First-Time Buyer Joint Mortgage
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First-Time Buyer Joint Mortgage
Kelly McGarry explains the joint mortgage process for first-time buyers.
How do joint mortgages work for first-time buyers?
The basic principles of a joint mortgage work the same as if you were buying a home on your own.
Whether you’re a first-time buyer or you’ve owned property before, you’re taking out a loan to buy a house. Money is lent to you, secured against the value of your home, and your income, credit history and all the other criteria are assessed exactly the same way.
The only difference for first-time buyers is that you may qualify for certain special deals – lenders may offer you slightly better rates, cashback or the ability to use a smaller deposit. There may also be schemes run by the government, such as shared ownership and First Homes.
My partner is a first-time buyer, but I’m not. What are my options?
When one of the joint applicants for a mortgage is not buying property for the first time, often you won’t qualify for the special first-time buyer deals.
That’s definitely true with stamp duty relief, where first-time buyers don’t pay tax on the first £300,000 in property value. That’s not the case if one of you has bought a home before.
Some lenders may still have offers where just one applicant is a first-time buyer, but we would need to go through these cases individually to work out what’s available for you.
There are other ways to apply for the mortgage together that could still allow you to take advantage of these deals. An example is a Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor mortgage, where only one applicant is the property owner, but both of you are on the mortgage. It might not be for everyone, but it’s something we can explain to you in more detail.
Do both buyers have to be first-time buyers? Do couples lose first-time buyer status if one partner bought in the past?
Yes. Technically, both applicants for the mortgage need to be buying for the first time to qualify for most special offers and deals to help people onto the property ladder.
If you haven’t owned a property for a certain amount of time, you may still be eligible for these deals with some lenders. Again, that’s something we would look into in detail for you.
Do I have to pay stamp duty if my partner is a first-time buyer but I’m not?
Unfortunately, yes. First-time buyer relief won’t apply if one of the joint applicants has owned a property previously. If you’re married, HMRC generally treats you as a single buying unit.
You will both be classed as returning property owners, even if one of you has never bought a property before.
One way around this is to consider who will actually own the property when you complete. We touched on Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor mortgages, where you could just list the first-time buyer as the owner. You could still qualify for stamp duty relief that way, but it’s worth checking it through with a broker before you go ahead.
What does being joint tenants or tenants in common mean?
These terms relate to how you buy property as a couple. When you register your purchase with HM Land Registry, you’ll have the opportunity to specify which route you’d like to go down.
As joint tenants, you are treated as a single buying unit. You have an equal 100% share of the ownership. The property would pass to the other person should one of you die, no matter what it says in your Will.
This is usually suitable when you’re putting in the same amount of money into the property, and you plan to share the costs equally.
With tenants in common, you can vary how much of the property each of you owns. As an example, you might buy a home for £500,000 in cash, with one of you putting in £300,000 and the other £200,000. As tenants in common, you can specify that the person who puts in the most money owns more of the property. In this case, it might be 60-40.
You can also allocate your share of the property to another person in the event of your death via your Will. This can be really helpful if you’re buying together and one or both of you have children from a previous relationship. You can then leave your share of the property to your children if you choose to.
Can I get a joint mortgage with a guarantor?
Yes, you can have a guarantor when you apply for a joint mortgage. Just like applying for a mortgage on your own, the guarantor wouldn’t be listed as a borrower specifically, but they would be contractually liable for the repayments each month if you can’t make them.
If you are looking to go down that route, the guarantor would need to get legal advice to understand where they would stand.
What is a Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP) mortgage?
If one of you on the joint application has owned property before, applying for a JBSP mortgage is one way to benefit from first-time buyer offers or tax relief.
The first-time buyer would be named on the deeds to the house and classed as the proprietor. Both of you are applicants on the mortgage, so both of your incomes and credit histories would be assessed for affordability purposes.
Technically, only one of you owns the property, which may not be ideal for some couples, but you could potentially make changes when you remortgage and put both people on the property deeds. This is a solution to think carefully about, but we can help explain all of the intricate details so you can make an informed choice.
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How much can you borrow as a first-time buyer with a joint mortgage?
Typically, lenders will let you borrow around 4.5 to five times your income. When there are two of you borrowing, your incomes would be added together and multiplied to reach the total mortgage amount.
Some special first-time buyer deals could allow you to borrow more. As we speak today in January 2026, one lender will let first-time buyers borrow potentially up to seven times their income. That has helped a lot of clients get onto the property ladder.
It’s very important that we look at your budget carefully when taking on such a large commitment. A mortgage broker will guide you through what you can borrow and how much you would have to repay each month. We always double-check it’s in line with what you can realistically afford.
How do you calculate a first-time buyer’s joint mortgage?
What you earn is only part of the story a lender is interested in. They’ll also want to know what deposit you have, how much you have to spend on repayments each month and what your past history with debt has been like.
In terms of your credit score, the number itself isn’t always important. The lender is more interested in the types of credit issues in your past. A missed parking ticket is much less of an issue than trouble repaying credit cards or personal loans on a regular basis.
Again, this is where a mortgage broker can really help. We know exactly how to present your application to the lender to ensure a speedy decision and get the right outcome for you.
How much deposit do I need for a joint mortgage?
We always suggest clients have a minimum deposit of around 5% of the purchase price. There are some special deals for first-time buyers where you can use less deposit, but borrowing with a small deposit does tend to mean higher interest rates. It is worth saving as much as you can ahead of your purchase.
Can you transfer a joint mortgage to one person?
This can be done, but it’s not straightforward. When you take on a mortgage jointly, you are both responsible for the whole debt. To take one person off, the lender would need to be satisfied that the remaining mortgage holder would be able to keep up with the repayments. The property also moves into the sole ownership of the person staying in the mortgage.
In all cases, the decision to remove someone from a joint mortgage is down to affordability. Ultimately, if you want to end the joint mortgage and the remaining mortgage holder can’t afford to pay each month, you may have to sell the property and start again with a lower-value home.
Can I get a joint mortgage as a first-time buyer if I have bad credit?
It’s definitely possible to get a first-time buyer mortgage with bad credit, whether buying on your own or jointly with someone else.
We may have fewer choices of lenders if we need to approach those happy to accept applicants with less than perfect credit histories. Again, you’re likely to be paying a slightly higher interest rate.
The severity of your credit issues will impact the lenders we can go to and the rates accessible to you. Sometimes a missed payment for a mobile phone would count less against you than a large missed loan repayment, for example. It’s well worth talking to us about your specific situation, and we can look into the right mortgage for you.
When you apply for a mortgage with another person, your finances will then be linked to that individual. You might have a perfect credit score, but they may have a slightly chequered past with repaying debts. You need to be sure they can pay their share of the monthly mortgage payment, as you’ll both be liable for it. If you miss any repayments, both your credit scores would be impacted.
How can a mortgage broker help me get a joint mortgage as a first-time buyer?
We scour through thousands of products to find the right deal for you quickly and efficiently – saving you a fair amount of time. There are exclusive deals that we have access to with lenders that aren’t available directly, which could potentially save you money.
When you’ve decided that you’re happy to go ahead with our advice, we will make the mortgage application on your behalf and manage the whole process from start to finish.
We also deal with all the other professional parties involved – your estate agent, solicitor, and surveyor, as well as the mortgage lender. We act as the middleman to make the process as easy as possible for you.
In my opinion, the biggest benefit to working with a broker for a first-time buyer is our experience. We’ve been helping clients to get a mortgage, to buy a home or property to rent out for years. Within Mortgage Style, we’ve got over 100 years of industry experience – you’ll have all that knowledge to tap into along the way.
The property buying process can be long and convoluted, so having someone to guide you through it all and explain all the jargon brings huge peace of mind.
It’s also our job to make sure that you can keep the home you buy, should the worst happen. If you’re injured or get a critical illness and can’t work for a long period, your mortgage would still need to be paid.
We help you find the right protection policies to cover your repayments if and when you aren’t able to earn.
Key Takeaways:
- For most special offers and stamp duty relief, both applicants must be first-time buyers. If one applicant has previously owned a property, the couple is generally classed as ‘returning property owners’ and loses access to the relief.
- If one applicant is not a first-time buyer, a Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP) mortgage is one way to potentially still benefit from first-time buyer offers and tax relief, as only the first-time buyer is named as the property owner (proprietor), while both incomes are assessed for affordability.
- Lenders typically allow a couple to borrow around 4.5 to five times their combined income, though some deals for first-time buyers can allow borrowing up to seven times income (as of January 2026).
- Couples can choose to be joint tenants (equal 100% share, property passes automatically to the survivor) or tenants in common (allows for varied ownership shares and the ability to allocate one’s share in a Will).
- Brokers help by finding the most suitable deal quickly, managing the entire application process, and guiding clients on protection policies to cover repayments should they be unable to work.
YOUR HOME/PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP TO DATE WITH YOUR MORTGAGE REPAYMENTS.
A fee may be payable if we progress your application. Our average fee is around £200 and the maximum you may pay is £995 for Retirement Interest Only mortgages.
Mortgage Style Ltd, trading as Mortgage Style, is an appointed representative of HLPartnership Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.