Getting a UK mortgage with one year of self-employed accounts
What lenders count as self-employed income, the income multiples to expect with one year of accounts, and the paperwork to have ready before you apply.
7 min readUpdated 8 September 2026 Written by Dave B, Warrington
The short answer
One year of accounts is workable but narrows your lender choice. Expect roughly 3.5 to 4.5 times income, and have SA302s, tax year overviews, finalised accounts and business bank statements ready.
What lenders count as your income
Sole traders are assessed on net profit from self-assessment, not turnover. In a partnership it is your share of net profit. Limited company directors are usually assessed on salary plus dividends, though a growing number of lenders will use salary plus your share of retained profit, which often produces a much bigger figure.
With two or more years of accounts, lenders typically average the last two — and if the most recent year is lower, many will use the lower year instead of the average. With a single year, expect the more cautious end of the multiple range, commonly 3.5 to 4 times, rising to around 4.5 times once you have two years or a specialist lender on side.
Affordability is then stress-tested: lenders check the payment still works at a higher rate than the one you are applying for, so committed outgoings such as car finance and childcare cut the maximum loan as hard as income raises it.
The paperwork to have ready
Applications with one year of trading get looked at more closely, so a tidy file matters:
- SA302 tax calculation plus the matching HMRC tax year overview
- Finalised accounts prepared by a qualified accountant
- Three to six months of business and personal bank statements
- Evidence of continuing work — signed contracts, order book, repeat invoices
- Proof of deposit and where it came from
The deposit does double duty
A bigger deposit does not just shrink the loan, it moves you into a lower loan-to-value band. Rates at 75-80% LTV are meaningfully cheaper than at 90-95%, and lenders apply their more flexible self-employed criteria at lower LTVs. If you are close to a band boundary, finding another 2-3% of the purchase price is usually the highest-value thing you can do.
With the average two-year fix around 5.6% in late 2026, the payment on the loan matters as much as the size of it — run the maximum borrowing figure, then check the monthly cost at today's rates before deciding what you actually want to borrow.
Improve your odds before you apply
Avoid new credit in the months before applying, keep business and personal spending in separate accounts, and check your credit file with all three UK agencies for errors. Reduce credit card balances even if you clear them monthly, because the reported balance can be the one the lender sees.
Use a broker. Criteria for one-year accounts vary hugely between lenders and are rarely published, so a specialist avoids failed applications and the hard credit searches that come with them.
Put a number on it
Sources
General information only, not financial advice. Figures are illustrative UK averages — check your own bill, mortgage offer or contract. Speak to an FCA-regulated broker before making a mortgage decision.