First-Time Buyer Lawyer Secures 90% Mortgage on New Build with Developer Incentive
An Australian-qualified associate at a City law firm wanted a £750,000 new-build flat with only 5% of his own money, the other half of the deposit coming from a developer incentive. The build was nine months from completion and he had received exactly one annual bonus. A high street lender accepted the incentive within its new-build rules, counted half the bonus, and lent £675,000 at 90% loan to value (LTV), roughly 4.3 times the recognised income, with an offer that could be extended to match the build.
Client Snapshot
£750,000
Purchase price
£675,000
Mortgage at 90% Loan to Value (LTV)
£157,500
Recognised income (base + half of one bonus)
Associate, disputes team, City law firm; Australian-qualified · Two-bedroom apartment, Greenwich Peninsula, South East London, completing in around nine months · 10% deposit: £37,500 developer incentive plus £37,500 own savings · Capital and interest, five-year fixed rate, product fee added to the loan, 35-year term
Key constraint
Only 5% of the price was his own money, the property was a new-build flat at 90% LTV, and the bonus he needed for affordability had been paid once — three points on which many lenders' criteria may each fail the case on its own
Context
The reservation came first and the questions followed. Two years into a London posting that had become permanent, the client reserved a two-bedroom apartment off-plan in a Greenwich Peninsula development, drawn by the river and a 20-minute commute to the office. His partner, a doctor partway through a training rotation outside London, will join him once the placement ends; the application was made in his sole name, and nothing in the income case relies on her earnings.
The developer's incentive package covered 5% of the purchase price. With £37,500 of his own savings alongside it, he had a 10% deposit on paper. What he did not know was whether a lender would read it that way.
The Challenge
Three separate criteria points stacked against the case. First, the deposit. Lenders generally distinguish between a buyer's own money and a builder's contribution: incentives usually must be declared on the standard UK Finance disclosure form, many lenders cap them at around 5% of the price, and some also require a minimum personal contribution of 5% or more. His split sat exactly on those thresholds, which meant the case worked at some lenders and failed at others on the same facts.
Second, the property. New-build flats carry their own LTV ceilings, which may sit at 75% or 85% at many lenders; a smaller set may lend to 90%. The 90% requirement removed a large part of the field before income was even considered.
Third, the bonus. His base salary alone, at the multiple that generally applies at 90% LTV, supported around £628,600, short of the £675,000 he needed. The gap had to come from a £35,000 bonus paid once. Bonus criteria commonly ask for two years' history and average across them; a single payment fails that test outright at some lenders, while others may consider one year at 50%, evidenced by the payslip and an employer's confirmation that the scheme is ongoing. How lenders read bonus evidence is covered in our guide to bonus income mortgages → and the wider picture for legal careers in our guide to mortgages for lawyers and law firm partners →
Behind all three sat the build itself. Mortgage offers commonly run for around six months; the development was nine months from completion, so the case needed a lender whose new-build offers run longer or can be extended without a full reapplication.
Director and Mortgage Adviser
Specialist mortgage broker for City professionals. David works with lawyers at every stage from associate to partner, structuring first purchases and new-build cases around bonus income, tight exchange deadlines and deposit structures that need explaining properly to an underwriter.
Lender Strategy
The field was filtered on the property and deposit rules first, because they are binary: a lender that caps new-build flats at 85% LTV, or requires 10% of the buyer's own money, was out regardless of income. That left a short list of high street lenders whose new-build criteria accept a declared incentive within 5%, a personal contribution of 5%, and flat lending at 90%, and whose new-build offer terms run to nine months or extend on the developer's confirmation of the revised completion date.
Within that list, the bonus treatment decided the placement. We placed the case with a top-ten high street lender whose policy may accept a single year's bonus at 50% where the payslip evidences it and the employer confirms the scheme. The arithmetic: £140,000 base plus 50% of the £35,000 bonus is £157,500 of recognised income. £675,000 against £157,500 is roughly 4.3 times, inside the cap that generally applies at this LTV.
Worked example, on the same package
Law firm associate, £140,000 base, one £35,000 bonus received
The same package, assessed two ways.
- Base salary
- £140,000
- Bonus history
- One payment: £35,000
- Recognised income (placed route)
- £157,500
- Purchase
- £750,000 at 90% Loan to Value (LTV)
£140,000 at 4.49 times supports around £628,600, about £46,400 short of the loan required.
£140,000 base plus 50% of the £35,000 bonus is £157,500 of recognised income. £675,000 against £157,500 is roughly 4.3 times, inside the cap that generally applies at this LTV.
The same package throughout. Counting half of one evidenced bonus moves recognised income from £140,000 to £157,500, and closes the £46,400 gap between the base-only capacity and the loan the purchase needed.
Please note: These figures are for illustrative purposes only. The actual amount you can borrow will depend upon your personal circumstances, credit profile, LTV, the lender's individual criteria and full affordability assessment.
The structure protected his cash and his timeline. A five-year fixed rate took refinancing risk off the table for the period in which the flat's value and his earnings should both move on. The product fee was added to the loan to preserve savings. The term was set at 35 years to hold the monthly cost at a level his base salary covers on its own, with the bonus left free for overpayments within the product's annual allowance. The offer was issued with the lender's new-build extension terms attached, so a construction delay would mean a confirmation exercise rather than a fresh application.
The application was packaged around the three friction points: the developer's incentive disclosure form, the reservation contract and build schedule, his passport and visa evidencing settled London employment, the bonus payslip with HR's confirmation of the scheme, and three months of statements evidencing the personal deposit.
The Result
The Result
A £675,000 mortgage agreed at 90% LTV, with the incentive accepted and the bonus counted
£675,000
Loan
90%
LTV
£157,500
Recognised income (base + half of one bonus)
~4.3×
Income multiple
First call
Day 0
Full mortgage offer
Week 4
Exchange
Within the 28-day deadline
Completion
On build completion (offer extendable)
A £675,000 mortgage was agreed at 90% LTV on a five-year fixed rate over a 35-year term, at roughly 4.3 times the £157,500 of recognised income, priced in the normal range for 90% new-build lending. First call to offer took four weeks; exchange followed within the developer's 28-day deadline, with completion set for the build's finish around nine months out and the offer extendable against it. His personal outlay stayed at £37,500 plus moving costs.
Why This Matters for Similar Clients
Buyers often treat a developer incentive as simply part of the deposit, and only discover at application that lenders read it differently. Incentive caps, personal-contribution minimums, new-build LTV ceilings and offer validity periods vary lender by lender, and a reservation deadline leaves little time to discover a mismatch. If the deposit structure, the property type and a short bonus history all sit near criteria thresholds, the order in which the field is filtered matters as much as any single rule. Our article on how much a lawyer can borrow → covers the income side in more depth.
What We Can Do for You
- Check before you reserve how a developer incentive sits against lenders' deposit and disclosure rules, at your intended LTV
- Identify the lenders on our panel whose new-build flat criteria and offer periods fit an off-plan timeline
- Present a short bonus history the way underwriters need to see it, with the scheme evidenced rather than asserted
- Structure fees, term and product length so a first purchase does not exhaust the savings behind it
FAQs
Sometimes. Incentives must generally be declared to the lender on the standard UK Finance disclosure form, and many lenders cap them at around 5% of the purchase price while requiring a minimum personal contribution alongside. Criteria differ, so the same package can pass at one lender and fail at another.
Potentially. New-build flats often carry lower LTV ceilings than houses, commonly 75% to 85%, but some lenders may lend to 90% subject to the development, the deposit structure and full affordability.
Some lenders may count a proportion, often 50%, of a single bonus where the payslip evidences it and the employer confirms the scheme is ongoing. Others ask for two years' history and may not consider one payment at all.
Offers commonly run for around six months. Some lenders issue longer offers for new-build purchases or extend against the developer's confirmed completion date, usually with a re-check of your circumstances rather than a full new application. It is worth confirming the extension terms before exchange.
It can. Lenders consider visa type, time in the UK and time remaining, and criteria vary widely. Settled employment and a UK credit record generally strengthen the case; some lenders apply higher deposit requirements until permanent residency is granted.
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