Buying a property through a Shared Ownership scheme helps people to afford a property that could otherwise be outside of their budget. The government-backed Shared Ownership scheme has helped over 250,000 people in England become homeowners.
While the scheme boosts affordability, mortgage applicants can still encounter challenges before they can complete on the property and are handed over the keys.
At James Leighton, we are often contacted by people who have been declined for a mortgage. Our Nottingham-based team then works on finding a solution to help clients move ahead with their property plans.
The case study below details how we helped a couple to obtain a Shared Ownership mortgage approval, despite some non-standard income complications.
Background and challenges
When we were contacted by our joint applicants, they had already been declined for applications with Halifax and Natwest.
The issue was that one of the applicants was a CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) worker who only had three months of payslips and could not provide tax documents. This type of employment contract typically means that lenders require a comprehensive set of documentation to verify income.
Due to this situation, the applicants had limited options of lenders who were prepared to approve a mortgage loan. They were given hope when the initial affordability assessment with Halifax indicated that they could be eligible for a mortgage that would cover their share of the property, however their application was ultimately declined due to the couple’s particularly complex income.
The couple then approached Natwest. When Natwest reviewed the details of the application, proximities in the area led to an immediate decline under the lender’s property eligibility criteria.
At this point, the couple contacted us to see if we were able to help them when these other options had resulted in disappointment and frustration.
Through liaising with lenders we were able to find a solution that allowed our clients to go ahead with the purchase of their Shared Ownership property. The purchase was completed and our clients are now happily settled into their new home.
Tailored solution
Our clients explained the scenarios they had experienced and we gathered further information to identify whether there were more options to explore across our network of lenders. We reviewed lending criteria to find the most suitable options based on our clients’ specific circumstances, including employment type.
We then spoke to the lenders who had declined our clients’ applications to gain a better understanding of the reasons for the declines. James Leighton’s strong relationships with the lenders enabled us to determine the best course of action.
Through our discussions with Halifax, we were able to review aspects of the applicants’ position to find an alternative outcome to their previous applications. Once we had highlighted strengths in the applicant’s financial circumstances to Halifax, together we identified that the application would be likely to be approved if a higher deposit was provided.
We helped our clients to resubmit a new application including a higher deposit amount and our clients were incredibly relieved and pleased to receive a mortgage approval to cover the loan amount required.
Outcome
Through liaising with lenders we were able to find a solution that allowed our clients to go ahead with the purchase of their Shared Ownership property. The purchase was completed and our clients are now happily settled into their new home.
They were extremely grateful for the work we put into finding the solution that allowed them to buy their property. At James Leighton, our team consistently delves deeper into application issues to help our clients to mitigate mortgage challenges and this case study is just one of many similar examples of what we do on a daily basis.
Key takeaways
When standard lenders decline applications, for some would-be homeowners this puts their plans on hold or sometimes they give up on property ownership plans completely. Our personalised service has helped many clients to overcome these challenges by investigating the details more thoroughly and liaising with lenders to find workarounds.
We help many different types of clients to achieve their property goals, such as individuals with non-standard incomes, property investors, people with poor credit history and a wide range of other challenges that limit mortgage options or have led to previous declined applications.
If you are looking to take out a mortgage to buy a property and would like us to support you with specialist mortgage advice or any other guidance you need, get in touch with our team of experienced mortgage Nottingham-based advisers for a no-obligation chat.
This is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute advice.
- Call: 0115 870 9520
- Email: enquiries@jlfs.co.uk