Mortgages when you have no accounts

Mortgage lenders want as much proof as possible that you earn what you say you do. Most lenders like to see at least your first year’s tax return so they can decide if you’ll be able to pay back the money you borrow from them. 

Once you’ve been self-employed for three years and have three year’s worth of accounts to prove it, most lenders will be happy to offer you a mortgage if your accounts are healthy and your income is stable. But with less than that, lenders aren't as sure about your ability to pay them back.

Usually, it’s only specialist lenders who’ll accept you if you’ve literally only just gone self-employed and don’t have any accounts yet. And quite often, specialist lenders are only available through specialist brokers - like us. Make an enquiry and one of our Mortgage Experts will find out your options.

The main reason why someone who is self-employed doesn’t have accounts is they’ve only just started working for themselves and haven’t filed a tax return yet. 

A self-assessment tax return is due by January 31st following a tax year-end (5th April). For example, if you started working for yourself on 6th April 2019, you wouldn’t need to do your first self-assessment return until 31st January 2021. That’s almost 22 months after becoming self-employed. 

A limited company is required to submit a corporation tax return nine months and one day after the end of the accounting period for the previous financial year. 

That said, you don’t have to wait until the deadline to file a tax return. Filing a tax return earlier could mean that you have one year's accounts evidence of earnings for lenders. 

This means the first tax year of being self-employed is the most difficult for someone to get a mortgage.

Sadly, a lot of lenders won’t. Many lenders – like mainstream banks and building societies – won’t even consider self-employed applicants who have no accounts. But don’t give up! There’s specialist lenders who will consider your individual financial situation. So it’s possible to get a mortgage if you meet their specific lending criteria.

The longer you’ve been trading, the more options you’ll have. Our Mortgage Experts know the specialist lenders to approach, meaning you don’t waste time approaching the lenders who’ll flat out refuse you. Make an enquiry to find out your options.

Many lenders will want to see 3 year’s worth of accounts from you to prove your income. Most lenders want to see your first year’s tax return at least. They do this because they want to work out how much you can afford to borrow based on your current income.

Generally, the more accounts you have, the better. If you have one year’s accounts or less, It’s a great idea to have your accounts prepared by a qualified accountant. If they can do a year-to-date overview of your income, that will help your case when your mortgage broker approaches lenders. So while your chances do improve the more accounts you have, you can get a mortgage even if you’ve been self-employed for as little as nine months.

Read more in our Self-Employed Mortgage Guide.

A lot of lenders aren't set up to deal with incomes that don’t follow the typical 9-5. Because your income isn't as straightforward - and sometimes harder to verify - you might be asked to put down a larger deposit as a self-employed person without any accounts. 

Making sure your finances are in order and being able to provide a good deposit will help you to have as many options open to you as possible. 

A specialist self-employed mortgage broker (like us!) can find the right mortgage for you and prepare your application so it looks as good as possible to a lender.