There is no shortage of mortgage content online. What is harder to find is content that is genuinely useful for contractors written with an understanding of IR35, day rate income, limited company structures, and the specific challenges you face when lenders do not understand how you earn.
Everything in this section is written by our advisers based on what we see every week in real contractor mortgage cases. We update guides when lender criteria changes, when market conditions shift, or when we find that contractors consistently ask the same questions that deserve a clearer answer.
Our guide library covers the full range of contractor mortgage topics — from first principles for contractors who are new to the mortgage market, to detailed comparisons of IR35 assessment methods for experienced contractors remortgaging or moving to a higher-value property.
Key guides include our annual contractor mortgage guide (updated each year to reflect current lender criteria and market conditions), our IR35 and mortgages explainer, the day rate versus SA302 comparison, and our series of profession-specific guides covering IT, healthcare, construction and education contractors.
Mortgage rates change frequently — sometimes weekly. Our news and insights section covers the rate movements, Bank of England base rate decisions and lender criteria changes that matter most to contractors.
We focus on practical implications rather than commentary for its own sake. When a lender improves its contractor criteria, we write about what it means for borrowing capacity. When rates rise or fall, we explain how it affects both new purchases and existing mortgage holders approaching their renewal date.
One of the most common reasons contractor mortgage applications are delayed is incomplete documentation. Our document checklist sets out exactly what most lenders need for a contractor application — by income structure — so you can prepare everything before you begin the process.
Being prepared significantly speeds up the process and reduces the chance of being asked for additional information at a later stage. It also demonstrates to the lender that your application is well-organised, which matters in manual underwriting cases.
If you already have a mortgage arranged through us, we will contact you around four to six months before your fixed rate or initial period expires to review your options. You do not need to wait for us to make contact — you can reach out at any time to discuss your current deal, whether remortgaging to a new lender makes sense, or whether a product transfer with your existing lender is the better option.
We also review existing mortgages for contractors who came to us from elsewhere and want a second opinion on their current deal. If you are on a standard variable rate, paying over the odds, or approaching a renewal, we are happy to review your position without obligation.
A mortgage in principle (MIP) — also called an agreement in principle (AIP) or decision in principle (DIP) — is a lender’s conditional indication that they would be willing to lend a specified amount, subject to a full application and valuation.
For contractors, having an MIP from the right lender carries more weight than a generic MIP from a mainstream lender. Estate agents and vendors take notice of a named lender’s willingness to lend — particularly from a lender with a reputation for following through. We issue contractor-specific MIPs quickly, often within 24 to 48 hours of receiving your information.
We review and update our main guides at least twice a year, and more frequently when significant lender criteria changes or rate movements make an update necessary. Each guide shows a ‘last updated’ date so you can see how current the information is.
Most lenders perform either a soft search (which does not appear on your credit file) or a hard search at the MIP stage. We clarify which type of search will be performed before proceeding, and where a soft search MIP is available from a suitable lender, we use that first to protect your credit file.
The mortgage deal tracker is available on this page and linked from the main Resources section. It shows current market rates across a range of LTV bands and product types — fixed and tracker — with a weekly update. It is designed to give you a quick read on whether current market conditions favour fixing, tracking or waiting.