Heron Financial arranged a £486,000 mortgage at 90% LTV for a first-time buyer on a Tier 2 visa, purchasing a £540,000 new-build detached house in Buckinghamshire with a £54,000 deposit made up of £27,000 in personal savings and a £27,000 builder gifted contribution. The client is a self-employed limited company director with two years’ accounts, a 50% shareholding, and income drawn as salary plus dividends. Heron Financial placed the case with Halifax on a fixed rate at 5.16%, and the mortgage completed in February 2025.
The client
The client was a solo first-time buyer in their owner-occupier-ready stage of life: settled UK life on a Tier 2 visa, two full years running their own IT consultancy as a 50% shareholder of a limited company, and a deposit position built from personal savings plus a builder gifted contribution on a new-build purchase. The property was a detached new-build house in Buckinghamshire at £540,000, comfortably in the price range where lenders pay close attention to everything in the file.
They came to Heron Financial wanting to be properly financially qualified before reservation. Builder sales offices like to see a strong, lender-aligned position before they hold a plot, and the client had enough complexity in their profile that “we think it’ll be fine” wasn’t going to be good enough.
The case at a glance
- Buyer: Solo first-time buyer, self-employed
- Nationality and visa: Indian national, Tier 2 visa (Skilled Worker)
- Occupation: IT Company Director (Ltd, 50% shareholding, 2 years’ accounts)
- Income mix: Salary £25,000 + Dividends £35,000
- Property type: New-build detached house
- Location: Buckinghamshire
- Purchase price: £540,000
- Deposit: £54,000 total, £27,000 personal savings plus £27,000 builder gifted deposit (10%)
- Loan amount: £486,000
- LTV: 90%
- Lender: Halifax Intermediaries
- Product: Fixed Rate at 5.16%
- Repayment method: Capital and interest
- Scheme / incentive: Builder gifted deposit (new-build incentive)
- Completion: February 2025
The challenge
Any one of the following on its own is manageable. Stacked together, they cut the lender list down quickly:
Tier 2 visa at 90% LTV. Many lenders cap LTV for visa holders at 75–85%, or require a minimum remaining term on the visa. Pushing to 90% genuinely narrows the panel, and combined with everything else below, the eligible lender list got short fast.
Self-employed Ltd company director with only 2 years’ accounts. A meaningful number of lenders want three years’ accounts for self-employed applicants. Two-year cases are workable, but lender choice matters more.
50% shareholder assessed on salary plus dividends. Some lenders prefer salary plus share of net profit for directors. Others stick with salary plus dividends. Income figures (£25,000 salary + £35,000 dividends here) can look different to different lenders, and the chosen lender’s approach needs to match the way the client actually draws income.
Loan size of £486,000 against £60,000 declared income. That’s a high income multiple. Most lenders cap at 4.5x income, with some offering 5x or higher for stronger profiles. The case needed a lender comfortable lending towards the top of the multiple range, on director income, at 90% LTV.
New-build at 90% LTV with a builder gifted deposit. New-build LTV caps are often tighter than for second-hand stock. Builder incentives are treated inconsistently, some lenders count the gift towards the deposit at face value, others deduct it from the purchase price and recalculate LTV, which can push the case above the cap.
The job was to find a single lender comfortable with every one of those points at the same time.
How Heron Financial approached the recommendation
The Heron adviser worked the case from the underwriting outwards.
Lender mapping for Tier 2 visa at 90% LTV. Heron Financial began by narrowing the panel to lenders genuinely comfortable with Tier 2 / Skilled Worker visa holders at 90% LTV, factoring in remaining visa term and UK residency history.
Income treatment for a 50% Ltd company director with 2 years’ accounts. The adviser tested how each shortlisted lender would assess the £25,000 salary plus £35,000 dividends, and what income multiple they’d apply. Halifax’s approach, clean assessment of two years of director income drawn as salary plus dividends, with a strong income multiple at 90% LTV, produced the loan size required.
Builder gifted deposit structuring. Heron Financial confirmed Halifax’s treatment of the £27,000 builder gifted contribution, ensuring it was disclosed correctly as a new-build incentive and that LTV was calculated cleanly at 90% against the full £540,000 purchase price.
Financially qualified before reservation. Because the client wanted a strong position to put in front of the housebuilder sales office, the adviser front-loaded the income evidence, visa documentation and deposit structure so the AIP genuinely reflected what would underwrite, not a soft check that might fall over later.
Halifax was the right home for this case because their criteria genuinely fit all five points: Tier 2 visa at 90% LTV, two years’ Ltd director accounts, salary plus dividends income, the loan-to-income multiple required, and the builder gifted deposit treatment. A 5.16% fixed rate gave the client high-street pricing on what could easily have been pushed into specialist-lender territory.
The outcome
Halifax issued a mortgage offer and the case completed in February 2025. The client moved into their first home with:
A £486,000 mortgage at 90% LTV
A fixed rate at 5.16% on capital and interest repayment
A high-street lender outcome on a multi-layered profile
The builder gifted deposit doing real work in the deposit stack
What this means for buyers in a similar position
If you’re on a Tier 2 or Skilled Worker visa, self-employed through a limited company on two years’ accounts, and looking at a new-build at higher LTV, the combination is workable, but lender choice is everything. The right lender takes all of it in stride. The wrong one declines at one of the five points and you’ve used up a hard search on your credit file for nothing. A broker who knows which lenders genuinely accept each individual element at the LTV you need is the difference between a clean offer and a stack of failed applications.
FAQs
Can someone on a Tier 2 visa get a 90% LTV mortgage in the UK?
Yes. Several UK lenders, including Halifax, will consider Tier 2 / Skilled Worker visa holders at up to 90% LTV, subject to criteria around remaining visa length, UK residency and affordability. Heron Financial recently arranged a 90% LTV Halifax mortgage for an Indian Tier 2 visa holder buying a £540,000 new-build.
Can a Ltd company director get a mortgage with only 2 years' accounts?
Yes. Many UK lenders accept two years of company accounts for self-employed directors. Some require three years. Lender choice depends on shareholding, how income is drawn (salary plus dividends, or salary plus share of profit), and the loan-to-income multiple required. Two-year cases are mainstream rather than unusual.
How do lenders assess salary plus dividends for a company director?
Most lenders add the latest year’s (or average of the last two years’) salary and dividends drawn from the limited company. Some lenders will instead use salary plus share of net profit, which can produce a higher figure if the company retains profit. The right approach depends on the lender and how the company is structured.
Does a builder gifted deposit count towards your deposit on a new-build?
It can, but lenders treat it differently. Some accept the builder’s gifted contribution as part of the deposit at face value. Others deduct it from the purchase price and recalculate LTV against the lower figure, which can push the case above the lender’s LTV cap. The structure of the case needs to match the chosen lender’s policy.
Can I borrow more than 4.5 times my income on a mortgage?
Sometimes. Standard lender income multiples are 4.5x, but a number of lenders offer up to 5x or higher for stronger profiles, including some professionals and higher earners. Loan-to-income limits also interact with LTV and credit profile, so the practical maximum varies case by case.
