Specialist contractor mortgages
Contractor mortgages, for day-rate workers
If you work as a contractor, whether through your own limited company, an umbrella company, or directly, standard mortgage lenders may struggle to assess your income. Many simply apply self employed criteria, which can significantly understate your true earnings.
Specialist contractor friendly lenders assess affordability based on your day rate or annualised contract value, often delivering a far higher mortgage offer than traditional income based calculations.
- Day rate multiplied to annual income
- LTD company, umbrella or direct contracts
- IT, finance, engineering, legal contractors
- Short contract history considered
- IR35 status assessed case by case
- Free, no obligation consultation
How contractor income is assessed
Day rate vs salary based assessment
The key advantage of contractor specialist lenders is how they assess income. Rather than looking at what you pay yourself in salary and dividends (which is often tax efficient but appears low on paper), they assess you based on your contract rate.
Day Rate Method
Multiply your daily rate by 5 (days) × 46 (weeks) × a lender specific multiple (typically 4-5x). This often results in a significantly higher borrowing figure than salary + dividends would suggest.
What You Need
A current contract (minimum 3 months remaining or recently renewed), a history of contracting in the same field, and recent bank statements. We’ll confirm exactly what each lender requires.
Specialist lenders calculate your income using: Day rate × 5 days × 46 weeks. Enter your day rate below to see what they’ll use.
Using your usable income above, most contractor specialist lenders will lend between 4× and 5× your annualised day rate. Enter any additional income or commitments to refine the estimate.
Estimate only. Actual lending depends on deposit size, credit profile, lender criteria and individual circumstances.
Full borrowing calculator with all options →Tax status considerations
IR35 & mortgage implications
IR35 status (inside or outside) can affect how lenders view your income. Inside IR35 contractors are treated more like employees by some lenders, which can sometimes be helpful, particularly if you’re operating through an umbrella company. Outside IR35 contractors generally benefit from day-rate assessment.
