Credit Building > Can you get a joint mortgage with 3 applicants?

Can you get a joint mortgage with 3 applicants?

Wollit Team4 minute read · Updated 29th June 2024

Yes, it is possible to get a joint mortgage with three applicants in the UK. While most joint mortgages involve two people, some lenders may consider applications from up to four people who want to purchase a property together.

Getting a joint mortgage with three people can be great since it lets you pool your money and borrow more than you could individually. However, it's important to understand the implications and potential risks before going ahead with a 3-way joint mortgage.

How does a joint mortgage with 3 applicants work?

A joint mortgage with three applicants works very similarly to a regular joint mortgage, except that there’s a third person involved:

The lender will look at the credit history, income, and existing debts for each applicant individually to figure out whether the mortgage is affordable for all three of you.
Each applicant will go through a full credit check.
If one of the applicants has a poor credit score or a history of missed payments, it may impact the overall application and the interest rate offered by the lender.
Once accepted, all three applicants will be named on the mortgage.
Most importantly, all three applicants will be equally responsible for making the monthly mortgage payments. If a payment is missed, then it will be recorded as a missed payment on all three credit files and lower all three credit scores.

Which lenders offer joint mortgages for three applicants?

Not all lenders offer this sort of mortgage. However, there are some that may consider such applications. Here are the ones we found:

Barclays accepts up to four applicants, but only considers income from two of the applicants when determining if the mortgage is affordable.
Metro Bank and the Leeds Building Society will consider income from up to 4 people, but the applicants must be close family relatives.
The Teachers Building Society will consider 100% of the first two applicants' incomes and 50% of one additional applicant's income.
The Skipton Building Society also accepts up to 4 applicants and even includes all of their incomes in the affordability calculation, but only if all applicants intend to live in the property.

What are the pros of a joint mortgage with three applicants?

A joint mortgage can be a great tool for becoming a homeowner. A 3-way joint mortgage even more so:

By combining your incomes and credit histories, you may be able to secure a larger mortgage and purchase a more expensive property than you could individually.
With three people contributing to the mortgage payments, the burden is spread out a bit, making it somewhat easier to manage the monthly cost.
It also comes with quite a bit of flexibility, as you can choose if you want to own the property as “tenants in common” instead of the default “joint tenants”.

What is the difference between “joint tenants” and “tenants in common”?

These terms sound very familiar so if you’ve never seen them before, it’s normal to be confused.

In the UK, "joint tenants" and "tenants in common" are two different kinds of joint ownership for property. The main difference between the two lies in how the property is owned and what happens to the property during a divorce or when one owner passes away.

Joint tenancy is a type of joint ownership where each owner has an equal share of the property. If one owner passes away, their share automatically transfers to the surviving joint tenant (or tenants, if it’s a property owned by three people).

Joint tenants cannot leave their share of the property to anyone else in their will, and the property is owned wholly by each party. This kind of ownership is often best for couples who want equal ownership and who also wish that the property will pass automatically to the surviving spouse.

On the other hand, tenants in common own specific shares of the property, which can be equal or unequal percentages of ownership. So for a joint mortgage with three people, these percentages can be either a third each or something like 20/10/70, based on how much each person contributed.

This type of ownership allows for much more flexibility: tenants in common can change their shares, sell their share to another person, or leave their share to a beneficiary in their will. This makes it more suitable for friends or family members who might want to invest in a buy-to-let property together.

What are the risks of a three-way joint mortgage?

A joint mortgage with three applicants comes with all the risks of a regular joint mortgage, except that now there’s an additional person involved:

All of you will need to go through a hard credit check when applying for a mortgage.
If one of you fails to make their share of the mortgage payments, the other two will be responsible for covering the shortfall. The only way to fix it is in court, since the lender will not care about whatever internal agreement you had.
If you miss a payment, it will also be recorded on all three credit files and lower all three credit scores.
With three people involved, there is a higher likelihood of disagreements, especially for things like renovations, selling, or refinancing.
Also, if one of you wants to be removed from the mortgage in the future, it may be hard to do so without refinancing or even selling the property entirely.
Finally, a joint mortgage will create a “financial association” between all three credit files. This means that your co-owners will show up on your credit report and their credit score will be considered by other lenders every time you apply for another financial product.

This is why, regardless if you’re applying for a joint mortgage with three of your family members or simply by yourself, you’ll need a good credit score.

This will give you access to more and better deals. It will also ensure that you’ll be offered the lowest possible interest rates – which can really add up over the course of your mortgage. Even small differences in APR can make a huge difference when we’re talking about 20 or 30 years.

In fact, depending on the terms of your mortgage, you may expect to pay as much as 50% of the entire mortgage in interest alone.

If the main reason to get other applicants on your mortgage application is affordability, then improving your credit score so you can get offered a lower interest rate can be a better place to start.

Luckily, now there are many apps that can help you build and improve credit.

One such app is Wollit. Wollit is an app available both on Android and iOS, and it works by reporting a fixed-fee monthly subscription as a loan repayment to all three credit reference agencies.

This gives you a chance to build your own credit history and improve your credit score without the fear of risky financial associations and without having to hop on someone else’s credit rating.