Helping you every step of the way

We wont lie, we know this is the boring part. You can upload to our portal, email or send via WhatsApp. Download our document checklist to get started.

PDF. This can be an original payslip downloaded online or a scan of a bank statement.

We cannot accept screenshots. We will need a PDF of the original. If you have trouble, please reach out to us.

We told you we will always be honest. It’s a legal requirement under Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, for All About Mortgages to verify the source of your funds. If your deposit has been in your account for less than 3 months, we will need to see further evidence from where it was before. This may involve you sending us 3 months statements from the previous account.

For example… you’ve been saving in a separate savings account, and you recently transferred all the money into your current account. As well as your 3 months from your current account, we will ask for you to also send us 3 months from the savings account, prior to you making the transfer.

Any monies that you haven’t saved, which have been given (or gifted) to you.

For example… A parent gave you some money 6 months ago which you now wish to use as your deposit. We would need to see a gift letter (please download .zip file), a copy of the gifters photo ID and bank statements showing the source of funds originally.

Our document Guide is exactly that, it’s a guide. Typically we can apply for a mortgage with just the paperwork we ask for but each case is unique. We may need additional paperwork to satisfy a lenders requirements whilst they underwrite your case. We said we would be honest with you, so we will ask you for any extra paperwork and inform you why they may have asked for this.

Of course. Any queries over paperwork, please don’t hesitate to speak to us. We recognise not every document is straight-forward. You can contact us via WhatsApp/Email/Phone.

The criteria relating to who can purchase a shared ownership property is strict and as part of this, you will need to pass an affordability assessment to ensure the purchase is affordable and sustainable.

This number varies based on market conditions. The maximum we currently have is around 28 lenders (including mainstream banks and smaller building societies).

You’ll need to know the income for all applicants and monthly outgoings like payments for loans/finance, balances of credit cards etc. If possible, you’d have your payslips or self-employed paperwork to hand. Getting as much information right, as early as possible, will help your journey.

Housing Associations usually set a 5-day deadline. We think this is fair as most of the paperwork should be readily available. We also don’t want you to lose the opportunity to buy your new home, as most shared ownership properties usually have other people waiting to buy… that’s why we encourage you to get your paperwork over to us sooner than the 5-days.

One of the Government rules for Shared Ownership is to buy the maximum share that you can. This is to ensure best use of public funds and ensure the scheme if fair to all… but think about it this way, the larger the share you buy, the smaller the rent you’ll pay. That’s more money into your mortgage and less into rent.

No. We only charge if you wish to use our services to help you arrange a mortgage, there is a never a charge for an assessment.

Yes, the minimum is 5% of the share value but, the more deposit you have, the more competitive the rates/lenders will become. You can find out more from our Document Guide.

We have talked above about maximising shares, this also relates to the levels of savings you have. But this doesn’t mean everything. We need to ensure that this whole purchase is affordable and sustainable, so you can keep reasonable amounts back.

We can work out what you can afford without documents initially. If you decide to proceed, then you’ll need to upload documents. See our document guide FAQs for more help.

Shared Ownership is a regulated product. This means your Housing Association requires an affordability sign off (evidenced based with your documents) to verify the information you gave to us in your Affordability Assessment. We do this on behalf of the housing association and aim to make this as smooth as possible. All customers are treated the same here, regardless of if you use our services.

Remember we promised we would be truthful with you, like a part of our family? If initially it doesn’t look affordable, where possible we’ll suggests changes that could make it affordable. We realise that somethings these changes may not be suitable, but we will let you know regardless.

Yes. We send your sign off to them directly and then we inform you at the same time.

No. We hope you’ll like us and what we can offer you, but you are free to go to anywhere.

You will be asked by the housing association to get back in touch. We will get you booked into our system where you will need to provide us with the paperwork we need. After we have reviewed your paperwork, confirmed everything is suitable and present, we can sign off your assessment.

Our team would love to help but first things first…
Start your financial assessment

We use the same paperwork we collected for your assessment, to help us find you a lender. We need to meet with you virtually, to discuss your plans for your future. During this meeting (typically 45-60 minutes) we will give you advice on how you should proceed, which lender you should proceed with and all the details about your proposed mortgage.
Then if your happy, we need to move on with an AIP.

Assuming your AIP was successful, we will send your completed assessment to the Housing Association (Shared Ownership only). Once we receive your MOS (Memorandum of Sale) we can submit your mortgage to the lender.

We’ll keep you updated all the way, by phone, email and tracking in your customer portal. We want to get your Mortgage Offer quickly. In order to do this the mortgage goes through a lender underwriting process and external valuation of the property.

The lender will always need to do their own valuation to make sure the price being proposed is fair for the market. This is typical with all lenders and all purchases, whether Shared Ownership or otherwise.

Congratulations! Once the lender issues the mortgage offer, we will be in touch with you to give you the good news. Often this is digital but sometimes it’s by mail only.

A special copy of the offer (including the deeds) will go directly to your solicitor who will then take over the process and help you finish your journey and move into your new home.

It’s the same as any other mortgage. It’s a residential purchase which is based on a repayment basis (this means you pay back the capital and interest at the same time). There are lots of types to choose from; like a fixed rate, variable rate etc.

In essence, it’s an agreement between you and a bank where the bank takes the home as security until you’ve paid back the debt.

AIP stands for Agreement In Principle. It involves a credit search completed by a lender, to check your case is affordable and meets some basic rules. Each lender has different rules and will vary. Imagine it as a promise from the lender. They promise to lend you the money subject to you promising to give them all the correct information for them to underwrite.

Yes. In essence they all mean the same thing but here’s the one’s we know of; Mortgage in Principle (MIP)/Decision in Principle (DIP)/Mortgage Certificate/Credit Check/Mortgage Promise.

So, this is where the lender carries out checks on your information/paperwork. The AIP was all hypothetical, now we need to prove all the information is correct and get someone to verify this from the bank.

This is the end goal of the mortgage process. This is a formal offer from the lender, which will eventually be a legally biding agreement, which confirms the terms of the mortgage being offered. Once we are here, your solicitor will do the bulk of the heavy lifting.

This is a tricky one to answer. This all depends on your application, the lender, the lenders processing times and other market factors. Some lenders might take 30-45 days to process everything, and some might take just 5. Lenders usually post their service levels for companies like us to check. If speed is of the essence, let us know and we’ll do the rest.

Yes. All lenders require us to have your last 3 months bank statements on file.

Lenders vary in how they assess your credit.

Some lenders will create a profile of a “typical client” they want to have on their books. This usually involves a “typical credit score” that they would expect you to meet and their IT systems monitor this for them. Some lenders simply just do a credit search, and don’t take into consideration your score or points.

Some lenders will search your credit by using a soft footprint. This means it will leave no lasting damage to your report. Imagine it as a lender has just accessed your report online.

Some lenders will search your credit by using a hard footprint. This will leave an imprint on your credit file and too many of these hard searches may cause some short-term damage (imagine that a lender has downloaded your report).

Some lenders will use a combination of soft and hard footprints. We will always advise you of what would be best for your circumstances.

Firstly, don’t panic. This doesn’t mean that all the lenders don’t want to lend to you. Remember above we said that some lenders have a “typical client”. This just means that one lender we tried with, didn’t find you as a compatible match. It’s our job to find you a suitable match.

Your mortgages payments will stay exactly the same, for a fixed period of time. This is great if you are worried about budgeting and like to know what your payments will be. Typically fixed rate options come in Two, Three or Five year deals but these can vary from lender to lender, along with market conditions. Speak to one our advisors, so we can help decipher what would be best for you!

Your mortgage payments can go up or down each month, depending on what the product is. You don’t have the security of a fixed rate and this can make things more challenging when trying to budget each month. Typically variable products come in two year deals but these can vary from lender to lender, along with market conditions.

Sometimes though, this type of mortgage can come without any tie-in periods, so you are free to change the terms of the loan without penalty. Speak to one of our advisors, so we can help decipher what would be best for you.

Technically no, but we would say tes. We offer you a service in a professional field whereby we help survey the market and find you the most suitable deal for your circumstances.

You can do this process yourself, but you’ll need to make sure you have the time to chase everything through (in and amongst your day-to-day life). You also lose some protection if you call the shots because if you get it wrong or the mortgage isn’t suitable, you’ll have less power to complain.

Technically no, but we would say yes. A solicitor will deal with all the legal requirements of buying a home, such as deed registry or filling in Stamp Duty returns. It makes the process easier and smoother for you, if you instruct your own solicitor. We work with a panel of trusted specialists who we can arrange to send you a quote. Pricing, we leave down to you and them.

We are upfront and honest with all our clients, that’s why we stipulate our fees on our website for all to see.

A typical fee is £495, but this will depend upon your circumstances and will not be more than £695.