Remortgaging on maternity leave

Being on maternity leave does not stop you from remortgaging, but it does change how a lender looks at your income. Some lenders will use your normal salary if you have a confirmed return-to-work date and pay, while others assess affordability against your current maternity pay, so the approach varies. Getting the right evidence together, and being clear on your return date, is the main extra step compared with a standard remortgage application.

Can you remortgage while on maternity leave?

Yes. Maternity leave is a temporary change in circumstances rather than a change to your right to remortgage, and lenders are used to assessing applications from people who are on leave or about to go on it. What differs between lenders is how they treat your income for affordability purposes during this period, which is worth checking before you commit to a particular lender or deal.

How do lenders assess income on maternity leave?

Lenders take different approaches, and none of them is fixed across the market:

Because there is no single rule, a mortgage adviser who knows which lenders take which approach can save you applying to a lender whose criteria do not suit your situation.

What documents will you likely need?

Alongside the usual documents for any remortgage, most lenders will ask for some combination of the following if you are on maternity leave:

• A letter from your employer confirming your role, salary and expected return date.
• Recent payslips showing your current maternity pay.
• Evidence of any maternity pay top-up your employer provides, if applicable.
• If you are self-employed, recent accounts or tax calculations rather than payslips.

Our guide on what documents you need to remortgage covers the general list, and this simply adds to it while you are on leave.

Does a joint application change things?

If you are remortgaging jointly, for example with a partner, the lender assesses combined household income and outgoings rather than looking at your income in isolation. A temporary reduction in your pay during maternity leave does not automatically stop the application if your partner’s income, or your confirmed return-to-work salary, supports the affordability assessment overall. Our guide on remortgaging when your partner has bad credit covers joint applications more broadly, including where one applicant’s credit history also needs to be factored in.

What if you are not sure when you will return?

Some people are not certain of their exact return-to-work date when they start the remortgage process, for example if they are considering shared parental leave, an extended period of leave, or a change to part-time hours afterwards. Being upfront with your lender or adviser about this uncertainty, rather than guessing a date, tends to work better, since underwriters would rather work from an honest picture than find a discrepancy later. If your plans are genuinely undecided, a lender may ask for more recent payslips closer to the point of completion, or wait until your return date is firmer before finalising an offer.

Timing your remortgage around maternity leave

If your current deal is due to end while you are on leave, it is worth starting the process earlier than usual, since gathering employer letters and confirming your return date can take longer than a standard application. Many lenders allow you to arrange a new deal a few months ahead of your current one ending, often 3 to 6 months depending on the lender, which gives you time to sort out the right paperwork. If timing is tight, a product transfer with your existing lender is sometimes more straightforward than moving to a new one, since it does not always need a full affordability reassessment where you are not borrowing more.

Remortgaging on maternity leave with adverse credit

If you also have a CCJ, defaults or missed payments on your credit file, the combination of reduced income evidence and adverse credit can narrow your options further, so it helps to plan rather than assume any particular lender will say yes. A few things worth doing:

• Get your credit file checked early, so you know exactly what a lender will see alongside your maternity pay evidence, rather than being surprised by both issues at once during the application.
• Ask about a product transfer first. If your current lender already knows your history and you are not borrowing more, this can be simpler than a full remortgage while your income situation is temporary.
• Speak to a specialist adviser. Someone who understands both maternity leave affordability and adverse credit cases can point you toward lenders whose criteria are more likely to fit both parts of your situation.
• If missed payments are linked to reduced income during leave, speaking to your current lender early, and to free services such as MoneyHelper or National Debtline, can help before things escalate. Our guide on how lenders assess affordability also explains how income evidence and outgoings are weighed together, whatever stage of leave you are at.

None of this guarantees a particular lender will approve your application, but going into the process with the right evidence and an honest picture of your credit file gives you a clearer starting point either way.