Can I put my husband on a mortgage with me?
He is 70 and still in full time employment, I am 50 and currently have a mortgage with my son who wants to come off.
I work full time and I pay the mortgage. My son is on the mortgage in name only.
Ask the Specialist response:
Thanks for sending in the query.
That is a really good question. We have helped clients in similar situations to this previously.
There are two key issues to look at here.
Firstly, we'd need to look at whether the mortgage is affordable using your employed income alone. As a rule of thumb, lenders will typically consider a maximum mortgage of between 3 to 5 times your income. So for example - if you are earning £40,000 then the maximum mortgage could be roughly between £120,000 to £200,000. However, this does vary from lender to lender and they will want to assess affordability fully using bank statements, payslips etc. If your income is able to support the mortgage by itself then we can potentially look at a joint mortgage with you and your husband over the standard 25 year term.
Alternatively, if the mortgage is not affordable using just your income, but is affordable when combined with your husbands income then we may be able to assist. You would most likely be looking at a maximum mortgage term of 15 years - taking your husband to age 85 and you to age 65 (although some lenders will consider lending to applicants older than 85). The main issue to cover here is that your husband's income would need to be sustainable for the entire mortgage term i.e. to age 85. Most lenders consider income such as pensions sustainable to this age. If you need to rely on your husband's employed income to age 85 then it is unlikely a lender would consider this scenario as, although many people wish to work for longer, working to age 85 is not likely to be achievable for most people.
Finally, if the above two options are not feasible, we may be able to look at a shorter term for the mortgage to fit with your husband's planned retirement age and the end of his employed income.
If you require further clarification or have any questions, I'd recommend speaking to one of our mortgage advisers by calling 0207 710 0400.
Alternatively, to obtain an indication on a mortgage rate for the over 70's you can either check our selection of over 70's mortgage rates or send us an enquiry online.
David Rostron MEng(Hons) CeMAP CeRER
Business Manager
