Get mortgage advice that takes account of how your company pays you, the profits it earns and the evidence a lender may need.
Buying, moving or remortgaging your home? Start with your income and company history.
Tell us how you are paid and whether you are buying, moving or remortgaging.
A brief outline of your shareholding, trading history and salary or dividends is enough to start. Please do not include account numbers, tax references or financial documents. Still researching? Read how director income is assessed.
Yes, a company director can apply for a mortgage to buy or remortgage their own home. The starting point is usually a standard residential mortgage, with the lender checking how your company-derived income supports the repayments. There is no separate mortgage category reserved exclusively for directors.
Your salary is only part of that discussion. Shareholding, dividends, business performance and how long you have traded can all affect the evidence and assessment route. A director paid through PAYE may still be assessed under a lender’s self-employed policy.
This page concerns a mortgage in your personal name for your home. If a company will buy a property to let out, use the separate limited company buy-to-let information. The borrower, property use and lending criteria are different.
A lender first needs a suitable, evidenced income figure. It then assesses affordability against your household spending, credit commitments, dependants, mortgage term and proposed repayments. A company’s turnover or bank balance is not a borrowing limit.
Some lenders look at the salary and dividends paid to you over the periods they require. They may average those figures or use a lower recent year. They also need to understand whether the company can support the income being taken.
A single large dividend does not automatically establish an ongoing annual income. Explain when it was paid and which profits funded it.
Other lenders can consider salary plus an eligible share of company profit, subject to their ownership, accounts and sustainability requirements. This may be relevant when you leave profits in the business rather than drawing them all as dividends.
The precise profit figure matters, including whether corporation tax has been deducted. Money needed for tax, working capital or business investment can affect the assessment.
There is no shareholding percentage used by every lender to classify a director as self-employed. A minority shareholder, sole owner and joint application involving two directors of the same company may follow different rules. A PAYE payslip alone does not settle the classification.
Where both applicants own shares, explain each person’s salary, dividends and ownership. The same company profit must not be counted in full for each person. Contractors operating through a company may have another assessment route; see our contractor mortgage page.
Accumulated retained earnings, current-year profit and cash in the business account are different things. A director’s loan repayment is different again. Read our net-profit mortgage guide for the wider income topic, and ask an adviser which figures are relevant to your application.
Some lenders consider eligible directors with one completed year’s trading evidence; others need a longer history. A first accounting period shorter than a year is not the same as a full trading year. Previous employment in the same field may help explain your experience, but it does not replace required evidence.
If you moved from sole trader to limited company, explain whether the same trade, customers and ownership continued. Some lenders can consider continuity of the underlying business. Others may need more evidence of the new arrangement. Keep the earlier records available alongside the company accounts.
Tell your adviser whether a fall reflects an ongoing change, a lost contract, investment or an unusual cost. Current trading information and an accountant’s explanation may help, but a lender does not have to disregard a lower year or add an expense back.
Explain any previous business closure, loss, personal guarantee or related credit issue early. A profitable new company does not erase the earlier position. The useful next step may be to establish what evidence or further trading history is needed before applying.
Agree the list with your adviser before arranging additional accountant work. The lender’s chosen income method determines what is needed, how recent the records must be and how many periods they must cover.
Have the relevant full accounts available, including the profit-and-loss account and balance sheet. Explain your shareholding, accounting dates and any changes in ownership. Provide the full records requested for the assessment, rather than assuming a filing receipt will be enough.
A lender may request tax calculations, often called SA302s, with the matching tax year overviews. Payslips, P60s or dividend records may also be relevant. A tax calculation and a tax year overview are separate documents; one does not automatically replace the other.
Business and personal statements can help explain recent trading, income receipts and commitments. Management accounts or contracts may be requested where the latest completed accounts do not fully explain the current position.
Some lenders accept or request a specific accountant’s reference or certificate. They set the required format and acceptable professional qualifications. Check the requirement before assuming that any letter or signature will be sufficient.
Company accounting periods may differ from personal tax years. Tell your adviser about amended returns, missing records or figures that do not appear to reconcile. Use our proof-of-earnings guide and HMRC’s instructions for obtaining tax calculations and overviews to prepare.
Identity, address, deposit and existing-mortgage evidence may also be needed. Financial documents should be provided through the process your adviser specifies, rather than pasted into a first-contact message.
Consider your personal deposit, buying costs and monthly budget alongside the income evidence. Directors do not share one universal deposit requirement or borrowing multiple. Company money is not automatically a personal deposit: discuss any proposed withdrawal with your accountant and explain its source to your adviser.
Share the date your existing deal ends, current balance and any early repayment charge. A product switch with your current lender and an application to a new lender can involve different checks. Additional borrowing or a change in circumstances may affect the route.
Your partner may be employed, self-employed or a director of the same company. Each income source needs suitable evidence. Shared commitments and both applicants’ circumstances still matter; one person’s salary does not remove the checks on the other.
Bring the lender’s stated reason and explain the date and status of any credit problem. Income, credit and property concerns call for different responses. Reviewing what happened is more useful than making another speculative application.
We provide mortgage advice by phone and online. The discussion starts with your personal home-buying or remortgage plans and the way your business pays you.
Fees and commission: we will explain and agree applicable fees before undertaking chargeable work. We may also receive lender commission. Read our Terms of Business and confirm the amount, payment stage and refund terms for your case.
Count Ready Limited is an appointed representative of Connect IFA Limited. Check the Financial Services Register entry for Count Ready, reference 976111. Mortgage advice does not replace tax or accountancy advice. We cannot guarantee acceptance, a particular borrowing amount or a completion date.
Discuss your director mortgage options or call 01245 934515.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
The term usually describes how a director’s income is assessed for a home mortgage. It does not mean that every director needs a special product or that ordinary residential mortgages exclude other employees and shareholders. The lender checks the borrower, income, property and affordability against its criteria.
Possibly. Salary alone may not show the whole position where you also receive dividends or retain company profits. Lenders use different income methods and ownership rules. Your company accounts and personal income records help establish which routes can be considered; a low salary is neither automatic rejection nor evidence of eligibility.
Not automatically. An eligible share of a particular year’s company profit is different from accumulated reserves or cash in the bank. The lender may consider ownership, tax, business commitments and the sustainability of the income. Dividends must not be added again where that would count the same profit twice.
There is no single threshold used by every lender. Shareholding can affect whether a director is assessed as employed or self-employed and whether a profit-based method is available. Explain the exact ownership position, including a joint applicant’s shares, before relying on any generic percentage.
A joint application may be possible, subject to the lender’s criteria. Provide each applicant’s ownership, salary and dividend details. The business must support the income being used, and the same profit cannot be attributed in full to both applicants. Both borrowers’ wider circumstances and commitments are assessed.
Do not change remuneration solely to improve a mortgage illustration without appropriate advice. A lender may review the history and sustainability of a recent increase. Discuss tax, company responsibilities and the business’s cash needs with your accountant, then ask your mortgage adviser how the accurate figures will be assessed.
Yes. Explain which completed accounts or tax records you have and when the next set is expected. An initial discussion can identify what needs checking and whether further preparation would be useful. It is not a decision in principle or a promise that the lender will accept incomplete evidence.
For a broader introduction, visit our self-employed mortgages hub. The director-specific income explanations above draw on current public guidance from NatWest, Coventry for intermediaries and Kensington. These sources illustrate differences between lenders; they are not a recommendation or a statement that a lender will accept your application.
GOV.UK explains ways of taking money out of a limited company. Ask your accountant about the tax and company implications of your own arrangements.
Information checked on 7 September 2026. Lender criteria can change and must be checked for your circumstances before applying. This page provides general information; it is not a personal mortgage recommendation.
