Joint Mortgage One Self-Employed, One Employed
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Joint Mortgage One Self-Employed, One Employed
Adam Messer explains how a joint mortgage works if one person is self-employed and the other is employed. [Podcast recorded November 2025]
Can I get a joint mortgage if one person is self-employed and the other is employed?
Yes, you can. We’ll get into the details in a moment, but lenders are absolutely set up to cope with different sorts of income. One of you might be employed, one of you might be self-employed.
You might both be self-employed, or you might both be employed with a little self-employment on the side, as well. As long as it’s legal income, we can use it.
Can you get a bigger mortgage if one person is self-employed? How much can you borrow?
I wouldn’t say bigger necessarily, although it depends how you’re self-employed – are you a limited company director or a sole trader?
If you’re a limited company director, there are different ways of looking at your income. We could use your company profits instead of your salary and dividends. That can often get you a bigger mortgage.
But beyond that, lenders tend to use the same income multiples, whether you’re employed or self-employed. It doesn’t mean you can get a bigger mortgage, but it also shouldn’t mean it’s a smaller mortgage, either.
How does one person being self-employed affect your eligibility for a joint mortgage?
Being self-employed is perfectly fine and lots of lenders’ criteria focus on people who are self-employed, including company directors, contractors and CIS contractors.
Whatever your self-employment situation, it’s absolutely fine. We have lots of other content on self-employed income and mortgages on the website that may be useful.
Just being self-employed doesn’t make you any less eligible or less likely to get a mortgage. If one of you is employed and one is self-employed, that’s good because one role is seen as reliable – although in reality, being employed doesn’t really mean you’re more safe.
But there’s no discrimination between employed and self-employed, so it doesn’t have an adverse effect.
Are there any specific requirements or restrictions on joint mortgages if one partner is self-employed and the other is employed?
One thing is that we will ask for different income evidence. We will want bank statements for both of you, and from the employed person, we’ll want your payslips.
For the self-employed, we might ask for SA302s or tax calculations. Those show your net profit if you’re a sole trader, or your dividends and your salary if you’re a limited company director.
If you’re a company owner, we usually get your accounts as well, because that shows your profit. We might want to go to a lender that will use profit instead of dividends, if that works better for you.
There are no restrictions, though. It was more tricky for the self-employed to get a mortgage for a time after Covid, but it’s settled back down now.
What obstacles might employed individuals have to navigate when applying for a joint mortgage with someone who’s self-employed?
There could be obstacles in how the self-employed income and accounts have looked in recent years. When you’re employed, though, it’s fairly clear cut. Your salary is your salary and that’s that. You might have a bonus or overtime, which is variable income, but that’s perfectly fine.
The self-employed have a bit more flexibility around how you present your profits – you can take more dividends, or less, or put through more expenses. Your accountant will work with you, to potentially maximise your profit for borrowing, or make sure your tax bill is not too large – obviously, within the realms of legality.
A big business expense that might affect your profit this year might be a hurdle when you’re borrowing. But beyond that it’s no more complex if you’re self-employed than being employed. It really is nothing to worry about.
What should self-employed individuals know about the income assessment process for a joint mortgage application with an employed person?
For the employed person it should be pretty easy. Lenders will want three months’ payslips. If they get an annual bonus, we might need proof of those over the last couple of years. Employed income is straightforward to assess.
When you’re self-employed, there are different things we can look at – your salary and dividends or perhaps profit instead of dividends. That’s usually the net profit of the business, but some lenders will look at gross profit.
The odd lender will actually look at your latest year’s gross profit – so if your profit has gone up year on year, your latest year’s gross profit will give you a lot more in income than an average of the last two years’ salary and dividends. That can potentially make a massive difference on what you can borrow.
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How does lender choice affect my mortgage options?
Every lender’s different, and they all look at different things. If we go to Santander, for example, they’ll decide how to assess your income, put that in their calculator and that’s how much you can borrow. If we go to HSBC, they will look at your income differently if you’re a company director, for example. They’ll look at your profit and come up with a different figure.
All the calculators are different, as well. Some are more generous around credit commitments and children. So there’s a whole range of different factors in assessing your income and how much you can borrow. Self-employed income just makes it even more varied from lender to lender. There’s more to consider, but it doesn’t mean it’s harder.
I often say that whatever the situation, we can almost always get you a mortgage. I can’t remember the last time that we literally couldn’t get a mortgage for someone. It might not be the amount you want, or the rate you want, but you can get one 95% of the time.
If it doesn’t work right now, we can suggest a few steps so that by the time your next accounts are done, it probably will.
What factors do lenders account for when assessing mortgage affordability for joint self-employed and employed applicants?
We’ve talked a lot about income, but we’ll also be looking at your other commitments and debts, like loans, credit cards and car payments. If you’ve got debts in your limited company, we’re not factoring those in for affordability.
It’s different if you’re a sole trader, as any debt there is your debt. But limited company borrowing for cars or bounceback loans won’t be included. Those are covered in your accounts. We’re not looking at those, just personal debts, loans, credit cards and cars. They’re the big ones.
Children have an impact as well. We need to factor in how many dependents you have. You might have some extra income from that, though, as child benefit – although if you earn a certain amount, the child benefit disappears.
The term is another factor, along with age. A 25 year old can get a much longer term than a 55 year old. That affects affordability, because it’s not as simple as borrowing a certain multiple of your income these days. It’s an affordability assessment. The longer the term, usually the more you can borrow – up to a certain amount.
Are there any specific types of joint mortgage products where only one applicant is self-employed?
No, lenders don’t have specific products for specific people. Two or three lenders have a ‘professional’ product range if you’re a doctor, or pilot etc., but those are few and far between. I don’t think I’ve ever arranged one of those.
Beyond that, everyone can access the same type of mortgage. If a lender will lend to you, you can have any of their products. They don’t give one rate to the self-employed and another to an employee. It doesn’t work like that.
Can you benefit from any government schemes when applying for a joint mortgage when one person is self-employed?
At the time we’re recording this in November 2025, there aren’t really any government schemes available. If you’re in the armed forces there is still military Help to Buy, but you wouldn’t be self-employed if you’re in the army.
So it’s not because you’re self-employed, just because there aren’t any schemes. When Help to Buy was available, it was open to the self-employed as well as the employed. It didn’t matter as the products were the same.
Are there many lenders or mortgage brokers for joint mortgage applications where only one is self-employed?
There aren’t specifically lenders for this, but some are better set up for the self-employed than others. They might be slightly more generous or look at the income in a slightly more favourable way, depending on your circumstances.
When you’re self-employed, there are lots of different ways of looking at your income. There’s no discrimination, but how your income is assessed can vary from lender to lender.
Going to the right one is important, and a mortgage broker will know which to choose and which to avoid.
We do help a lot of self-employed people, so we know what we’re doing. Come and speak to us if you need some help.
Key Takeaways:
- Joint mortgages with one applicant who is self-employed and one who is employed are common, as lenders are set up to handle different types of income.
- Self-employed income assessment varies by lender (e.g., salary/dividends vs. profit) and business structure, impacting borrowing capacity.
- Lender choice is critical, as each lender assesses self-employed income and affordability factors (like debts and dependents) differently. A mortgage broker’s expertise is valuable in navigating this variety.
- Being self-employed does not make you less eligible for a mortgage, and there are no specific products or restrictions for joint applications with mixed employment statuses.
- Affordability is assessed based on multiple factors beyond just income, including personal debts, number of dependents, the mortgage term, and the applicant’s age. Limited company debts are typically not factored into personal affordability assessments.
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.
The information contained within this article was correct at the time of publication but is subject to change.
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