First Time Buyer Joint Mortgage

How do joint mortgages work for First Time Buyers?

A joint mortgage allows two or more people to buy a property together and share the responsibility for the loan. It works the same for a First Time Buyer as for a home mover – there aren’t many differences.

Buying a property together rather than on your own could allow you, as a First Time Buyer, to increase your borrowing power. People often buy with a partner, a friend or a family member.

My partner is a First Time Buyer, but I’m not. What are my options?

Most of your options are pretty much the same. If one of you isn’t a First Time Buyer, you may not have access to First Time Buyer products on the market but typically, these products just offer a bit of cash back.

In terms of criteria for affordability, etc., those are pretty standard across the board. It doesn’t matter whether you are both First Time Buyers or not.

Do both buyers have to be First Time Buyers? Do couples lose First Time Buyer status if one partner bought in the past?

You could potentially lose that First Time Buyer status if you have bought in the past. The main difference will regard the actual products, not necessarily criteria.

There can be better criteria for First Time Buyers in terms of affordability. But if you’re buying with someone else, typically those criteria should be covered off in other ways. The main consideration is stamp duty, which I know we’re going to cover in a second.

If you haven’t bought or owned a property in the last three years, with some lenders you can get that First Time Buyer status back. That could give you access to potentially higher income multiples or mortgages with cash back.

Do I have to pay stamp duty if my partner is a First Time Buyer, but I’m not?

If one of you is a First Time Buyer, but the other party isn’t, you will lose out on that First Time Buyer stamp duty incentive. That applies if you’ve ever owned a property before anywhere in the world, not just in the UK.

Obviously, it does depend on the purchase price. If it’s less than £125,000 you wouldn’t have to pay stamp duty anyway, but if you are over that threshold, you will start to pay if one of you has owned a property previously.

If one of you still owns a second property, you will also potentially be liable for the additional 5% surcharge. That’s based on any price, so even if you buy for less than £125,000, you would still potentially pay that additional 5% [information correct at the time of recording in April 2025].

What does being joint tenants or tenants in common mean?

This really applies to the legal side of the transaction. A joint tenant basically means you own the property 50-50 with the other person.

If one of you unfortunately were to pass away, the property is passed to the other party. They potentially become a 100% shareholder or 100% owner of the property.

If you buy as in tenants in common, it’s not necessarily 50-50. You can decide a different split – especially if one of you is putting down a bigger deposit into the property. Sometimes a couple purchase a Buy to Let property, and if you want the income to go to one of the parties rather than the other, from a tax point of view, you can potentially look at that option as well.

But if one of you were to pass away, your share won’t necessarily go to the other person. It may pass on to your next of kin or people named in your will.

Can I get a mortgage with a guarantor?

This is now known in the market as a Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor mortgage and we have recorded a separate podcast on that. It’s probably worth listening to that for further information. But yes, that is entirely possible.

How much can you borrow as a First Time Buyer with a joint mortgage? How much deposit do I need?

In terms of the market currently, the smallest deposit you can typically put down is 5%. However, one lender will let you put down a smaller deposit of £5,000, which works out as less than 5% [information correct at the time of recording in April 2025].

Typically, you can borrow around 4.5 times your income, but it is still subject to affordability. If you’re putting down a smaller deposit, you’re typically looking at around about 4.5 times your income. With a bigger deposit, and potentially if you are buying with someone else, you could potentially achieve somewhere between 5.5 and up to six times your income.

Some lenders in the market can go higher than this, but it won’t be on a typical two or five year fixed rate. Potentially these are lifetime deals, and could go higher.

What is a Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor mortgage?

This used to be known as a guarantor mortgage. One person would be the owner of the property and the other person would come on to typically help from a financial point of view. The owner would potentially be able to get a larger mortgage with a joint borrower.

Typically, these mortgages suit a child buying the property as a sole proprietor with a parent as the additional borrower. Their income increases the amount that could be borrowed.
Both parties are responsible for paying the mortgage, so if one stopped, the other would take on that liability.

A big benefit of this type of mortgage is around stamp duty, because the First Time Buyer is the proprietor for the property. If the parent already owns a home, they wouldn’t be liable for that additional stamp duty rate, while the First Time Buyer can still qualify for any stamp duty discounts.

Can you transfer a joint mortgage to one person?

This is possible. A typical scenario is where a couple is splitting up and one person is leaving the home. The remaining party would look to remortgage across to a new lender, subject to affordability and income multiples. Those are the main factors in terms of that single person taking on that responsibility for the mortgage.

If you are in the middle of a fixed rate deal, perhaps one party could take over the mortgage, but that involves dealing directly with that lender. We would have that conversation, find out a little bit more and then point a client in the right direction.

There may be a cost for removing one party from the mortgage and deeds of the property, as well as potentially additional stamp duty.

How do you calculate a joint mortgage for a First Time Buyer?

All lenders will assess the amount you can borrow in terms of affordability and income multiples. Again, with a smaller deposit and lower income, you’re typically looking at borrowing around 4.5 times your income. As that deposit increases, even to just 10%, and your income increases, you could achieve 5.5 to six times your income.

Again, other lenders can look at a lifetime fixed mortgage where it comes down to pure affordability. That could increase the value as well.

Can I get a joint mortgage as a First Time Buyer if I have bad credit?

Yes, this is entirely possible, even with most high street lenders. It’s purely subject to credit score. The best thing to do is to have a conversation with us to explore the exact details, by looking at your credit reports from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

That will allow us to go to the whole market and explore the options for you. On a joint basis, if one of you has bad credit and the other person doesn’t, that could potentially elevate the situation and overall score.

Perhaps the person applying with bad credit didn’t get through initially, but adding someone with a clean credit profile could bring up the score enough to make it now possible.

How can a mortgage broker help me get a joint mortgage as a First Time Buyer?

A mortgage broker doesn’t just have access to one lender. If you go directly to your bank, you’re only working with their criteria and their policies.

If you come through to us, we can assess your circumstance and look at multiple lenders to find the best for you. Perhaps you want to borrow more, work around the bad credit, it’s an unusual property type or there’s something complex around how your income is made up.

So arrange time to have that conversation. We can take that snapshot of your circumstances and come back and show you what’s possible.

YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.

For specialist tax advice, please refer to an accountant or tax specialist.