Joint Mortgage Self-Employed

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Home » Joint Mortgage Self-Employed

Joint Mortgage Self-Employed (Part 1)

Gary Clarke explains how a joint mortgage works if you are self-employed. Episode one of two, recorded in March 2025.

Can I get a joint mortgage if I’m self-employed? How does it work?

A nice easy one – yes. One, two or even as many as four people can all be self-employed on a mortgage application.

How does being self-employed affect your eligibility for a joint mortgage?

As with all mortgages, you still need to pass a credit score. After that, what you can borrow will depend entirely on your financial circumstances – your incomes and your outgoings.

The rates and the deposit you need will be affected by your credit score and any adverse information in the background. Ultimately, being self-employed doesn’t really affect your eligibility. It’s more that the way your income is assessed will define what is and is not affordable, as far as the lenders are concerned.

What documentation is typically required for self-employed individuals applying for a joint mortgage?

A lot of it’s the same. You need to prove your ID and address, typically with a passport, driving licence and utility bill dated in the last three months.

You’ll still need to provide three months’ bank statements, proof of your deposit and the source of those funds. The difference comes in the proof of income. Typically, if you’re employed, you would provide three months’ pay slips. But depending on the type of self-employment, you may need to provide a bit more than that.

A sole trader would normally need to provide the latest two years’ tax calculations to show net profits – and tax year overviews alongside those. If you’re in a partnership, it’s the same documents, but the difference is around your share. If you own 50% of a company, you’d get 50% of the profits.

For a limited company director, most lenders will take into account the director’s salary.
On top of that, they’ll normally want at least two years’ worth of your dividend figures, or potentially your share of the net profit.

Sometimes lenders will also ask for three months’ business bank statements to show that the income declared at the end of your trading year is still sustainable at the same level.

Are there any specific requirements or restrictions for self-employed applicants considering a joint mortgage?

Not hugely, but as we said before, you’ve still got to pass a credit score. You’ve still got to prove your income is as you declare it. You still will be assessed based on your outgoings, as well.

The thing to remember is that all lenders have different criteria. Whilst two years is most typical, the minimum would be one year – and three years is best. But two years worth of evidence is usually pretty decent.

How can self-employed individuals improve their chances of being approved for a joint mortgage?

As we’ve said on previous podcasts, preparation really is key in giving yourself the best chance of getting a mortgage. In addition to everything previously mentioned, it helps to be prompt in providing the paperwork – and also in filing your paperwork with HMRC.

Keep good records, too. Lenders may be happy with your income at the end of that year, but they might want some comfort that it’s still being sustained now.

In general, just tell us as much as you can about your situation and we can do the rest.

Can self-employed applicants include their spouse or partner in a joint mortgage application?

Absolutely. If you’ve got a joint mortgage application with two or more people, each individual will be assessed based on their own income, with their own specific proof of that. They’ll need to pass a credit score as well.

Are there any additional considerations for the self-employed applying for a joint mortgage, compared to the employed?

Absolutely. Lenders have lots of different ways of assessing self-employed income. It’s really important to use an advisor who can really get under the skin of your personal situation and find the best lender and deal for your circumstances.

Ultimately, if you’re trying to do all of that yourself and attempting to understand a multitude of banks’ criteria, it can be quite intimidating. An advisor like TMS can work on your side, get a real picture of how you’re looking right now and then find the most suitable lender and deal for you.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of applying for a joint mortgage as a self-employed individual?

I don’t really think of these as being disadvantages as such. But as we said before, all applicants do need to pass a credit score. All applicants’ financial situations will be taken into account – both their income and their outgoings.

Typically, that’s a positive. Assuming both parties pass the credit score and you have two sets of income, unless one of you has a significant amount of debt, it should significantly enhance what you can borrow. It gives you the best opportunity to move into your dream home.

How can self-employed individuals navigate potential challenges or obstacles when applying for a joint mortgage?

It’s the same as for anybody else applying for a mortgage. Make sure you pay your bills on time, stay within prescribed limits on credit cards and overdrafts if you use them, keep good records and have those to hand. Those things will all tip the balance in your favour.

No one can ever guarantee that somebody will get a mortgage from the first conversation. But the more we know, the better and clearer your records, the more chance we’ll have to get you the right mortgage, hopefully at a price that’s affordable to you.

What else do we need to know before coming back for part two?

I’d just like to re-emphasise the benefit of using an advisor, particularly for the self-employed. There are a myriad of different criteria out there, and in all honesty, it’s very time consuming for one person to go from lender to lender to find the right one.

We really can shortcut this process. For a self-employed person, it’s even more important to use an advisor with access to as much of the market as possible – simply because we do this day in, day out. It’s a one-off situation for any purchaser, but we deal with lots of people like this every week, month and year.

We genuinely enjoy finding a solution for somebody who wasn’t sure it would even be possible. It’s one of the most gratifying things we do – and a hugely enjoyable experience on both sides.

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Joint Mortgage Self-Employed (Part 2)

We continue the conversation on joint mortgages and the self-employed with Gary Clarke. Episode two of two, recorded in March 2025.

What factors do lenders take into account when assessing the affordability of a joint mortgage for self-employed applicants?

They’ll take into account the same factors as for an employed person. They’ll still be looking at the income and outgoings and making sure that the mortgage is affordable by their standards.

If you’re a sole trader, lenders generally assess you based on your net profits. If you are a partnership, they assess your income based on your share of the net profits. For a limited company director, it’s typically your salary and either your share of the net profit or the dividends you receive from that company.

The only thing to be careful of is that some businesses will have smaller profits. If you’re using dividends, they often cap the amount of usable dividends based on your share of the profit.

Are there any specific types of joint mortgage products designed for self-employed individuals?

A lender will have the same range of products, whether you’re employed or self-employed. However, lenders do all have slightly different policies in terms of how they assess self-employed income.

Therefore, it’s really important to use an advisor like The Mortgage Store to look at all of those options for you. We find out what the best one is going to be, and hopefully get you the loan you need to buy the house you want.

Can self-employed applicants benefit from any government schemes or initiatives when applying for a joint mortgage?

Absolutely. These are the same schemes that are available to employed customers – like First Home, Deposit Unlock, etc. As long as you can afford the mortgage and meet the requirements of the lender in terms of incomes and outgoings, you can use those schemes as a self-employed person.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re both self-employed, or just one party to the mortgage works for themself.

What should self-employed individuals know about the income assessment process for a joint mortgage application?

Just that it does vary from lender to lender. If one lender says no, it doesn’t mean another lender would. There’s no universal rule about what a self-employed person can borrow.

Again, it’s just about telling your advisor as much as you can, with as much detail as possible. That allows us to find out which lender can lend you the money you need at the best possible rate. The more we know, the more we can help.

How does the length of self-employment history impact the likelihood of being approved for a joint mortgage?

The likelihood of being approved is probably the wrong way to look at it. It goes back to what we said about lenders having different criteria. All lenders require a minimum of one year’s records, so we definitely need that. The majority will use two years, and some might even demand as much as three.

But generally speaking, if you’ve got one year’s accounts, it’s worth having a chat with us to see if we can get you the mortgage you need. The worst thing we can ever say is no.

Ultimately, we’ll work out what the affordability guidelines say. Then, when it comes up to your second year of trading, we can guide you on how lenders will view you based on what your income is likely to be at that point. Then, we can confirm how much you would be able to borrow.

Are there any self-employed friendly lenders or brokers you would recommend for joint mortgage applications?

Yes – The Mortgage Store. We are genuinely brilliant at what we do. I always say to people that you might not always like what we’ve got to say, but we will always give you a well-informed, factual and researched answer.

I wouldn’t say there’s a specific lender I would turn to, but they all have certain guidelines and criteria. So once we get under the skin of what your circumstances are, it soon becomes quite clear where we’re likely to have the most success, and where we can get the borrowing we might need.

At the very least, we can guide you on the realistic maximum borrowing at that time and how that might improve in the future. Obviously, you have to work hard and earn that money to prove a strong income. But in my experience, most people tend to be good, honest, hardworking individuals and really benefit from that additional advice.

Can self employed applicants include income from multiple sources?

Yes, potentially. It comes down to an individual lender’s criteria and the source of that income. For example, a second job is quite common. Most lenders will allow people to have more than one job, as long as they feel the hours of work are reasonable and sustainable.

If you’re doing a highly physical job, and you plan to work 80 hours a week until the age of 70, that may be considered less feasible. But if you’ve already been doing two jobs for a year, one for 35 hours a week and one at eight hours a week, that would clearly be sustainable, particularly if it’s non-manual work.

There’s also the opportunity to use other income as well – money from investments or rental properties can be taken into account. It will just depend on the lender, their requirements for that income and how we can prove that.

Again, tell us as much as you can about your situation. We will talk to the lenders on your behalf and find the one that fits.

You’ve demonstrated how a mortgage broker can help. Is there anything else we need to know about joint mortgages for the self-employed?

It’s always worth saying that when it comes to getting a mortgage, an advisor is your best friend. They remove a lot of stress from the process for you, and they’re worth their weight in gold.

The more information you can tell us, the more we can help you in return. It’s a two-way street. It really is gratifying to take someone who felt that they couldn’t borrow as much as they wanted to, or be able to borrow at all, and turn that into a successful case. Not many things are as satisfying as that.