Yes. Self-employed people get mortgages all the time. The difference is that lenders work out your income from accounts or tax calculations instead of payslips, and every lender does it slightly differently. The same income can be accepted by one and declined by another, so the main thing is going to a lender whose rules fit how you are paid.
It is about how income is read, not whether you qualify
Being self-employed does not make you a worse borrower; it makes your income less standard to read. A sole trader is usually assessed on net profit, a company director on salary plus dividends or, with the right lender, retained profit, and a contractor on an annualised day rate. Because lenders apply these rules differently, the usable income they calculate can vary a lot for the exact same business. That variation, not your affordability, is what usually decides the outcome.
How many years do you need?
Often two to three years of accounts, but plenty of lenders accept one year, and contractors can sometimes be assessed on a current contract. The full detail, by situation, is on the self-employed mortgages hub, including one year of accounts, company directors and contractors.
If a bank has already said no
That usually means it read your income narrowly, not that you cannot get a mortgage: see bank said no because self-employed. A broker who handles self-employed cases knows which lenders use the most of your income. A regulated mortgage broker can advise you; we do not.
Founder, MortgageExplained
Adam spent over eight years as a mortgage adviser at Just Mortgages, with further experience in commercial finance. He is CeMAP and CF qualified. He built MortgageExplained to do one thing well: explain mortgages in plain English, so you know where you stand before you speak to a regulated broker. Every page on the site is written by Adam.
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