Ways to apply

What to know when you apply for a mortgage during the coronavirus outbreak

We have a temporary income policy in place at the moment. Please check if any of the following apply to you before applying.

I’m employed and my latest payslip includes Government income support
Your affordability for your application will be based on the hours you worked, as evidenced in your latest payslip. We will not include any furlough or job support income in your application.

If your working hours have recently changed, you’ll need to evidence this in your payslip for us to include any additional worked hours in our assessment.

For joint applications, we’ll assess the payslips of both applicants to work out you combined income.

If you’re applying online:
You’ll need to calculate your gross annual income based on the hours worked in your payslip. As there are 52 weeks in a year:

• for monthly payslips, 12 times the earned amount from hours worked
• for four weekly payslips, 13 times the earned amount from hours worked
• for bi-weekly payslips, 26 times the earned amount from hours worked
• for weekly payslips, 52 times the earned amount from hours worked

My income has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak
Please answer Yes to the question “Are you aware of any recent known or pending changes to your employment or income?”

We can accept variable income (e.g. bonus, overtime or commission) when paid weekly, fortnightly, four weekly or monthly.

It is also acceptable when paid quarterly, half yearly or annually where you can evidence that the latest payment has been received 1st January 2021 or more recently.

You’re self employed
You are eligible to apply, but we’ll need:

• your January, February or March 2020 business bank statement (or personal account statement if used for business purposes)
• the latest 60 days’ worth of business bank statements (or personal account statements if used for business purposes)

If you have experienced a recent reduction to your income, we may not be able to progress with your application at this time and so you may want to come back to us when your normal income levels have returned and this can be seen on your business bank statement.

New build properties

We count a property as being new build if it is less than two years old or has never been occupied in its current format. If you're borrowing against a new build property:

• we may lend up to a maximum of 80% Loan to Value (LTV)
• if you have an LTV greater than 75% you’ll need to have a minimum deposit of £25,000.

Properties with land

If the property has more than 15 acres:

• you’ll need to confirm there are no agricultural restrictions attached to the property and that it’s only used for personal use
• we’ll only be able to lend you up to 75% of the purchase price or valuation, whichever is the lowest.

Flats

• we may not offer a mortgage on a flat in the same building as a commercial property
• if the building containing the flat has more than five floors, it must have a lift
• if the block is ex-local authority we will require confirmation that at least 75% of the flats are now privately owned
• we're generally unable to offer lending on freehold flats in England and Wales unless the property is of a particular type located in Tyneside or we’re also taking security against the freehold of the whole building.