Criteria guide

Self employed

We define self employed applicants as those who:

  • Are operating as a sole trader/partnership, or
  • Are a shareholding equity partner in a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) where they have been in continuous employment with their firm for a minimum of two years as an employee or partner/shareholder, or
  • Have a shareholding of 20% or more in a limited company. This is the combined shareholding of all customers on the mortgage application who are associated with the same business.

We require proof of the latest 2 years’ trading for all self-employed applicants, but we use the latest year’s accounts for our affordability assessment.

For all self-employed applicants, we will require the latest 3 months’ bank statements showing trading (business or personal) to ensure that current earned income is consistent with that of the latest accounts and SA302.

Where the trading has reduced, we will reduce the income accordingly.

The maximum LTI is 4.49 where the primary borrower is self-employed.