Joint mortgage application possible?

My husband and I bought a house in May 2019 for 345k. Mortgage 272k fixed 3% BOI for 3 years. Based solely on my income as my husband had recently changed PAYE to sole trader so didn't have 2 yrs accounts at the time of application. We borrowed most of the difference from my parents (56k) and a personal loan and repaid my folks in January this year ahead of schedule.

We do not want to stay here and we're looking to buy a new home next year. By May 2022 we should have approx 100k equity based on current MV (360k) and loan balance at that point (258k). Foxed rate ends then too.

My husband's sole trader work ceased in March 2020 due to Covid and he has been on the PUP since, earning the threshold allowed every two months. His industry will be the last to return but work should pick up over the summer and into winter. We hope he can come off the PUP in July/August. Based on this year's projected income and 2020 and 2019, his income averages 11k. He is up to date with tax returns but doesn't have certified accounts... we can get these if necessary.

I am currently on maternity leave from my secure role in a multinational - returning end of summer. My salary is 84k and will hopefully be increased with a promotion late this year.

Does anyone know whether the banks would consider his income for an application if he is back working this summer and off PUP (by then for 9 months) or would the fact that he was on PUP rule him out altogether? He can earn very well with his daily rate and has little to no overheads.

You're asking how the banks will assess this a year from now?
Nobody knows. The banks are trying to work this out themselves in a constantly changing environment.
If he's back to work, and we're fully out the other side of this pandemic, he should be fine. If the banks excluded everyone that's been on PUP, they'd be removing a large section of the market.
But don't stress now about the unknowns.

RedOnion said:

You're asking how the banks will assess this a year from now?
Nobody knows. The banks are trying to work this out themselves in a constantly changing environment.
If he's back to work, and we're fully out the other side of this pandemic, he should be fine. If the banks excluded everyone that's been on PUP, they'd be removing a large section of the market.
But don't stress now about the unknowns.

Click to expand...

You're right..... Hard to plan anything now. Hopefully they'll consider even a portion of his income.

Hi finny,

As RedOnion said it's difficult to know what lender's criteria will be a year from now.

One piece of advice I would give you though is to ensure your repayment capacity is in order in the six months preceding the application.

This is the rock that many applications perish on - even those with good incomes & deposits.

All repayment capacity means is proving you can afford to repay the proposed mortgage at stressed rates(usually 2% albeit some lenders just test repayment capacity on the current rate).

To do this you simply ensure that what bank's term discontinuing cashflows - such as rent/mortgage repayments/savings/a loan that will be cleared - exceed the proposed monthly repayment figure(ideally stressed at 2% above the current rate) each month in the six months before the mortgage application.


I hope this helps.



justin.griffith@mortgagebrokers.ie