Self-Employed Mortgages
Mortgage advice for sole traders, freelancers, and company directors
Being self-employed shouldn't stop you getting a competitive mortgage. The important part is finding a lender that assesses your income in the right way.
Whether you're a sole trader, a partner in a business, a limited company director, or have income that changes from year to year, we'll look at how your earnings are structured, work out which lenders are likely to suit your circumstances, and search the mortgage market for suitable options.
Experienced with complex and self-employed income
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Options may be available with just one year's accounts
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Can I Get a Mortgage if I’m Self-Employed?
Yes. Being self-employed doesn't mean you need a special type of mortgage, and it doesn't automatically mean you'll pay a higher interest rate.
The main difference is how a lender proves and assesses your income.
An employed applicant may be able to evidence their earnings using payslips. If you're self-employed, a lender may instead look at your tax calculations, accounts, company income, dividends, or business performance, depending on how you work.
This is where lender choice can become particularly important.
Two lenders could look at exactly the same self-employed applicant and calculate their usable income differently. For example, one lender might assess a limited company director using salary and dividends, while another may be able to consider their share of company profits.
Similarly, if your income has increased, fallen, fluctuates from year to year, or you only have one year's accounts, different lenders can take very different approaches.
At Delta Mortgages, we'll look at how you earn your income before choosing a lender, rather than simply sending the same figures through multiple affordability calculators.
That can be particularly helpful if you're:
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a sole trader or freelancer
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a partner in a business
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a limited company director
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newly self-employed
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leaving profit within your company
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experiencing increasing or fluctuating profits.
We'll explain how different lenders may view your income and help you understand your borrowing options before you apply.
Do You Work on a Contract Basis?
If you’re paid by day rate, work through an umbrella company, under CIS, on a fixed-term contract or another contracting arrangement, our Mortgages for Contractors guide may be more relevant.
It explains how lenders can assess contractor income, contract history and different ways of working.
How Do Mortgage Lenders Assess Self-Employed Income?
How your income is assessed can depend on the way you run your business. Different lenders use different calculations, so choosing the right lender can make a significant difference to how much you may be able to borrow.
Partnerships
If you’re a partner in a business, lenders will generally assess your share of the partnership profits rather than the total income of the business.
How recent years are assessed or averaged can vary between lenders, particularly where profits have increased or fallen.
Limited Company Directors
Many lenders assess a company director using salary and dividends. Others may be able to consider your share of the company’s profits, including profit you have chosen to leave within the business.
That difference can sometimes have a significant effect on the income available for mortgage affordability.
Sole Traders
Lenders will usually assess the profit you declare through Self Assessment rather than your business turnover.
Some lenders average your income over recent years, while others may be able to use your latest year’s figures where your profits have increased.
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Three Simple Steps to Getting a Mortgage When You’re Self-Employed
Getting a mortgage when you’re self-employed can involve a little more paperwork, but the process itself is much the same.
We’ll help you understand how lenders may assess your income, identify suitable mortgage options and support you from your first enquiry through to mortgage offer.
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Get an Agreement in Principle
Once we’ve identified a suitable lender, we can arrange an Agreement in Principle.
This gives you an indication of how much the lender may be prepared to lend and can help you move forward with your property search.
When you’re ready to apply, we’ll manage the mortgage application and liaise with the lender through to mortgage offer.
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We’ll Search and Compare the Mortgage Market
We’ll research lenders from across the market and consider how each may assess your particular type of self-employed income.
We’ll then recommend a suitable mortgage based on your circumstances, borrowing requirements and preferences.
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Speak to a Mortgage Adviser
Start with a free, no-obligation conversation about your plans, income and circumstances.
We’ll look at how you’re paid, discuss how much you may be able to borrow and explain what documents are likely to be needed.
Why Lender Choice Matters When You’re Self-Employed
Different mortgage lenders can take very different approaches to self-employed income.
One lender might use an average of your recent earnings, while another may be able to consider your latest year’s figures. For limited company directors, some lenders use salary and dividends, while others may also consider your share of company profits.
This means the lender that offers the lowest headline rate isn’t always the lender that will offer you the borrowing you need.
At Delta Mortgages, we’ll look at how your income is structured and compare lenders from across the market to find suitable options for your circumstances.
What Do Mortgage Lenders Look for When You’re Self-Employed?
Mortgage lenders want to understand whether your income is sustainable and whether the mortgage will remain affordable.
The exact approach varies between lenders, but they will usually consider:
How Long You’ve Been Self-Employed
Many lenders prefer applicants to have at least two years’ trading history, although some may consider an application with just one year’s accounts.
Your options can depend on your previous employment, experience in the same industry and how your business is performing.
Your Declared Income
Lenders will usually assess income that has been declared and evidenced through your tax returns or business accounts, rather than simply using your current turnover or the amount of money coming into the business.
For example, a sole trader is usually assessed using taxable profit, while a limited company director may be assessed using salary and dividends or, with some lenders, their share of company profits.
If your income has increased recently, some lenders may also take a more favourable view of your latest year’s figures rather than averaging several years.
Affordability
Your income is only part of the calculation.
Lenders will also look at your regular commitments, including loans, credit cards, childcare costs, maintenance payments, and other household expenditure when deciding how much you may be able to borrow.
Your Credit History
Your credit history helps lenders understand how you have managed borrowing in the past.
A missed payment or previous credit issue does not automatically mean you cannot get a mortgage, but it may affect which lenders are suitable.
Your Deposit
The size of your deposit affects your loan-to-value, or LTV, which is the percentage of the property price you need to borrow.
A larger deposit can give you access to a wider range of mortgage options, but the deposit required will depend on the lender, property and your wider circumstances.
Your Business Performance
Some lenders may look beyond the headline income figures and consider how the business is performing overall.
This can include recent accounts, turnover, profit trends and, for limited companies, money retained within the business.
There isn’t one set of rules for self-employed applicants. Different lenders can interpret the same income in different ways, which is why it can be helpful to understand their criteria before making an application.
How Do Mortgage Lenders Calculate Self-Employed Income?
The income a mortgage lender uses may be quite different from your business turnover or the amount currently coming into your bank account.
How it is calculated depends on how you trade and the lender you apply to.
Lenders will usually look at your net or taxable profit rather than your turnover.
In simple terms, this is the income left after allowable business expenses have been deducted. Your tax calculations and accounts provide the figures lenders use to evidence this income.
Some lenders average your recent years’ profits, while others may be able to use your latest year’s figure where your income has increased.
If you’re a partner in a business, lenders will generally consider your share of the partnership profit, rather than the total profit or turnover of the business.
Again, the way recent years are averaged can vary between lenders.
Many lenders calculate income using your salary plus dividends.
However, this doesn’t always reflect the true profitability of the business, particularly if you deliberately leave money within the company rather than taking it as dividends.
Some lenders can instead consider your share of the company’s profits, subject to their criteria. This can sometimes make a significant difference to the income available for mortgage affordability.
What if My Income Has Increased or Fallen?
Lenders don’t all treat changing income in the same way.
If your profits are increasing, some may use your latest year’s figures while others will average several years. If income has fallen, a lender may want to understand why and whether the lower figure is likely to continue.
This is one of the reasons lender choice can be particularly important when you’re self-employed; the same set of accounts can produce different affordability results with different lenders.
How Your Delta Adviser Can Add Value
Our advisers have a good working knowledge of the criteria used by many different mortgage lenders, so we can consider how a lender is likely to assess your income before deciding where to apply.
For more complicated cases, we also have access to lenders’ Business Development Managers (BDMs). This means we can discuss unusual circumstances or check how a lender is likely to view a case before an application is submitted.
Doing this research upfront can help us place your application with a lender whose criteria fit your circumstances, reducing the risk of applying to an unsuitable lender and improving the chances of getting the application right first time.
This can be particularly valuable when you’re self-employed, as simply choosing a lender based on the headline rate or an online affordability calculator may not show how that lender will actually assess your income.
Unsure Whether Your Income Will Be Classed as Employed or Self-Employed?
It isn’t always obvious how a mortgage lender will classify your income.
For example, you might receive a salary from your own limited company, work through an umbrella company, invoice clients directly or work under CIS. The way you describe your employment status isn’t always the same as the way a mortgage lender will assess your income.
What matters is how you’re paid, the structure of your work, and the evidence available to support your earnings.
We’ll look at your circumstances first and work out whether your income is likely to be assessed as employed, self-employed or under specific contractor criteria.
If you’re paid by day rate, through an umbrella company, under CIS, or on a fixed-term contract, you may also find our Mortgages for Contractors guide useful.
What Documents Will I Need for a Mortgage if I’m Self-Employed?
Being organised with your paperwork can make the mortgage process much smoother.
We’ll ask for some documents from all applicants as part of our standard compliance checks, with additional information needed to evidence your self-employed income.
As standard, we’ll ask you to provide:
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Proof of identity and address – typically your passport and driving licence
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At least three months’ personal bank statements
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Evidence of your deposit and where it has come from (a savings statement, for example)
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Details of any loans, credit cards or other financial commitments.
Depending on your circumstances, we may need some additional information – for example, if some or all of your deposit is being gifted.
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To evidence your income, we’ll normally need your:
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Last 2 years' tax calculations (SA302s)
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Last 2 years' corresponding Tax Year Overviews
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Last 2 years' business accounts, where available
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Business bank statements, where required.
The amount of trading history a lender requires varies. Many prefer at least two years, but some lenders may consider an application with only one year’s accounts.
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If you run a limited company, we may also need:
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Your company accounts for the last 2 years
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Your last 2 years' Tax calculations and Tax Year Overviews
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Business bank statements
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Details of your salary and dividends.
Where a lender is considering your share of company profits rather than simply salary and dividends, they may need to examine the company accounts in more detail.
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We’ll Tell You Exactly What You Need
You don’t need to work out which lender documents apply to you before getting in touch.
Once we understand how you earn your income and which lenders may be suitable, we’ll give you a clear list of anything else we need before your application is submitted.
Having the correct information available from the outset can help reduce delays and avoid unnecessary requests for additional paperwork later in the process.
Lenders may ask for further information once your application has been submitted as part of their assessment. If they do, we’ll explain what’s needed and guide you through any additional requirements.
How Can I Prepare for a Mortgage if I’m Self-Employed?
A little preparation before applying can make the process much smoother and help us identify suitable lenders for your circumstances.
Keep Your Accounts and Tax Returns Up to Date
Make sure your latest accounts, tax calculations and Tax Year Overviews are available.
If your most recent year shows stronger income, having those figures finalised can be particularly helpful, as some lenders may be able to use the latest year rather than averaging several years.
Keep Your Financial Records Clear
Make sure your personal and business banking is easy to understand, particularly if you regularly transfer money between accounts or pay personal expenses from the business.
Clear records can make it easier to evidence your income and explain any unusual transactions if a lender asks about them.
Look After Your Credit History
Check your credit report before applying and make sure the information recorded is accurate.
Try to keep payments up to date and avoid taking on unnecessary new borrowing before your mortgage application, as lenders will consider your existing commitments as part of their affordability assessment.
Build Your Deposit
A larger deposit can reduce the percentage of the property price you need to borrow and may give you access to a wider range of mortgage options.
That doesn’t mean you need a large deposit to apply — the amount required will depend on the lender, property and your wider circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions About Getting a Mortgage When You’re Self-Employed
Being self-employed can raise a few extra questions when you’re looking for a mortgage, particularly around how your income will be calculated.
Here are some of the questions we’re most often asked by sole traders, company directors, and partners.
Not necessarily; self-employed applicants generally have access to the same mortgage products as employed applicants. The main difference is that lenders may need more information to understand and verify your income.
The key is finding a lender whose criteria suit the way you earn your money.
Many lenders like to see at least two years of trading history, but this isn’t a universal requirement.
Some lenders will consider applicants with only one full year of self-employed income, depending on your circumstances, previous experience, business performance, and the rest of the application.
Yes, potentially. There are lenders that will consider an application with one full year of trading history, although the choice of lenders may be more limited.
They may look at factors such as what you did before becoming self-employed, whether you have experience in the same industry, how the business has performed and whether the income appears sustainable.
Different lenders can offer very different borrowing amounts, even when they’re looking at the same income.
How much you can borrow will depend on the income a lender is prepared to use, along with your deposit, credit history, existing commitments, household expenditure and their affordability checks.
For self-employed applicants, lender choice can make a particularly big difference because the same accounts or tax figures may be assessed differently from one lender to another.
Usually not; turnover is the total income received by the business before expenses are deducted, so it doesn’t show how much income is actually available to you personally. That’s why lenders will normally look at profit or other evidenced income instead when assessing affordability.
A sole trader will typically be assessed using taxable or net profit. Limited company directors may be assessed using salary and dividends or, with some lenders, their share of company profits.
Being self-employed doesn't automatically mean you will pay a higher mortgage rate.
The mortgage products available to you will depend on factors such as your deposit or loan-to-value, credit history, borrowing requirements and whether you meet the lender’s criteria.
However, if your circumstances restrict the number of lenders available to you, this can affect the range of rates and products you can access.
This depends on the lender.
Many lenders assess limited company directors using salary plus dividends. Others may be able to consider your share of the company’s profits, which can be useful if you leave some of the profit within the business rather than taking it all as dividends.
Your shareholding and the financial performance of the company can also affect how a lender assesses your income.
Potentially. Some lenders can look beyond the salary and dividends you have withdrawn and consider your share of the company’s profits. This may be helpful where you run a profitable company but deliberately leave money within the business.
Not every lender takes this approach, and those that do may look more closely at the company accounts, your shareholding, and whether the level of profit is sustainable.
Different lenders take different approaches.
Some will average your income over recent years, while others may be prepared to use your latest year’s figures where profits have increased and the higher level of income appears sustainable.
This can make lender selection particularly important if your business has grown significantly.
A fall in income doesn’t automatically prevent you from getting a mortgage, but lenders are likely to take it into account.
They may want to understand why income has reduced and whether the change is temporary or likely to continue. Some lenders will base affordability on the latest, lower figure rather than an average of previous years.
Your Delta mortgage adviser can review the figures before applying and identify lenders whose criteria are appropriate for your circumstances.
This varies between lenders.
Sole traders and business partners will normally be treated as self-employed. Limited company directors can also be treated as self-employed for mortgage purposes, although the lender’s approach may depend on your shareholding and how you receive your income.
It may be possible once you have a full year of trading history, although lender choice is likely to be more limited than it would be with a longer track record.
Previous experience can also be important. For example, a lender may take a different view of someone who has become self-employed in an industry they have worked in for many years, compared with someone starting an entirely new business.
Even if you think you may not be eligible yet, it’s still worth speaking to us. We can check lender criteria, explain what options may be available now and, if the timing isn’t quite right, help you understand what you may need to do before applying.
Possibly. It will depend on the type of credit issue, how serious it was, when it happened, and your wider circumstances.
Different lenders have different criteria for missed payments, defaults, County Court Judgments and other credit problems.
Rather than making several applications, it can be helpful to check your credit history first.
If you provide your Delta mortgage adviser with a copy of your credit report (from Checkmyfile or another credit reference agency), we can review the information with you, explain which issues are likely to matter to lenders, and help identify lenders whose criteria may be more suitable for your circumstances.
Where Do I Get My Self-Employment Tax Documents From?
If you’re self-employed, we may ask you for a tax calculation and the corresponding Tax Year Overview to help evidence your income.
They’re two different documents, and clients quite often send one thinking it covers both. Here’s some guidance on what to look for, what each document shows and where you can get them from.
What is a tax calculation?
Your tax calculation shows the income you declared for the tax year and how your tax was calculated.
You may hear this referred to as an SA302, although if your accountant submitted your return using commercial software, the equivalent document may be called a tax computation instead.
What is a Tax Year Overview?
A Tax Year Overview is a separate HMRC document showing the tax position recorded on your account for that tax year. The tax due figure should correspond with the amount shown on the matching tax calculation for the specific tax year.
Mortgage lenders often ask for this alongside your tax calculation so they can cross-check the figures, confirm the return has been submitted to HMRC and check that your tax position is up to date.
Where do I get them?
If you completed your Self Assessment return directly through HMRC, you can usually access both your tax calculation and Tax Year Overview through your HMRC online account.
If your accountant submitted the return using their commercial software, your accountant can normally provide the tax calculation or tax computation.
You can still download your Tax Year Overview from your HMRC online account (or your accountant could also provide a copy).
Delta Mortgages is not responsible for the accuracy of the information contained within the linked site(s) accessible from this page.
What should I send to my adviser?
Send your Delta mortgage adviser the SA302 tax calculation or tax computation for the years requested, together with the matching Tax Year Overviews.
If you’re not sure whether you have the right documents, send them over and we can check them for you.
How Delta Mortgages Can Help When You’re Self-Employed
A big part of our job is understanding how your income is likely to be viewed by a lender before we recommend where to apply.
That’s particularly important when you’re self-employed, because two lenders can look at the same accounts or tax figures and reach quite different borrowing amounts.
Here’s what we’ll do for you:
Understand how you earn your income
We’ll look at how your business is structured, how you take income and whether there are any circumstances a lender needs to understand.
That could include increasing or fluctuating profits, retained company profit, or a short trading history.
Check lender criteria before you apply
We’ll research lenders from across the market rather than simply relying on an online affordability calculator.
Where a case is less straightforward, we can also speak to lender contacts and Business Development Managers to clarify criteria before submitting an application.
Recommend a suitable mortgage
Once we’ve compared the options, we’ll recommend a mortgage that fits your circumstances and explain why we think it’s suitable.
We’ll also talk you through the rate, fees, monthly payments and any important conditions so you know what you’re applying for.
Prepare and manage your application
We’ll make sure the relevant income documents are included and that your circumstances are explained clearly to the lender.
Once the application is submitted, we’ll manage the case, deal with lender queries and let you know if anything else is required.
Keep an eye on your mortgage until completion
Getting the mortgage offer isn’t necessarily the end of our involvement.
We’ll continue to support you through to completion and, where appropriate, re-check the available rates before you complete, in case a more suitable option has become available.
Ready to secure your mortgage options?
If you’re self-employed and want to understand how much you may be able to borrow, how lenders are likely to assess your income, or which options may suit your circumstances, speak to one of our mortgage advisers.
Your initial consultation is free and there’s no obligation to proceed.
Meet the Team That’s Got Your Back
Our mortgage advisers regularly help self-employed clients with a wide range of income structures — from sole traders, partners and company directors to applicants with fluctuating or more complex income.
You’ll deal directly with your adviser throughout the process, from understanding your income and checking lender criteria through to application, mortgage offer and completion.
Your property could be at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage, or any debt secured on it.
Written and reviewed by: Lauren Drake
Credentials: Mortgage, Protection & Equity Release Adviser – CertCII (MP & ER)
Date last reviewed: 29 September 2026
This page has been reviewed for accuracy and relevance. Mortgage criteria, product availability and legislation can change.
