Rent A Room case study:
Posted on 21st August 23
You can use potential income from renting out a spare room towards your mortgage calculations with our Rent A Room mortgage.
How it works:
First time buyer Ben Rich has wanted to get on the property ladder in his hometown of Bristol for several years. Despite having saved a substantial deposit, rising property prices in the area meant he was having to consider looking further afield. It’s a familiar scenario today, with young people being priced out of the market, or forced to move away from the area they grew up in, to find more affordable housing.
35-year-old Ben was living with his parents in the family home – a three-bed property in the Henbury area of the city. When the couple decided to retire to the coast earlier this year, Ben approached Bristol-based mortgage brokers Integra to find out if there was any way they could help him and they introduced him to the Bath Building Society Rent A Room mortgage.
The Rent A Room mortgage allows a customer to rent a spare room and use the expected rental income to count towards their mortgage affordability calculations alongside your salary. Agreeing to rent out a room to his friend Alex proved a great opportunity for Ben to stay in Bristol, in the family home and on the property ladder.
As a self-employed carpenter, Ben needed to provide three years of self-employment history. One year was slightly lower as he had purchased a van for the business. Bath Building Society look at each application on a case-by-case basis so were able to be flexible with the affordability calculations. With Ben providing a good deposit and proof of future rental income, the Rent A Room mortgage provided an effective solution at a rate he could afford, to secure the home he wanted.
If you’re interested to find out more about this great opportunity to boost mortgage affordability, talk to the team or use our Affordability Calculator to find out how much you might be able to borrow. This unique calculator allows you to add expected lodger income to the calculation (in the Applicant details section) and will work out the maximum amount you could borrow.
