As mentioned, the many specialist mortgage lenders on the market – and indeed a reasonable number of high street providers due to the growth in demand – have tailored specific products to be geared towards contractors. If you’re looking for a mortgage that takes the nuances of your income into account as someone working on a freelance or contract basis in IT, it’s likely you’ll be applying for a deal within one of these product ranges – an IT contractor mortgage.

This means when assessing your suitability and the affordability of the mortgage, the lender will understand how what might appear at first to be an unpredictable income is in fact a steady stream of work, often through retainer service agreements, set period contracts or long-term relationships. They’ll want to see how much of your current contract is due to run, and also what is upcoming in your pipeline.

IT contractors are actually in a reasonably strong position. As highly trained professionals with expert specialist knowledge, their skills are very much in demand in a world that has been transformed by digital technology over the last couple of decades. Aside from the enormous amount of documentation and information most businesses store on servers, numerous other processes – from shopping to booking anything from dinners to holidays and even managing your finances and investments – are also managed digitally, not to mention the technology required to facilitate routine communications and online meetings via all kinds of desktop and mobile devices. Contractors working in the field of IT are now rarely without work and can command quite lucrative daily rates.

For a professional, reliable IT contractor, proving your income and long-term suitability for a mortgage shouldn’t be overly difficult. Once we have the big picture on your current income, anticipated revenue streams, and predicted earnings over the years to come, we’ll be able to frame your mortgage application so that it paints your finances in the most favourable light and meets all the criteria our chosen mortgage lender will need to see.

The attitude towards self-employed lending is often driven by a lack of flexibility in assessing contractor income – in the absence of employer’s payslips, a lender has to work harder to understand the level and consistency of a contractor’s pay, and therefore their ability to repay the mortgage.

If you’re reading this as a contractor – particularly an IT contractor – you’re likely to see the irony in this position. Many IT contractors are established professionals who can command pay rates exceeding those of similarly experienced PAYE employees. The typical IT contractor also tends to manage their finances carefully; many maximise tax efficiency by operating as a limited company, while others may pay tax and National Insurance contributions through an umbrella company. So are there lenders out there who recognise that contractors aren’t automatically “mortgage misfits” who represent a greater lending risk?

The good news is that it is becoming easier for contractors to get a mortgage. Not only are there a number of smaller niche lenders on the market who specialise in lending to contractors and the self-employed; some of the more mainstream lenders are also recognising that the make-up of the UK workforce is shifting and that they need to take this into account in their lending assessment criteria if they want to retain their share of the mortgage market.

Different lenders have taken different approaches to contractor mortgage lending. Some specifically offer products labelled as “contractor mortgages“. For others, it has been more about making behind-the-scenes changes to the ways they assess income and calculate affordability – incorporating more flexible underwriting criteria to allow them to evaluate the income of applicants who don’t have the benefit of employer’s payslips to prove their income. What this ultimately means is that it is far from impossible for contractors to get a mortgage, and providing you meet the lender’s affordability assessments, you will most likely have access to the same types of mortgage rates and products as anyone else.

 

A decade or so ago, it was possible for contractors applying for a mortgage to declare their income without providing any evidence. For better or worse, so-called “self-certification” mortgage is now a thing of the past, and Financial Conduct Authority mortgage rules require lenders to fully verify every applicant’s income with the necessary documentation. Lenders can use quite different criteria to verify your income and assess affordability, and this will also vary depending on whether you are self-employed as a sole trader or partner, operate a limited company, or work via an umbrella company. Here we’ll look at some typical approaches.

Many lenders assess contractor income in the same way as for self-employed applicants, by asking for full business accounts prepared or certified by a chartered accountant. Lenders vary in how many years’ accounts they will ask to see, but be prepared to submit accounts for up to the previous three tax years. Some lenders may ask for SA302 year-end tax calculations (with corresponding tax year overviews), either in addition to or instead of full accounts. Depending on how you submit your tax return, these can be printed from the online Self Assessment portal, via your accounting software, or requested directly from HM Revenue & Customs. Be aware that while many lenders accept SA302s printed at home or by an accountant, others will ask for HMRC originals.

If you run your IT contracting business as a limited company, lenders will typically use only income and dividends drawn from the company in calculating your income for affordability purposes. However, some more specialist lenders may base their calculations on your share of net profits; this can potentially make a considerable difference in how much you will be able to borrow.

Some lenders take an alternative approach to calculating contractor income, by simply taking the day rate from your current contract, multiplying it by five to give a weekly income, then multiplying by 48 weeks to give an annual income (taking into account holidays periods). They will then use this figure against their usual affordability calculation to work out how much you can borrow – this varies but is typically four or five times the annual income figure.

Mortgage advice for IT contractors is much the same as for contractors in other fields, although it has been known for a handful of specialist lenders to offer particular deals to professionals in certain sectors. The mortgages available to you will depend largely on the type of contract you have with your employer, the length of time you’ve been working as a contractor in IT, the duration left on your current contract and the kind of rates you are typically used to, among other factors.

The complications arise when you consider that not many lenders are geared up to handle applications from an IT contractor, and simply do not understand your specific needs, nor how your income is structured. The ones that are used to working with self-employed people on contracts are often specialist lenders who do not advertise their deals to the public, preferring to only work through professional brokers and advisors. You could spend a huge amount of time looking for them online and never know they are there, nor see the deals they could offer.

Thankfully, there are lenders who specialise in IT contractor mortgages, and you can access them easily through a specialist broker like ourselves. The team here at IMC Mortgage Brokers has helped a great number of IT contractors to successfully obtain a mortgage – matching applicants with exactly the right lender to meet their needs, with the lender knowing that you are exactly the kind of person they are able to help.

Whatever your background, a lender’s decision over your mortgage application will be largely down to your verifiable income, how this might be measured to get an anticipated annual figure, and its perceived level of sustainability. We understand the complexities of your finances, how your income is structured, and our knowledge of all the deals and lenders across the board means we will be able to match you with a lender whose assessment criteria will suit your present and future circumstances.

Contractor Mortgage Broker

At IMC Mortgage Brokers we understand the complexities of contractor finances, and that contractor income by its very nature can be inconsistent. We can help you not only find the right mortgage for you, but also match you to the lender whose assessment criteria best meet your past and current financial circumstances. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you find a contractor-friendly lender.