Declined, awkward or unusual

The ones other brokers hand back

A decline is information, not a verdict. It tells you that one lender's criteria did not fit — and often that the case was presented to the wrong lender, in the wrong order, with the wrong evidence attached.

Read the same day: Complex enquiries reach Nik Mair, our managing director, on the working day they arrive.
A straight answer: If we do not believe the case is placeable we will say so, and explain what would need to change.
No credit check to ask: An initial conversation leaves no footprint on your credit file.
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Why a case gets handed back

Most brokers work efficiently across a familiar panel. That is entirely reasonable for a straightforward purchase, and it is why the majority of mortgages complete without drama. It also means that when a case sits outside the familiar shape, the honest response is to hand it back.

The cases we see rarely fail because the borrower cannot afford the loan. They fail because the wrong lender saw them first, because an underwriter was given a document that raised a question nobody answered, or because a valuer's remark was treated as fatal when it was merely inconvenient.

What a decline actually costs you. A decline after a full application can leave a credit search on file and a valuation fee spent. That is why we do the thinking before the submission, and why we will sometimes tell you to wait a few months rather than apply now.

What we need from you. The full picture, including the parts you would rather not lead with. A case that has already been declined is harder to place if we discover the reason halfway through. Tell us early and we can work with it.

Four kinds of complexity

Where the difficulty usually sits

The property is unusual

Concrete, prefabricated, single skin walls, a thatched roof, a flat above commercial premises, a flying freehold, a short lease, or knotweed in the garden. A valuer's comment on any of these narrows the lender list rather than ending the search — but only if the case is taken to lenders whose criteria already accommodate it.

Surveyor recommends a specialist structural or arboricultural report
Retention held until works are completed
Construction type outside a lender's standard definition

The income is unusual

Self-employment with one year of accounts, retained profit rather than drawn dividends, contract income, day rates, bonus and commission that vary, income in a foreign currency, or several small income streams that together make a perfectly sound picture. The money is real; the difficulty is how a lender's system reads it.

Recently changed from employment to self-employment, or the reverse
Income earned abroad or paid in another currency
Trading figures that fell in one year and recovered in the next

The credit history is imperfect

Missed payments, a default, a county court judgment, a debt management plan, or a discharged bankruptcy. What matters to a lender is what happened, when, how much, and whether the pattern has ended. Age and explanation carry more weight than most applicants expect.

An old default the applicant had forgotten about
A missed payment caused by a bank error or a moving address
A plan that has been maintained cleanly for a period

The circumstances are unusual

A foreign national with limited time in the UK, a visa with an expiry date, a purchase involving a family member, a gifted deposit from overseas, a borrower who needs a Sharia compliant arrangement, or an applicant approaching or past retirement. All are fundable somewhere; none are fundable everywhere.

Visa status and length of UK residence
Deposit gifted from outside the UK, needing a clear audit trail
Lending that must run into retirement income

An invitation

Send us a declined case

If a lender or another broker has said no, send us what you have. The property address, what you are trying to do, who declined it and, if you know it, the reason they gave. We will read it, tell you whether we think it can be placed, and tell you honestly if it cannot.

We cannot promise an approval — nobody can, and any broker who does is not being straight with you. What we can promise is a considered answer from someone who has seen the situation before, on the same working day.

020 3441 8483·info@londonmortgagesolutions.co.uk

Specific situations