Situation
Our clients came to us having spoken to multiple Advisers and being told they would not be able to secure a mortgage due to their Tier 2 skilled worker visa status and due to not living in the UK for a long enough period of time.
The clients were both Medical Doctors and moved to the UK from outside of the EU, both have lived in the UK for over 2-years and had 2 years remaining on the Tier 2 Skilled Worker Visa. In terms of deposit, there was a 10% deposit available, this had been accumulated from income since their time in the UK and wanted to utilise this to purchase an asset to live in with their family.
This case fell outside of normal mortgage lending criteria for many lenders due to the time in the UK and tier 2 skilled visa status, many lenders require a 25% deposit which was not achievable due to the short period of time in the UK.
Following being told the 25% deposit was required by other brokers, we researched the market to check if there were any special criteria or exceptions with certain lenders to purchase with a 10% deposit – especially given the clients professions as Doctors.
Research
Our research showed we were able to secure terms with a few lenders based on the 10% deposit:
Barclays – required minimum of two years in the UK
Principality – require 2 years in the UK and 1 years remaining on the Visa
Skipton – require 1 years in the UK and 2 years remaining on the Visa
Halifax – ok if the single earner was over £75,000 or joint earners over £100,000
NB Some of the lenders namely Skipton and Principality are also able to make certain exceptions outside of the criteria for strong-cases, these need to be managed and presented to the lender by the qualified advisers.
Recommendation
Following the research, due to the time in the UK and earning levels of the joint applicants, we manage to secure a 90% mortgage taking into account the tier 2 skilled visa and the client was able to secure a home.
At Home Group Financial, we pride ourselves on working closely with Professional clients to help them secure their mortgages, this often means working closely with those on Tier 2 Skilled Visas which we have extensive experience in securing mortgages.