bad at the moment and I doubt if I could get a mortgage now.

There is the possibility of looking into self cert mortgages, but they are more expensive. Better than paying rent though, and later on you could move lenders.

http://www.mias-ltd.co.uk/best-buy-mortgag...-rate-table.asp

Here are a couple of links:

http://www.1st4selfcertificationmortgages.co.uk/

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/small_fi...mortgages.shtml

You can also find yourself an advisor on the FSA website.

Good Luck.

In the current environment I would expect you will need a deposit of at least 15% preferably 25%.

Try http://www.unbiased.co.uk/ to find an advisor.

With a self-cert mortgage you were able to declare what your income was without proof, for which there was a slightly higher mortgage rate as a risk premium for the lender.

Another alternative was the non-status mortgage where you didn't say what your income was but simply stated that you could afford the mortgage repayments. So again at a higher than normal rate.

A good independent mortgage advisor will know what products are available to you. I gather that some products are being pulled at short order at the moment. So once you've found one you might need to agree quickly (friends' of mine missed out on one that was pulled over night, there was a report in Mortgage Strategy a few weeks back of brokers being given 90 minutes notice of the withdrawal of a product)

Yesterday Merv was warning about inflation, which would imply that any further reductions in rates are less likely.

Bagpuss, Him Indoors and I have a wonderful, wonderful financial adviser who just sorts us out the whole time - worth his weight in gold.

Hope you can find someone similar!!

We have had to go the self-certificate root as husband and I are both musicians, a bit more expensive, but not too much, and definately cheaper than renting. One thing we have learnt over the years is that we are 'private teachers' on anything official - insurance, mortgage etc. If you mention the word 'musician' most people won't deal with you.

I found Standard Life to be very helpful and flexible. If you have a sufficient deposit (I think I was borrowing about 40%, but it probably doesn't have to be as low as that) they only asked to see minimal information - copies of the previous three years' tax returns.

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