Case Study –Securing a £1.7 Million Mortgage Where Conventional Income Did Not Reflect Overall Wealth

The Situation

A client approached Henry Dannell while purchasing a property in North West London for approximately £3.15 million.

The client required a mortgage of £1.7 million, representing approximately 54% loan-to-value.

Although the client had previously owned property, they were renting at the time of the purchase and intended to acquire the new home in their sole name.

An interest-only mortgage was preferred to help manage the contractual monthly commitment. This was particularly relevant given the client’s age, which restricted the maximum term available on a conventional capital repayment mortgage, alongside their intention to repay the borrowing over a relatively short timeframe.

The Challenge

The principal challenge was not the client's overall financial position, but how that position would be assessed under conventional mortgage affordability criteria. The client was a sole-trader therapist with earned income of approximately £40,000 per annum. Assessed on this income alone, conventional affordability calculations would not support the £1.7 million borrowing required. However, earned income represented only one part of the client's financial position. The client also held approximately £13 million of investment wealth with a wealth manager and intended to repay the mortgage over a relatively short period. The challenge was therefore to identify a lender able to take a broader view of the client's financial resources and consider their substantial investment assets as part of the affordability assessment.

The Solution

We explored the specialist lending market and identified a lender whose affordability methodology was better suited to the client's circumstances. Rather than assessing the application solely against the client's £40,000 earned income, the lender was able to attribute an income figure to a proportion of the client's investment portfolio for affordability purposes. This allowed the client's wider investment wealth to form part of the assessment and supported the £1.7 million borrowing required. The mortgage was structured on an interest-only basis, helping to manage the contractual monthly commitment while aligning with the client's intention to repay the borrowing over a shorter timeframe. The result was a £1.7 million mortgage supporting the purchase of an approximately £3.15 million property, where an assessment based solely on conventional earned income would not have supported the required borrowing. The case demonstrates why mortgage planning for high-net-worth clients can require a broader understanding of financial resources. Where substantial wealth is held in investments rather than reflected through conventional earned income, lender selection and the methodology used to assess affordability can materially influence the borrowing available.