Getting a Mortgage With Multiple Income Sources

The mixed-income reality

A typical case we see: a salaried job, a side consultancy, one rental property and a small pension. Every element is real, evidenced and taxed, yet an online affordability calculator will usually capture only the first.

Lenders differ enormously in how many streams they will combine and which ones they accept at all. Getting all your income counted is often worth more than chasing a slightly lower rate.

How each stream is usually treated

Broad guidance, with wide variation between lenders:

• Employed salary: counted in full, evidenced by payslips and P60
• Second job: usually accepted where it has run for six to twelve months
• Self-employed profit alongside a job: accepted by many lenders, though some require the self-employment to be the minor element
• Rental profit: frequently counted, often at 100 per cent of the figure on your tax return rather than gross rent
• Pension income: normally counted in full, including drawdown where it is sustainable
• Investment or trust income: accepted by a narrower group, typically needing two to three years of history
• Foreign currency income: specialist territory, usually with a haircut of 10 to 25 per cent for exchange rate risk
• Benefits such as child benefit, tax credits or DLA: counted by some lenders, often in full

Evidence for a multi-stream case

Because these cases are usually underwritten by a human rather than a system, presentation matters. We build a written income summary showing each stream, its evidence and its history, which materially improves the underwriter response.

• Two years of SA302s and tax year overviews, which capture every stream in one place
• Payslips and P60s for employed elements
• Tenancy agreements and a rental schedule for property income
• Pension statements or drawdown documentation
• Bank statements showing each stream arriving