Self Employed & Ltd Company Directors

The right solution for your not-so-simple income. We understand that being self-employed comes with it’s complexities, but we’re here to make your mortgage journey a smooth one!

Quickly find what you’re looking for. I am Sole Trader, Ltd Company Director or Shareholder.

Can I get a mortgage if I’m a self-employed Sole Trader?

Simply put, absolutely!

We know that as a self-employed individual, your income might go up & down. Some months are good, some are great, and the others… you might not like to talk about as much. That’s often the nature of self-employment. So when you come to start looking at your mortgage options, it can often be a daunting task. But it doesn’t have to be if you have an expert helping you along the way!

Every mortgage lender has very different criteria for how they might assess your self-employed income & on what documents they might ask you for. Our job is to look at the full picture, search our comprehensive panel & find the lender that is right for your circumstances.

If you have at least one years evidence of income – we can help! You don’t need to have a long trading history to be considered for a self-employed mortgage. You could secure a mortgage today with as little as one year’s accounts.

Can I get a mortgage if I’m a Ltd Company Director?

We love ltd company directors & we can make a big impact for this type of aspiring borrower. As a ltd company Director, you can choose to take money in different ways: salary or dividends, & most Directors take both forms of income. However, often at the end of the year there is a lot of profit left in the business that you may not have taken.

Often Directors don’t take all of the money the business is making as personal drawings, so you can reinvest it, or just for security for the business. Depending on your circumstances, even if you haven’t taken that money as personal income, the profit left in the business may still be able to be used to help you borrow the amount you need for your mortgage.

However you take your income, we can take a look at your company accounts & your personal self-employed tax returns & decide which lender is right for you.

We can use: Salary + Dividends OR Profit before/after tax + salary

What if I don’t own 100% of the company, but I’m still a shareholder?

If you don’t own 100% of the Ltd company, then depending on your shareholding, we may still be able to use your share of company profits towards affordability.

If you own a very small percentage of a business, in most instances you would still be considered “employed”. However, if you have a track record of receiving dividend income, you may be able to use that income as additional investment income dependent upon your circumstances.

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Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re in an employed role but work part-time doing a “side hustle” making some extra money, as long as you have one years self-employed accounts you may be eligible to use BOTH forms of income, as long as the hours you’re working are sustainable & we can provide a suitable explanation to the mortgage lender of how you’re going to continue to do BOTH roles.

The good news is, yes you can!

In normal circumstances, if you’ve been trading for more than 1 year, lenders will ask for 2 years accounts & average the last two years figures if profits are increasing.

In a declining profits scenario, lenders would instead only use your most recent years lower figures, no matter what the year before looked like.

They do this because the lower declared income in the most recent year is the most up to date & therefore, the most relevant & reliable figure to use for future affordability.

Not the end of the world, & nothing to worry about if you’ve got the right support helping you along the way to getting the mortgage you need.

As you grow your business & your income starts to increase, it’s a common occurrence to see sole traders make the switch to trading as a Ltd company after speaking with their accountants. As a Ltd company you are taxed very differently vs a sole trader & once your income hits a certain threshold, your accountant may advise you it’s time to make the switch.

If you’re staying in the same line of work & can evidence your Sole Trader Income, then there are lenders who are happy to lend to you soon after you’ve made the switch. They’ll use your most recent 2 years Sole Trader Accounts & then may ask for your most recent 3 Ltd company bank statements to evidence you are trading at similar, or greater levels.

If you’re changing your line of work completely, then you’ll need to wait until you have at least 1 full years Ltd company accounts & your previous Sole Trader accounts will be disregarded completely.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage

Are you Self-Employed & Looking for some help with your Mortgage?

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We love working with Self-Employed people because we are self-employed people. We understand your circumstances & you can chat openly with us, knowing we get it