Documents Required

Mortgage Documents Required

Will Binks talks us through the documents required when applying for a mortgage.

What documents will lenders want to see when applying for a mortgage?

Every lender will have different requirements, but they will usually want to see evidence of your income. That’s usually via payslips if you’re in an employed role, and some lenders want that backed up with bank statements as well.

You will also need photo ID. If there are other requirements, as your advisers we would gather documents from you – ready for whatever the lender requests.

How does this differ if you are self-employed: a sole trader, contractor or limited company director?

If you’re self-employed you don’t necessarily get payslips, so we’d need your SA302s – your self-assessment forms. If you run a limited company we’d need full company accounts, for the last two or three years. If possible we’d also need the tax year overviews as evidence that the applicable tax had been paid.

What about if I’m remortgaging, are there any differences?

It’s very similar. You’re potentially borrowing a lot of money, so a lender is within its rights to ask for evidence that you are a suitable customer. It could potentially be different if you were sticking with the same lender. This is not specifically remortgaging – it’s called a product transfer. These can be a little more lenient and less documentation may be required.

Are there any other documents I might need?

The lender can potentially ask for credit files. Plus, if we’re trying to use additional incomes, such as bonuses, allowances, commission or overtime to boost your affordability, they may ask for P60s for the last year or two. That helps to show a history of your income.

There are other potential documents that could be requested. We’d always make you aware of this before we’d submit the application and wait till you have gathered that information. It will make the journey as smooth as possible after we’ve got that application in for you.

How can I prepare in advance?

We always ask for documents upfront and well in advance of making your application. It helps if we could get those documents in PDF format, ready to go. We often ask for three or six months’ bank statements and payslips for employed candidates – so get those ready and make sure that they are consecutive in months or weeks. If you can get these over to us promptly and as PDFs, that’s going to make the process much smoother for everybody.

People worry that they haven’t got a scanner – but there are plenty of smartphone apps where you can take a photo of a document, convert it to a PDF and attach it to an email. Or you can upload it straight to our secure portal, which is nice and easy.

What other advice do you have on documents required for a mortgage?

Remember that it’s not necessarily us requesting the documents, and if you have any blips on your credit file, that’s often not a problem – we can still potentially help.

Some lenders may dig a little bit deeper and ask for more things throughout the journey, which can be time consuming. But it all helps them build a picture of the application and gives you the best chance of getting that loan through – getting you into that lovely new home. 

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