Mortgages for company directors
Are you a UK company director looking to finance a home purchase, remortgage or expand your property portfolio?
Engaging a specialist broker will help you get the mortgage your income and status deserve.
We understand the barriers – and how to overcome them
As a limited company director, navigating the mortgage market can be frustrating. You’ll find the traditional approach to lending often fails to recognise the nuances of your income structure, making it harder to secure the mortgage you deserve.
At Freelancer Financials, we take time to understand your unique financial circumstances. We appreciate the complexities of a director’s income, and know how best to present it to mortgage lenders. Our expert broking team has access to senior underwriters at a number specialist lenders, and these long-standing relationships give us the edge when arranging mortgages for directors with complex incomes.
Talk to the company director mortgage experts
Freelancer Financials bridges the gap between you and the mortgage lender. Here’s how we make the process smoother:
Personalised advice
Specialist expertise
Collaboration with senior underwriters
Support throughout the process
Why accounts alone muddy the waters for company directors
Imagine a call centre advisor trying to get to grips with your accounts. The amount you draw as salary and dividends immediately throws them. Why would you earn so much, but pay yourself so little?
They don’t know that your accountant has advised you to keep your salary low and drawings to a minimum. Many lenders focus solely on these figures, potentially overlooking the retained profits within your business, which could significantly boost your borrowing potential.
Moreover, when your application reaches an underwriter, they’ll want to ensure that your business is sustainable. That may mean evidencing your trading history and future income.
Evidencing your income as a company director
Here’s what a lender may ask you to provide in order to demonstrate your affordability:
- Signed-off accounts and trading history (for at least one year, but possibly up to three)
- Your tax return (SA302)
- Both personal and business bank statements (between 3-6 months, depending on the lender)
- From your income, what constitutes your salary, dividend drawings and, in some cases, your share of the company’s net profits
- Your deposit (a larger than usual deposit of 15-30% may be required for the most complex mortgage applications)
- Your credit history – a clean credit file will make your application much easier, but we have access to lenders who may allow leeway
Lending affordability criteria varies for company directors - talk to an expert broker
Each lender approaches self-employed income differently. For example, not all lenders will consider net profits in their calculations. Like bonuses for employees, they treat profit as over and above your bottom line. Your broker will tell you exactly what evidence you need to provide once you’ve identified a mortgage deal that suits your needs.
As a specialist mortgage broker, Freelancer Financials will interpret your income for the senior underwriters at a lender’s head office. This enables them to see your true affordability, even after they’ve satisfied their own risk factors.
How much can I borrow?
Why approaching a lender direct may undermine your efforts
If you’re looking to use a High Street lender to arrange your mortgage, you’ll find that the vast majority of their clients are PAYE employees. While some lenders do accommodate self-employed sole traders, when it comes to more complex payment structures such as your own, their knowledge (and enthusiasm) begin to waver.
Therefore, as a self-employed limited company director, your income sets you apart from the mainstream. When you pay yourself through your limited company, that’s a hurdle untrained advisors either don’t want to tackle, or just don’t know how to.
We're here to help
Got questions or need assistance? We’re here to help. Whether you’re looking for mortgage advice, have specific queries, or just want to discuss your options, our expert team is ready to assist you.
Reach out using the form here and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Let’s connect and start making your home ownership goals a reality.
To speak to an advisor immediately, please call us on 020 8421 7999
Doesn't my company director status count for anything?
As a company director, in your own mind you might think the title alone is enough to impress a mortgage lender. Regrettably it’s not… ever.
There are no universal criteria for assessing company directors’ incomes. Each lender has their own criteria and their own definition of risk. But what they will have in common is the suspicion that your income is, more than likely, complex.
Rather than try to fathom your true affordability, they’ll lump you in with the rest of their self-employed clients. That means they’ll assess your mortgage affordability using your salary and any dividends you’ve drawn. In other words, your SA302.
We know that limited company directors can often afford more than their accounts say they can. The underwriter at your preferred lender probably knows it, too.
The problem that lenders have is interpreting your income in a way one of their underwriters at head office will see as low risk. Because that is, essentially, what you need: to look as safe a bet as possible for the amount you want to borrow for your mortgage.
You’re a self-employed company director: you know what risk is. Every single mortgage applicant has an element of risk attached to them, no matter how they work.
As a specialist mortgage broker, it’s up to us to mitigate that risk. We need to make your business, as well as your income, look solid for now, your recent history and the future. Take the first step into that future with us today.
