Understanding our mortgage lending criteria | Mortgages | YBS
Our mortgage lending criteria
From the maximum amount you can borrow to the documents we need to see, here’s our guide to ensuring your mortgage application goes as smoothly as possible
About you
In addition to your financial situation and details of income and outgoings, it's also important to consider how your personal circumstances relate to a mortgage and whether or not a mortgage provider will lend to you. There are a number of details we look at when deciding this so you should be aware of these before you proceed with a mortgage application and we've set those out to the right.
Your employment status
If you are self-employed, a limited company director or salaried director with a shareholding in a company, we may need additional proof of your income. Usually this is obtained from your accountant. In addition to this we will require both personal and business bank account statements. A breakdown of our document requirements are detailed below.
Are you remortgaging?
For remortgage applications, at least one applicant must have owned and lived in the property to be remortgaged for a minimum of six months prior to the application date. The maximum Loan to Value (LTV) for remortgage applications is 95%.
Ready to get a Decision in Principle?
By providing us with some details, we can provide you with an online Decision in Principle in just 10 minutes.
Things to consider before your application
- You need to be at least 18 years of age to apply for a mortgage.
- You must reside in the UK at the time of application and either be a UK/Irish citizen or have a status of Indefinite Leave to Remain/Settled/Pre-Settled. Supporting evidence of this will be required.
- The minimum term for a mortgage loan is 5 years and the maximum term is 40 years (provided this does not take your term beyond your 80th birthday). Interest only borrowing is permitted if you are retired providing the term of the mortgage does not go beyond your stated retirement age, or age 70 whichever is earlier (subject to all other lending criteria).
- You have the right to repay your loan either partially or in full during the term. Depending on your product, Early Repayment Charges may apply.
- If the mortgage term you require will extend past your expected retirement age, we can’t accept an online application from you. In these circumstances, you would need to apply over the phone.
- We can accept an online application in your sole name if you are married or in a civil partnership, this is however subject to underwriter discretion after gaining a full understanding of your circumstances.
- When you request a Decision in Principle from us, we will verify your details with a credit reference agency. Our checks will not appear on your credit file at this stage of the application.
Your income and expenditure
To ensure that you can comfortably afford your mortgage repayments, the amount we will allow you to borrow is determined by both your income and your expenditure. When deciding how much you can borrow we consider the following:
- Information about your salary including any regular bonuses or overtime you receive.
- Any benefits or payments towards childcare you receive (such as child maintenance).
- Your financial commitments including credit cards, overdraft usage or loan repayments (including student loans). You should include any payments made towards childcare or child maintenance.
- You also need to tell us about any existing mortgages you may have.
Use our Borrowing calculator before applying to check how much we may be able to lend to you based on your income and outgoings.
Minimum and maximum loan amounts
New build properties
| Your Loan to Value | Minimum loan amount | Maximum loan amount |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 75% | £25,001 | £5,000,000 |
| 75% - 85% | £50,000 * | £1,000,000 |
Existing properties
| Your Loan to Value | Minimum loan amount | Maximum loan amount |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 75% | £25,001 | £5,000,000 |
| 75% - 85% | £50,000* | £2,000,000 |
| 85% - 90% | £50,000* | £750,000 |
| 90% - 95% | £50,000* | £600,000 |
Properties in Northern Ireland
| Your Loan to Value | Minimum loan amount | Maximum loan amount |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 75% | £25,001 | £5,000,000 |
| 75% - 85% | £50,000* | £2,000,000 |
| 85% - 90% | £50,000* | £750,000 |
* If you're taking out more than one product, the minimum amount on any one product is £25,001 (subject to the total loan being at least £50,000)
Important information
- Your Loan to Value (LTV) is the size of the mortgage loan amount as a percentage of the value of the property you are purchasing or the price you are paying, whichever is lower (for example, a £180,000 mortgage on a house valued at £200,000 would have an LTV of 90%).
- Our mortgage deals have a ‘Maximum LTV’ - this is the most you would be able to borrow against the purchase price, shown as a percentage.
- The maximum LTV for all online applications is 90%
- Applications with a loan size over £600,000 will be subject to additional lending rules, which may impact the maximum borrowing that we can offer.
- For additional loans, the minimum loan size is £3,000, however please note that additional loan applications cannot be made online.
Your documents
When you apply for a mortgage with Yorkshire Building Society, we’ll need to see some documents from you. This is to verify your identity and current address.
You can see which documents we accept for proof of address and identity on our Verifying Your Identity help page.
Employment status documents
Sometimes we may need to see some additional documents from you, depending on your employment status.
Select the employment option that suits you from the list below:
If your loan is less than 75% LTV:
Your last payslip with a corresponding bank statement
If your loan is more than 75% LTV:
Your last 3 payslips plus the bank statement showing the salary credit from your most recent payslip.
- Latest month's personal bank statement
- Latest month's business bank statement
In addition to this we will write to your accountant for confirmation of your income. If your accountant is not on our list of recognised accountants or you do not have an accountant, we require your latest 2 years SA302s.
You'll need to be employed in one of the following occupations:
- NHS Bank nurses and locums
- Non-NHS Bank nurses
- Care Home Workers
- Supermarket Workers
- HGV Drivers
- Retained / On-Call Firefighters
- Armed Forces Reserves
- Supply Teachers
You'll also need to provide evidence that you've been employed on a zero hour contract for a minimum of 12 months. We'll need to see:
- Your last 3 payslips
- A bank statement showing your salary paid in from your most recent payslip.
- A copy of your current contract
- A copy of your P60 from the current tax year
Limited Company Directors with more then 25% shareholding (or less than 25% where income is derived from dividends) will need the following:
- Latest month's personal bank statement
- Latest month's business bank statement
Latest month's personal bank statement. In addition to this we will write to your accountant for confirmation of your income.
Something to bear in mind: We'll always take into consideration the dividends for the last trading year or the average for the last 2 years, whichever is lower.
If the business has been set up for less than 2 years, the finalised years figures and a projection for current year will be required.
Other things you should consider
Appointing a solicitor from YBS' approved panel
In order for us to fully process your mortgage application and provide an offer, it's preferable that your solicitor or conveyancer is on our panel of approved solicitors. This means that we can appoint your solicitor to act for us as well. You can find out more about how to appoint a solicitor on our conveyancing page.
Repaying your mortgage
When you take out a mortgage you agree to repay all the money that you owe. If you fall behind significantly with your mortgage payments, we will work with you to help you manage your circumstances and arrears. However, we may have to repossess your property and sell it to recover any money you owe.
If your property is repossessed, please note that the sale may not achieve the amount sufficient to cover your outstanding mortgage; if this is the case it will result in a shortfall.
Before proceeding to an application, read our guide to Mortgage Fees & Charges.
Call us or book an appointment
Speak to one of our friendly advisers about your options.
Recognised Accounts
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