Heron Financial arranged a £203,000 mortgage with Nationwide for Intermediaries for joint applicants buying a £233,000 semi-detached home, combining a £13,000 Forces Help to Buy contribution with £16,000 in personal savings to fund the deposit. One applicant carried both an employed Forces role and six years of self-employed trading as a Dance Teacher, an income mix that narrows the lender field but which Nationwide assessed cleanly. The case completed in February 2025.
The clients
The clients were a couple buying their first home together. One applicant was a serving member of the Armed Forces using the Forces Help to Buy scheme, who had also been running a self-employed dance teaching business alongside their military role for six years. With Forces HTB providing part of the deposit and personal savings making up the rest, they were buying a semi-detached home and looking for a lender that could handle both the scheme requirements and the mixed-income picture
The case at a glance
- Buyers: Joint applicants
- Occupations: Serving Armed Forces member with self-employed Dance Teacher side business (6 years trading), plus a second applicant
- Property type: Semi-detached house
- Purchase price: £233,000
- Deposit: £30,000 total (£13,000 Forces Help to Buy + £16,000 personal savings) (~13%)
- Loan amount: £203,000
- LTV: Approximately 87%
- Lender: Nationwide for Intermediaries
- Scheme used: Forces Help to Buy
- Repayment method: Capital and interest
Why this case mattered
Two distinct features made this case more demanding than a standard 87% LTV joint purchase.
1. Forces Help to Buy. Forces Help to Buy is a UK Ministry of Defence scheme that provides serving Armed Forces personnel with an interest-free loan, repayable from salary over ten years, to help with home purchase costs. It can be used towards deposit, stamp duty, legal fees and other associated costs. Not every mortgage lender accepts Forces HTB as part of the deposit picture, and those that do often want to see the loan structured and evidenced in specific ways. Lender choice narrows accordingly.
2. Mixed employed plus self-employed income. When one applicant has both an employed role and self-employed income on the side, lenders have to decide how to assess the combined picture. Some will use only the primary employed income. Some will add a percentage of the self-employed income on top. Some will treat the whole household as a self-employed application. The right answer depends entirely on the lender’s policy. With six years of self-employed trading history (well above the typical two- to three-year minimum), the underlying income was solid, but the lender still needed to assess the mix on its own terms.
The intersection of these two features, Forces HTB and a mixed-income applicant, narrowed the realistic shortlist of lenders sharply. The case wasn’t impossible, but it required a lender that handles both elements cleanly.
How Heron Financial approached the recommendation
The Heron adviser worked through the household’s combined income, including the employed Forces salary, the self-employed dance teaching trading history, and the second applicant’s income, and matched the case to a lender that would accept Forces Help to Buy as part of the deposit picture and assess the mixed-income side fairly. Nationwide for Intermediaries came out as the right fit on both counts, with workable criteria for Forces HTB and a sensible approach to mixed employment.
Heron Financial managed the application through the lender’s underwriting, including evidencing the Forces HTB loan, the self-employed trading accounts and the supporting income documentation.
The outcome
The case completed in February 2025. The clients moved into their new home with their Forces Help to Buy contribution in place and their mortgage running cleanly with Nationwide.
What this means for buyers in a similar position
For serving Armed Forces personnel using Forces Help to Buy, the practical mortgage question is rarely whether a mortgage is available, but which lender will accept the scheme as part of the deposit and how the rest of the application is treated. Forces HTB is one part of a wider picture that includes income, deposit make-up, property and personal circumstances.
A broker who knows which lenders work cleanly with Forces HTB can save considerable time at the application stage.
For households where one applicant has mixed employed and self-employed income, the same logic applies. Lender treatment of the second income stream varies widely, and the right placement depends on which lender’s policy fits the actual income shape. Six years of self-employed trading, as in this case, gives a strong underlying foundation, but the lender still has to choose how to read it.
For households combining both, Forces HTB plus mixed income, the field narrows further, and broker input becomes more valuable, not less. The right placement keeps the application simple, the documentation clear and the timeline on track.
FAQs
What is Forces Help to Buy?
Forces Help to Buy is a UK Ministry of Defence scheme that provides serving Armed Forces personnel with an interest-free loan to help with home purchase costs, including deposit, stamp duty and legal fees. The loan is repaid from salary over ten years. The scheme was made permanent in 2022 after running as a pilot since 2014.
Which lenders accept Forces Help to Buy?
Several mainstream and specialist lenders accept Forces HTB, but not all do, and acceptance criteria vary. In this Heron Financial case, Nationwide for Intermediaries accepted the £13,000 Forces HTB contribution as part of a £30,000 deposit picture. Heron Financial reviews the lender market to identify which providers will treat Forces HTB cleanly at the time of application.
Can you use Forces Help to Buy if you also have self-employed income?
Yes. In this Heron Financial case, the applicant using Forces HTB also had six years of self-employed trading as a Dance Teacher alongside their employed Forces role. Lender choice narrows when both features are combined, since not every lender that accepts Forces HTB will also assess mixed-income applications cleanly, but the combination is workable with the right placement.
How do lenders treat mixed employed and self-employed income?
Lender approaches vary. Some will use only the primary employed income. Some will add a portion of the self-employed income on top. Some will treat the application as a self-employed case overall. The right answer depends on the lender’s policy and the shape of the household’s income. In this Heron Financial case, six years of self-employed trading history alongside an employed Forces role was assessed cleanly by Nationwide for Intermediaries.
How long do you need to be self-employed to get a mortgage?
Most mainstream lenders want to see at least two years of self-employed trading history evidenced through tax returns or company accounts. Some accept one year. In this Heron Financial case, the applicant had six years of trading history, which gave a strong foundation for the income assessment.
