Getting a self employed mortgage: the proof lenders ask for

How a self employed mortgage works, in short

A self employed mortgage is an ordinary residential mortgage: there is no separate product, and you apply for the same deals as an employee. What differs is the proof. In place of payslips, a lender asks for evidence such as accounts, SA302 tax calculations and tax year overviews, usually covering the last two or three years, and works out an income figure from them.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules behind this apply to every borrower. The FCA has said its rules do not differentiate between verifying the income of employed and self-employed borrowers. The lender has to be satisfied that you can repay, and how it gets there is its own policy.

Who counts as self-employed for a mortgage

Lenders sort applicants by how they are paid, not by what they call themselves. The usual groups are below. The income approaches are common practice described in general terms, not rules: the FCA leaves the method to each lender, and each lender sets its own.

Sole traders

A sole trader's income for a mortgage is commonly taken as the net profit of the business: what is left after allowable expenses, before tax. That profit is declared on your tax return, and the SA302 is HMRC's calculation based on that return.

Partners

For a partnership, lenders commonly work from your share of the net profit, not the firm's whole profit. A lender may ask for the partnership's accounts as well as your own tax documents.

Limited company directors

If you own a share of the company you work for, a lender may treat you as self-employed even though you are paid through payroll; the size of shareholding at which it does so is its own policy. Some lenders take the salary and the dividends you actually drew. Some instead use your salary plus your share of the company's net profit, which counts profit kept in the business. That difference matters if you leave profit in the company, so how a lender treats retained profit is a question to settle before applying.

Contractor mortgage

There is no separate product called a contractor mortgage either. Contractors on day rates or fixed-term contracts are commonly assessed in one of two ways: like any other self-employed person, from accounts and tax documents, or from the contract itself, with the rate turned into a yearly figure. Lenders that work from the contract may want to see a history of contracting and may ask how long the current contract has left.

How many years of accounts you need

The first question most people ask about a self employed mortgage is how long they must have been trading.

The FCA's rules do not set a minimum trading period. They say the evidence must be of a type and for a period that is adequate to support each element of income the lender takes into account. Each lender then writes its own policy.

When the FCA reviewed lenders' practice in 2016, it found that they typically reviewed the last two or three years of self-employed earnings. MoneyHelper, the government-backed guidance service, likewise says self-employed applicants are asked for tax returns and business accounts covering at least the last two years, and that some lenders also want proof of work lined up.

One year of accounts

Because the trading period is each lender's own policy, some lenders will consider an application with one full year of accounts or one tax return. Set against the two or three years the FCA found to be typical, that leaves a narrower choice of lenders and deals. The FCA's guidance also allows a lender to consider projections of future income where they form part of a credible business plan, although lenders are not obliged to.

The documents lenders ask for

For a self employed mortgage application, expect to provide some or all of these:

• SA302 tax calculations for the last two or three tax years.
• The tax year overview for each of those years.
• Accounts, often prepared or signed off by a qualified accountant.
• Business and personal bank statements.
• For contractors, the current contract and earlier ones.
• Proof of identity, address and deposit, as for any buyer.

The FCA review found that lenders often use SA302s and business accounts together, because either one alone may not give the full picture.

SA302 tax calculation and tax year overview

An SA302 is HMRC's calculation of your income and the tax due for a year, based on your Self Assessment return. A tax year overview is HMRC's own record of your tax position for that year, and lenders commonly ask for it alongside the SA302.

GOV.UK sets out how to get them:

1. Log in to your HMRC online account.
2. Go to Self Assessment, then to the details of your Self Assessment returns and payments.
3. Print or save the tax calculation and the tax year overview for each year you need.

You can get an SA302 for the last four years, and a tax year overview for any year. You cannot print the documents until 72 hours after you sent your tax return. If you or your accountant filed through commercial software, the calculation is printed from that software and may be called a tax computation; the tax year overview still comes from your HMRC account. GOV.UK also says to check that your lender accepts documents you have printed yourself.

Which income figure the lender uses: average or latest year

Lenders commonly treat a run of yearly figures in one of a few ways:

• An average of the last two or three years.
• The latest year, where income has been steady or rising.
• The lower or the latest figure, where income has fallen.

The FCA review found that lenders often averaged earnings across years, because self-employed income can move a lot from one year to the next. A falling trend may prompt questions, and a lender may use the most recent, lower figure.

Whatever figure is used, the rules require the lender to take account of your income net of income tax and National Insurance, your committed spending and your household's basic costs. Lenders must also test whether you could still pay if interest rates rose, unless the rate is fixed for five years or more. The mortgage affordability guide explains the assessment, and the how much you could borrow calculator gives an illustration from your income and deposit, not advice.

Tax efficiency and borrowing

Expenses and pension contributions that reduce your taxable profit also reduce the income a lender sees. A lender that works from SA302s and tax returns sees the income declared to HMRC, so a lower taxable profit and a lower income for mortgage purposes go together. An accountant can explain how that trade-off applies to your business in the years before an application.

Do self-employed people pay higher mortgage rates?

Not usually because of how they earn. Lenders' published rates are generally set by the deposit, the type of deal and the property, not by the applicant's occupation, so a self-employed applicant who meets a lender's criteria is generally offered that lender's published rates.

Where the rate can differ is choice. If your records are short or unusual, fewer lenders may accept the application, and those that do may not have the lowest rates on the market. The mortgage rates comparison shows lenders' published rates for your price, deposit and term, and the mortgage calculator turns a rate into a monthly payment. Both are illustrations and name no product as right for you.

Deposit for a self employed mortgage

No rule asks self-employed buyers for a bigger deposit. The deposit a lender needs depends on its own criteria and on the home, and the same loan-to-value bands apply. A larger deposit can widen the choice of lenders, which matters more when your income evidence is less standard. The loan-to-value guide explains the bands.

Why self-certification mortgages ended

Before 2014, some lenders offered self-certification mortgages, where borrowers stated their income without proving it.

The FCA's Mortgage Market Review rules came into force on 26 April 2014. Since then a lender must obtain evidence of the income you declare, must not accept self-certification of income, and must use evidence from a source independent of you. The source can be independent even when you hand over the documents yourself, as with bank statements and tax returns.

What may change

On 9 June 2026 the FCA published a consultation, CP26/18, with proposals for people with variable or irregular income, including the self-employed and contractors. It reported that around 6% of mortgage sales in 2025 included at least one borrower recorded as self-employed, against about 13% of the workforce. The proposals would add examples of income evidence to the FCA's guidance and make clear that payment schedules need not be monthly. The consultation closed on 28 July 2026, and the FCA said it aimed to publish a policy statement in the second half of 2026. When this guide was checked on 10 November 2026, the FCA's page for the consultation listed no policy statement, so the rules described in this guide are the ones in force.

How to get a mortgage self employed: preparing ahead

Preparation for a self employed mortgage can start a year or more before buying. These are the things applicants commonly put in place:

1. A filed tax return. The latest year only counts once it is filed, and a return left until the January deadline can leave your newest evidence many months old.
2. SA302s and tax year overviews, downloaded and checked so that each pair matches.
3. Up-to-date accounts, and an accountant who can answer a lender's questions.
4. Separate bank accounts for business and personal spending, which makes statements easier for a lender to read.
5. A credit report from each of the main credit reference agencies, with any errors corrected.
6. No new borrowing shortly before applying, because new credit counts as committed spending in the lender's assessment.
7. A mortgage in principle from a lender that has been told how you earn your income.
8. The full cash needed, worked out with the cash you need calculator.

The guide on how to get a mortgage follows the application from here, and the mortgage broker guide explains what an adviser does.

Buying a new build when you are self-employed

A new build adds time between the mortgage offer and completion, and with a self employed mortgage that time matters more, because your income is assessed from yearly records.

• Offer validity. Every offer has an expiry date. If you exchange on a home that is still being built, check that the offer lasts until the expected completion date, or can be extended.
• Reassessment before completion. FCA rules let a lender make an offer conditional on there being no material change in your circumstances that affects your ability to pay. If an offer has to be extended or replaced, the lender may ask for your latest figures.
• A new tax year in between. If a new set of accounts or a new tax return falls due before you complete, a lender may want to see it. A weaker year could change what it will lend.
• Incentives. Lenders see every builder incentive and may take it off the price, which changes the deposit you need.

So the points to settle before reserving are how long the offer lasts and when your next year end falls, and up-to-date trading records matter throughout the build. The new-build mortgages guide covers offers and incentives, buying off-plan covers long-stop dates, and the new-build rates page shows what lenders publish for new homes.