What the bank checks before approving a mortgage

The first thing the bank calculates is what share of your income the payment will take. If you already hold credit, those payments are counted alongside the future mortgage, and it is the combined burden that determines the amount you are approved for.

Hence a common outcome: the approved amount is smaller than the one requested. That almost never means a rejection of you personally — it means the documented income did not stretch to the amount asked. A co-borrower, a larger deposit or a longer term are the three ways to move that calculation.

Credit history is assessed separately. Past missed payments are visible to the lender and affect the decision, and consistency matters more than age: a cleanly repaid loan helps, while a long string of delays hurts even on a high income.

A mortgage is credit against a specific property, not just against you. The bank assesses the property: its value, its legal standing and its suitability as collateral. The valuation is usually done by an independent valuer, and the result can differ from the price you agreed with the seller.

If the valuation comes in below the agreed price, the loan is calculated from the valuation and you cover the gap in cash. This is one of the most common reasons an agreed purchase collapses at the last step — worth keeping in mind well in advance.

The type of property also determines which programmes are open at all: finished housing, a new build under construction and a private house run under different rules and different deposit requirements.

The exact list of documents is set by the bank and the programme, so no universal list exists — get it from the lender. But the structure is almost always the same: identity documents, proof of income and employment, documents on the property, and documents on the co-borrower if there is one.

The most useful thing to do before applying is to get your proof of income in order and to establish the programme’s minimum deposit up front. Those two items most often decide what the answer will be.