Getting a Mortgage Using Joint Income
It is very common to use joint household income to maximise your borrowing power. While your mortgage product can only go so far, expert advice can unlock additional potential in your affordability. We guarantee to get your mortgage approved and find you the best deal. If we can’t and someone else does, we’ll give you £100!*
Check Your Affordability with Expert Guidance
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Author: Pete Mugleston
CeMAP Mortgage Advisor, MD
Reviewed by: Jon Nixon
Former Director of Distribution
Quick Summary
You can borrow high income-multiples, even with joint incomes.
Whilst it’s true that some lenders limit your borrowing to 3 or 4x annual income, and are more restrictive than if you applied in sole name, it’s important to remember that every lender has a different way of calculating what you can borrow, and has a different level of generosity. Some of the lenders that are happy to consider single applicants to 6 or even 7x annual income, can also consider joint incomes and offer much higher loan sizes than other, more restrictive lenders.
It might be, if you are trying to add someone to the mortgage that you’d rather not just to get a bigger maximum loan, that there are lenders who’d offer you what you need on your own anyway.
Some borrowers might also be interested in ‘joint borrower, sole proprietor’ arrangements, where if you are simply adding someone to the mortgage to help you get it, you can do so but remove them from ownership – that way you benefit from their income, but still retain full rights and are listed as the sole legal owner of the property.
How much can a couple borrow for a joint mortgage?
When you apply as a couple, most lenders will combine the incomes of both applicants and use a multiple of your annual income as a basis for the loan amount. However, some use a certain multiple of the highest earner’s income and add the lower earner’s income to that.
Mortgage lenders typically offer 3 times to 4.5 times the joint gross annual income for mortgages in the UK, potentially extending to 6 times your joint income based on the deposit size. Affordability assessments take into account credit history, debt-to-income ratio, employment, and living expenses.
Some lenders offer a slightly lower income multiple for joint applicants compared to individual applicants. For example, Halifax will lend 5 times the income of a couple jointly earning £50-£75k between them, whereas a single applicant on £75k could borrow up to 5.5 times their income*.
*Please note: lender terms and conditions are subject to change at their discretion
To get a clearer idea of your maximum borrowing, enter the combined income of all of the mortgage applicants into our calculator below.
Mortgage Affordability Calculator
Use this calculator to determine how much you could potentially borrow for a mortgage, based on the typical salary multiples used by most UK lenders.
Your Results:
You could borrow up to
Most lenders would consider letting you borrow
This is based on 4.5 times your household income, the standard calculation used by the majority of mortgage providers. To borrow more than this, you will need to use a mortgage broker to access specialist lenders.
Some lenders would consider letting you borrow
This is based on 5 times your household income, a salary multiple you might struggle to qualify for without the help of a broker. This income multiple is not widely available to customers who are applying directly with a lender.
A minority of lenders would consider letting you borrow
This is based on 6 times your household income, a salary multiple you will struggle to get without a broker. Six-times salary mortgages are usually only available under very specific circumstances.
Get Started with an expert broker to find out exactly how much you could borrow.
Get StartedJoint mortgages offer a great option for those struggling to get onto the property ladder independently. Other than at the application stage, there is no real difference in how the mortgage works. Depending on the number of applicants, lenders generally consider their combined income, so joint applicants can typically borrow more than a single applicant.
Although they are most often used for 2 applicants who want to purchase a property together, there are circumstances where up to 4 applicants can apply for a joint mortgage together. Not all lenders will allow this, and even those willing to consider 3 or 4 applicants will often only look at the combined income of the two highest earners amongst them.
The key criteria lenders will look at are the following:
- What is the gross annual income for each applicant?
- Employment type (employed, self-employed, contractor, etc.)?
- Are the applicants married?
- What kind of ownership arrangement are you planning (e.g., 50/50 or other)?
It’s certainly possible, and if you’re married, it’s likely to be your only option, as most lenders will insist that married couples have a joint mortgage, whether they both work or not. Some lenders may be willing to consider the future income of a non-earning applicant who is raising a family, for example, but plans to go back to work at a later stage, especially if they have a defined career path to return to.
However, this may not always be the best option for those applicants who are applying with an unmarried partner or other relations, for example, depending on the circumstances of the other applicant(s). The first thing to consider is that joint applicants without income will be considered financially dependent on you, and this can impact your affordability.
If one applicant is retired, you may still be able to get a joint mortgage, either based on the sole income of the non-retired applicants or by considering the retired applicant’s pension. If you’re both retired or over 55, you could also consider an equity release product, so plenty of options are available.
The only scenario in which you could use your partner’s income for a mortgage application is if they were going to apply jointly with you. Using someone else’s income for a solo application is impossible, even if they are your spouse.
If you plan to contribute to the mortgage and your partner is able to support your purchase in terms of affordability, you could consider either a joint borrower, sole proprietor, or guarantor mortgage.
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Example calculations
This table shows how much impact your joint income, and the income multiple offered can affect the size of your loan.
| Combined income | Multiple of 4 | Multiple of 4.5 | Multiple of 5 | Multiple of 5.5 | Multiple of 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £40,000 | £160,000 | £180,000 | £200,000 | £220,000 | £240,000 |
| £50,000 | £200,000 | £225,000 | £250,000 | £275,000 | £300,000 |
| £60,000 | £240,000 | £270,000 | £300,000 | £330,000 | £360,000 |
| £75,000 | £280,000 | £315,000 | £350,000 | £385,000 | £420,000 |
As you can see, a couple earning £50k between them would need to find a lender willing to offer them 6 times their income to get a £300k mortgage, which is possible, but quite difficult to attain, and this level of borrowing is often reserved for professionals and higher earners.
A couple with a joint income of £60,000, however, would only need to borrow 5 times their income, which is much easier to achieve. Remember, not all mortgage lenders use income multiples, so the size of the loan you need may still be achievable with the right advice.
How to get a joint mortgage
If you’re looking for a joint mortgage, your first step should be to find a specialist mortgage broker with experience in this area. This will boost your chances of getting approved at the best terms available.
Using our service, you can speak straight away to the right broker by simply making an enquiry online.
They’ll be able to help with:
- Readying all the necessary paperwork, based on both applicants
- Downloading your credit reports
- Finding the right lender and securing the best deal for you
Did you know… An Online Mortgage Advisor broker has access to more deals than any comparison site.
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Eligibility criteria
You can see how important the role of income/affordability plays in determining how much you can borrow, but it’s not quite as straightforward as borrowing your salary x 4.5. Most lenders use income multiples as a guide for how much you can borrow, but a full affordability assessment will also include a thorough review of your outgoings.
The following eligibility criteria could also indirectly impact how much you can borrow by possibly limiting the number of lenders willing to accept your application:
- Deposit size: As joint borrowers, you won’t need a larger minimum deposit than a solo borrower (typically 5%). However, if you’re able to combine your savings to provide a larger deposit, more lenders will consider your application, which, in turn, could mean you qualify for better interest rates.
- Employment types: High street lenders tend to favour employed applicants, as they consider them more stable. However, self-employed people generally have access to the same products, with slightly stricter criteria.
- There is no requirement for joint borrowers to have the same type of income, and it’s perfectly possible to get a mortgage if one person is self-employed and the other is a PAYE employee.
- Living expenses: The outgoings of every applicant will be considered, regardless of how much they contribute to the mortgage, which means those with a low income and high outgoings could be more of a liability than a benefit to a joint application.
- Credit record: Every applicant’s credit record will be reviewed by a lender. If any of the applicants have credit issues, the number of lenders available to you could be restricted. In some cases, a bad credit lender may be the best option. However, a qualified broker will be able to help you determine what’s best in your scenario.
It’s also worth considering that once you’re financially connected to others, such as by a joint mortgage, any bad credit issues they have will impact your credit rating, which can impede your future borrowing potential.
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Get matched with a joint mortgage expert
Finding the right joint mortgage can be difficult without the guidance of someone with experience in dealing with this type of application regularly. An expert broker will make sure you’ve considered every option available to you and that you understand the full implications of the financial partnership you’re forming.
We will pair you with one of the brokers in our network, ensuring their experience closely matches your needs. To use our 5-star rated service and save valuable time and money, call 0330 818 7026 or make an enquiry, and we’ll get you on the right path.
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FAQs
Breakups happen, and if you have a mortgage with a partner who you have split from, there are a few options available to you:
- Transfer the mortgage into a sole name, although the partner remaining on the mortgage would need to be able to afford to buy out the other partner and meet the affordability criteria of the mortgage on their own going forward
- Selling the property and splitting the profit/proceeds of the sale
- Remortgaging to a buy-to-let and using the rental income to make the repayments, bearing in mind that you will remain jointly responsible if the property is vacant
- In the case of a family split, one parent may continue living in the property, and both parents remain equally liable for the mortgage
If you have 3-4 owners with a ‘tenants in common’ agreement, you will largely have similar options, but it’s likely to be more complex to resolve.
There are a number of reasons you may need more than one mortgage; for example, you have a joint mortgage with a business partner and want to buy a residential property with your romantic partner or on your own.
This is perfectly achievable, so long as you can meet both lenders’ affordability criteria. However, the existing joint mortgage will be deducted from your affordability for the second mortgage, which could reduce the amount you could borrow.
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Pete Mugleston
CeMAP Mortgage Advisor, MD
Pete, a CeMAP-qualified mortgage advisor and an expert in all things mortgages, cut his teeth right in the middle of the credit crunch. With plenty of people needing help and few mortgage providers lending, Pete successfully went the extra mile to find mortgages for people whom many others considered lost causes. The experience he gained and his love of helping people reach their goals led him to establish Online Mortgage Advisor, with one clear vision – to help as many customers as possible get the right advice, regardless of need or background.
Pete’s presence in the industry as the ‘go-to’ for specialist finance continues to grow, and he is regularly cited in and writes for both local and national press, as well as trade publications, with a regular column in Mortgage Introducer and being the exclusive mortgage expert for LOVEMoney. Pete also writes for Online Mortgage Advisor of course!
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