Mortgage Arranged in Just 4 Days on London Home for Cypriot Earning in Euros

Getting your mortgage application accepted quickly can distinguish between securing your new home or losing out to a cash buyer.

Having a mortgage broker pushing your application through as a priority is so valuable in today’s fast-paced property market.

This case highlights a good broker's difference by speeding up your application and ironing out the issues, particularly in a complex subject.

The Scenario

Our clients were looking to buy a £545k residential home in the South East and needed a mortgage of £425k to fund their purchase.

But they were having difficulties securing typical mortgage finance for the following reasons:

• Although both applicants were UK nationals, one client was Cypriot and working for his family’s hotel business in Cyprus, returning to the UK on an ad hoc basis
  
  
• Earning in a foreign currency, such as Euros, in this case, can be a problem for many lenders.
  
  
• And he could be classed as an ex-pat if we didn’t use the right lender, as he also owned a property in Cyprus that a bank would flag up.

In addition, employment through a family business can also be a red flag for some mortgage providers.

Why?

There’s a risk of a family business inflating an individual’s salary for a mortgage to reach a higher loan size.

This isn’t sustainable for a business long term, and the salary could be reduced after the mortgage is accepted, leaving the borrower unable to keep up with their repayments.

The Solution

Firstly, the clients also owned a UK property that they frequently visited - we ensured their lender would accept this as proof of UK address.

This meant he wouldn’t be classed as an ex-pat and Cypriot resident - we could get past the typical ex-pat lending limits of 75% loan to value, and they wouldn’t have to pay higher expat interest rates.

We reassured the lender about our client’s family business earnings and provided additional contextual information about the company and his employment.

Because of our client's tight deadline, we pulled out all the stops to get their application through quickly.

With fluid communication between all parties, we found a solution for our client on the same day and pushed their application through with our connections at the right lender for them.

Within just 4 days of submitting their application, they had a mortgage offer from the lender – impressive, even by our standards!