Your first UK mortgage, approved faster.

A first-time buyer mortgage is any UK residential mortgage where the applicant has never previously owned a property, in the UK or abroad. Lenders apply the same core underwriting as movers — income multiples, affordability stress tests at 6–8%, credit checks and property valuation — but layer on FTB-specific perks: cheaper 90–95% LTV rates, government-backed guarantees, gifted-deposit acceptance, and higher income multiples for qualifying professionals. In 2026, the Bank of England Base Rate sits at 4.75% and the average 2-year fix at 90% LTV is around 4.42%.

Personal savings, Help to Buy ISA, Lifetime ISA, gifted deposit from immediate family (signed gifter declaration required), equity from an inherited property sale, redundancy payments (with settlement letter) and Bank of Mum and Dad loans (harder — most lenders treat these as debt). Lenders do not accept unsecured personal loans, credit-card advances or unexplained cash. Elena flags deposit-source issues in the first 60 seconds so you don't reach offer stage and get declined.

Traditional FTB mortgages involve 3–4 broker calls, 40+ pages of forms and a document chase that averages 21 days. Mortgage.ai's AI assistant Elena runs an eligibility screen across 90+ lenders in under 60 seconds, pre-fills the application from your Open Banking data, generates a personalised document checklist and briefs the underwriter with a plain-English case summary. Result: 96% of DIPs convert to offer, at an average of 11 days.

Six proven levers: (1) clear credit-card balances 60+ days before applying so utilisation drops below 30%; (2) close unused store cards and buy-now-pay-later accounts (Klarna, Clearpay all show now); (3) get a professional-qualification-linked product if eligible (up to 5.5–6× income); (4) apply jointly — two salaries stack; (5) use JBSP with a parent to add income without shared ownership; (6) fix for 5 years to pass affordability at the pay rate rather than the stressed rate.

Top declines in 2026: undisclosed BNPL debt (Klarna/Clearpay), gambling transactions on bank statements (even small, regular ones — worst on Halifax and Nationwide), sub-3-month probation periods, deposit into current account within 90 days that can't be sourced, joint applicant with a CCJ. Elena runs a pre-application audit that catches 90%+ of these issues before your credit file is searched.

Day 0: 60-second AI eligibility screen. Day 1: full application submitted with pre-populated docs. Days 2–8: underwriter review (Elena briefs directly). Day 8–11: valuation instructed and mortgage offer issued. Weeks 3–4: solicitor searches and enquiries. Weeks 5–8: contract exchange and completion. Total: 6–8 weeks from application to keys, vs the 12–14 week UK average.