Mortgage financing for self-employed professionals is different than those for salaried workers. That’s why there are specialised self-employed home mortgage options out there. These are standard residential mortgages that are tailored for self-employed professionals.

What’s the big difference between a self-employed home mortgage and those given to salaried workers? Now, the mortgage itself is the same. The application you provide, however, is different.

You’ll need to provide more in-depth information about your financial information, which is why mortgage financing for self-employed individuals can be more difficult. If you have a certified or chartered accountant managing your books, you’re already in a better situation. Otherwise you’ll need to provide bank statements and full evidence of your work.

When you work with a mortgage advisor for self-employed professionals like us, we’ll guide you through the best documents to add, and what information you can include to prove financial stability and income. These can include (but not be limited to):

1. 1. Tax returns: You’ll usually need to send your SA302 forms from the HMRC. These summarise your earnings and how much you’ve paid in tax. You’ll need to provide a few years’ worth of documentation to get a mortgage for self-employed
   2. Accountant’s reference: If you use a chartered or certified accountant, have them sign off on your financial statements and include those in your application.
   3. Business accounts: Include your business accounts from at least the last 2 years. This is essential if you have profit/loss calculations. This happens for those with large expenses.
   4. Bank statements: You’ll need to show your bank statements for the last few years to show income and expenditure patterns when applying for a mortgage self-employed
   5. Contracts and evidence of future work: If you have them, include any contracts you have that prove you have future or regular work in the future, too.

There are many reasons why mortgages for self-employed professionals may get rejected:

1. 1. You have irregular income: income fluctuates as a self-employed professionals, which is why it’s harder to be self-employed get mortgage loans. This isn’t so much a problem if your income varies month to month, but you’ll want your yearly income to be relatively stable over the years.
   2. Lack of documentation: You’ll struggle to get a mortgage self-employed application approved if you’ve only been freelancing for two years or less. This is because lenders need longer histories to make their decision. That being said, you may be able to get a mortgage self-employed with just one year of experience, but only if you have a higher deposit and accept stricter lending criteria (like higher interest rates).
   3. You have retained profits: You may have plenty of profits within your company, but many lenders won’t consider this in your application. You’ll need to consistently take that profit out by paying yourself a salary or dividends.

There are several ways that you can improve your chances of getting approved for a mortgage.

1. Keep your books in order: Hire an accountant or use accounting software to keep meticulous track of your books.
2. Save big: a great way for both employed and self-employed mortgage applications to go through is to have a larger deposit.
3. Maintain a good credit score: Put everything on your credit card and pay it off before it reaches 50% of your limit, every time. This will help increase your credit history and score.
4. Use a specialist mortgage advisor for self-employed professionals: Turn to a mortgage broker for self-employed individuals to help you with your application process. Not only can they advise you on what you need to do, the best mortgage broker for self-employed professionals will also collect offers from hundreds of lenders throughout the UK.