Mortgage for Complex Shareholding
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Mortgage for Complex Shareholding
Adam Messer from Vantage Mortgages talks us through mortgages for complex shareholdings. [Podcast recorded October 2025]
Can I get a mortgage using business shares I own?
Yes – it’s a case of using the profit that those shares generate. Business shares on their own are no good unless they’re providing you with profit. You might not take that profit out – it might stay in the business – but as long as it’s yours to access, we can get a mortgage on that.
Most people have some salary from their business or mortgage, but you could own shares in multiple businesses – and that’s perfectly fine. Your salary and the profits from the businesses you have shares in both contribute towards how much you can borrow.
Do I need to own more than 50% of the company to use my income for a mortgage?
No. You can own whatever percentage you like. That said, if you own less than 20% and this is your main income, most lenders will view you as employed. You might get paid a salary from that business and take small dividends. Lenders will then just use those.
Once you own more than 20%, we start looking at you as a limited company director or owner. We can then use the profit from those shares.
Not all lenders will look at the profit, though. Most lenders look at salary and dividends, but a few use the profit from the company you have shares in.
What type of income do lenders look at? Salary, dividends or both?
Both, and more. Let’s say you own one business and pay yourself a small salary to fit with tax allowances. Then you have dividends. Most lenders will look at salary and dividends over the last year or two.
But some lenders will look at your share of the profit the company has made. Perhaps you own 33% of a company. If your share in that company has made more than your dividends, because you leave money in the business, we can go to a different lender and use that profit rather than the dividend. That could get you a higher figure.
Sometimes people take out all of their profit as dividends, in which case it doesn’t matter. But if there’s money left in, there’s a good case to use profit, not dividends.
Can I get a mortgage if my income changes from year to year?
Absolutely. It’s very rare that people’s income stays exactly the same year on year. If it goes up, there’s a choice. Most lenders average the latest two, while others just use the latest year if it’s increasing. If it goes down, most lenders just use the latest, lower figure.
How much can I borrow based on my shareholding?
It depends how much profit you make with that shareholding. Generally, we take your salary and your share of the profit and multiply by five, to be on the safe side. It also varies from lender to lender.
We take your figures to a handful of lenders to see who’s going to give you the most. If we’re not after the maximum, just a specific amount, we can go to the most cost-effective lender for that sized mortgage.
How much you can borrow is completely dependent on you, your circumstances, your other income, your outgoings – and potentially your partner’s income and outgoings.
Do I need to have filed my latest tax return before I apply?
It’s another ‘it depends’ answer because it can vary based on where we are in the year. Most lenders will use income that’s up to 18 months old.
It also depends on what income we’re using. If we’re using your share of profits, your personal tax return isn’t so relevant – it’s the business income we’re after. Even so, that 18 month deadline is key.
If your company’s trading year is the tax year, which ends in April, the previous year’s accounts are too old by October. Even though HMRC don’t need you to have done those until January, we need them for mortgage purposes.
The same applies for company accounts. Your company accounts can run from any month of the year, not just April. The date may be different, but 18 months is still the key.
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Can company profits I haven’t taken out still be used to help me borrow more?
Yes – that’s exactly the point of the net profits. These are the profits the company has made, but you haven’t taken them out as dividends. We would go to a lender that uses the net profit – or even the gross profit in some cases. The profit left in the business will help us get a larger mortgage if we want one.
Will having more than one business make it harder to get a mortgage?
No, we can combine the businesses together. We do mortgages for people with multiple businesses – sometimes within the same group. You might have a holding company that owns multiple businesses. That’s fine as well – we can combine it all together.
We have to go to the right lender, as not all of them are set up to look at complex shareholding income, but it’s certainly something we can do.
What documents do I need to get ready before we start?
If we’re specifically talking about using profit from shares of companies, we need the latest set of accounts. We can only use finalised accounts, not draft, with a lender. Draft is fine for us to work out figures, but we need finalised accounts for the lender.
We might also need your personal tax return dated within 18 months. We’ll then need bank statements, ID and proof of deposit if it’s a purchase.
Will my personal credit history matter as much as my company accounts?
Yes, it will. This is a mortgage for you personally, not your business, and it’s all about your credit. We’re using your business profits as your income, just as we use salary for someone who is employed.
How you handle your credit history is very important in where we can go and what we can do. If you’ve got bad credit, it won’t necessarily stop you, but it is a factor.
Can I apply based on my latest year’s income if it’s higher than before?
Not with every lender, but there are a couple of lenders that just use the latest year. It’s pretty flexible. If your latest year is higher, we can definitely go to lenders that will just use that.
How long does it usually take to get approved on a mortgage with a complex shareholding?
I have a good case example for you, actually – a gentleman from a week or two ago. He owned various percentages of several businesses. He owned shares of 50%, a third and one was at 100%. It was quite complex, and took a while to get everything written down and to work out the income for the lender.
We went with the lender that used his salary and profit from all those businesses. We broke it all down and provided the accounts. It was agreed quickly and within a few days a valuation was done. We got the mortgage offered within a week.
It doesn’t have to take a long time if we line it all up from the start and it all makes sense. Not all lenders will be that quick, though – that was a good one.
How can a mortgage broker help on mortgages with a complex shareholding?
It’s all about making sure we know what we’re doing and going to the right lenders. There’s so much lender choice, all with different criteria and offering different things.
Choosing the right one is key, and so is having all the information they will want. We know how to do that – other brokers will as well, so it doesn’t have to be us. But a mortgage broker is key when you’ve got anything complex.
Key Takeaways:
- You can use the profit generated by business shares to get a mortgage, even if you don’t take the profit out, as long as it’s accessible to you.
- Lenders consider you a limited company director or owner if you own more than 20% of a company, and can then use the profit from those shares for mortgage calculations.
- Some lenders will use your share of the company’s profit, rather than just salary and dividends, which could lead to a higher borrowing figure, especially if you leave money in the business.
- Lenders are flexible with income changes year-on-year; if your income increases, some will use the latest year’s figure, and if it decreases, most will use the latest, lower figure.
- A mortgage broker is crucial when dealing with complex shareholding income, as they can help navigate the wide choice of lenders and their varying criteria to find the right fit for your circumstances.
Think carefully before securing other debts against your property. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other debt secured on it.
For specialist tax advice, please refer to an accountant or tax specialist.
The information contained within this article was correct at the time of publication but is subject to change.
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