Self Employed

If you are your own boss you might stand alone but you are most definitely not alone. The self-employed are widespread in today’s flexible, global workplace ranging from authors to IT contractors and business entrepreneurs. 

With independence, however, comes a price. Working for yourself can be a hard slog. It can be hard to prove your income – which is often irregular – and as a consequence you could have a hard time securing a mortgage.

Some experts estimate that three million people in the UK, or 10% of the working population, are self-employed. This figure shoots up to eight million when you include other people with unconventional incomes such as contract staff, freelancers, workers who don’t get computerised payslips and people who earn their crust through investments.

All these people with erratic incomes do not always have access to accountancy records or wage slips – mandatory evidence of your income when securing a standard home loan. If you can’t provide PAYE marked payslips or an accountant’s certification of your income, conventional mortgages may be unobtainable. 

Self certification until recently provided a solution for those who find it difficult to confirm their income in the traditional way. Typically mortgage lenders require three years’ accounts or confirmation of income via payslips or a P60 etc. A self certified mortgage required no proof of income and was based upon stated earnings, without the need for accounts or payslip evidence. Today this type of product is no longer available, but depending on your particular situation, there may be lenders still willing to help.

As a self employed borrower, the decision on whether to grant you a mortgage rests around the confidence the lender has in the your ability to keep up regular repayments on the loan. 

Simply complete the enquiry form, and let a specialist broker do all the shopping around for you and provide you with a no obligation quote.