They had been unable to get a mortgage under thegovernment-backed right to buy scheme because he had just taken up a new job at a garden centre which supports adults with disabilities, and his mum was receiving jobseekers’ allowance while looking for work.
A mother and son have bought the council house where they’d lived for more than a decade thanks to a residential home loan from specialist lender Together.
They had been unable to get a mortgage under thegovernment-backed right to buy scheme because he had just taken up a new job at a garden centre which supports adults with disabilities, and his mum was receiving jobseekers’ allowance while looking for work.
The mother and son had lived together in their rented home for more than 11 years and had always wanted to buy it together. However, they hadn’t realised that their employment status, as well as the fact they were buying under right to buy, meant they would struggle to get a home loan from a high street bank or building society.
The customers discovered Together could help following a search on the internet. An in-house adviser at the specialist mortgage lender spoke to them both and its expert underwriters looked into all aspects of their backgrounds, including his employment contract, previous payslips, and their long history of rental payments.
Richard Tugwell, a director at Together, explained: “The son had started a new job and was, technically, on a zero hour contract at his new employment, meaning it would have been difficult, if not impossible to be able to get a mortgage through mainstream channels.
“Using our common sense philosophy and a personal approach to mortgage advice and underwriting, we looked at the son’s employment history and found that he had been consistently working beforehand and was working full-time hours in a stable job.
“We also found that the mortgage was affordable in their joint names, taking into account their impeccable credit records and the fact that the mother was actively seeking work, so was eligible for Government benefits. We took all these factors into consideration when deciding to provide the finance.”
Together agreed to provide a £24,470 first charge mortgage, secured against their £46,000 council house, while the customers paid a deposit of £2,300
Tugwell added: “We’re delighted that we’ve managed to help them in their dream of home ownership. The capital repayments on the loan are less than they had been paying their local council in rent, so it was a great outcome for them.”
Together, which announced this week that its loan book has grown to £2.78bn, provides first and second charge mortgages for right to buy customers and others in non-standard circumstances such as shared ownership.
