Hello, does anyone know how banks deal with maternity leave when it comes to mortgage approval?
We currently have approval in principle based on our joint salary valid for another 8 months, however my wife will be going on maternity leave in 2 months. She is a permanent civil servant and will be on full pay for her 26 weeks maternity leave, minus the weekly maternity benefit paid by Social Welfare. At which point she will hopefully take the further 16 weeks unpaid leave available before returning to work.
If we put an offer in on a house in this period will the bank have an issue with the loan offer as she will be on maternity leave? If we have to reapply for approval in principle based on an extra dependant we will still be well in excess of the affordability criteria, but I am concerned the bank will not count her salary while on maternity benefit leaving us stuck until she is back to work. This would be less than ideal as we really had planned to buy in the next 6 months.
We currently have approval in principle based on our joint salary valid for another 8 months, however my wife will be going on maternity leave in 2 months. She is a permanent civil servant and will be on full pay for her 26 weeks maternity leave, minus the weekly maternity benefit paid by Social Welfare. At which point she will hopefully take the further 16 weeks unpaid leave available before returning to work.
If we put an offer in on a house in this period will the bank have an issue with the loan offer as she will be on maternity leave? If we have to reapply for approval in principle based on an extra dependant we will still be well in excess of the affordability criteria, but I am concerned the bank will not count her salary while on maternity benefit leaving us stuck until she is back to work. This would be less than ideal as we really had planned to buy in the next 6 months.