**Take Home** Mortgages · 2025/26 # Getting a mortgage as a limited company director Limited company directors can get a residential mortgage, but how much you can borrow depends entirely on how a lender reads your income. Most assess salary plus dividends, a minority lend on salary plus your share of retained company profit, which can be far more generous. The trick is knowing which lenders do which, and presenting your figures the way they expect. CB [Charlie Bailey](https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliebaileyy/) · Founder, Take Home · 6 years in UK accountancy Published 2026-05-30 · Updated 2026-05-30 · 3-min read On this page - [Estimate your borrowing](#calc) - [How lenders read director income](#how-read) - [The retained-profit route](#retained) - [Documents you'll need](#docs) - [What strengthens your case](#tips) - [FAQ](#faq) ## Key takeaways - Directors can get residential mortgages; the issue is how a lender measures your income. - Most lenders use salary plus dividends , typically at around 4.5 times income. - A minority lend on salary plus retained profit , which often allows materially more borrowing. - Drawing low dividends to save tax can quietly shrink the mortgage you qualify for. - A broker who knows director-friendly lenders is usually worth more than chasing a headline rate. ## Estimate your borrowing Quick estimate: indicative borrowing as a director Your annual salary (£) Your annual dividends (£) Income multiple 4x4.5x (typical)5x5.5x An indicative figure based on a common income multiple, not a mortgage offer, a promise of lending, or advice. Most lenders assess salary plus dividends, but some lend on salary plus retained company profit instead, and criteria vary widely. A specialist broker matches you to lenders that read director income correctly. ## How lenders read director income For an employee, income is simple: it is the salary on the payslip. For a director it is not, and lenders take different views: - Salary plus dividends. The most common approach. The lender adds your director's salary to the dividends you have actually drawn, usually averaged over the last one or two years. - Salary plus retained profit. A smaller group of lenders add your salary to your share of the company's net profit, whether or not you drew it as dividends. For a director who leaves profit in the company for tax reasons, this can transform the borrowing figure. The estimator above uses salary plus dividends, the route most directors will be assessed on. ## The retained-profit route Tax planning and mortgage applications can pull in opposite directions. A director who takes a £12,570 salary and modest dividends to stay out of higher-rate tax looks low-income to most lenders, even with six figures sitting in the company. Lenders that assess salary plus retained profit solve this. They look at what the company earned, not just what you extracted. There are fewer of them, their criteria are specific, and this is precisely where a specialist broker earns their fee, by knowing which lenders read your accounts the generous way. ## Documents you'll need - Two (sometimes one, occasionally three) years of finalised accounts , ideally signed off by a qualified accountant - SA302 tax calculations and the matching tax year overviews for the same years (see our [SA302 mortgage guide](/sa302-mortgage)) - Recent personal and business bank statements - Proof of deposit and ID Clean, consistent figures across your accounts, SA302s and bank statements make underwriting far smoother than numbers that need explaining. ## What strengthens your case - Plan a year ahead. If a mortgage is coming, the dividends you draw this year may matter more than the tax you save. - Keep accounts current. Lenders want recent, finalised figures, not draft or year-old accounts. - Match the lender to your shape. Low-dividend, high-retained-profit directors should target retained-profit lenders from the start. Take Home models how a change in your salary and dividend mix moves both your tax bill and your mortgage-relevant income, so you can see the trade-off before you commit. **Information, not advice.** Take Home provides information and calculations, not regulated financial or tax advice. Your circumstances may differ and the figures here are illustrative for the 2025/26 tax year. Speak to a qualified adviser or accountant before acting on anything you read here. Mortgage-ready ## See how lenders will actually read your income. Take Home models your salary, dividends and retained profit the way mortgage lenders do, so you walk into a broker prepared rather than guessing. 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This guide compares salary vs div…](/salary-vs-dividends-2025-26) FAQ ## Frequently asked Can a limited company director get a mortgage? Yes. The question is how a lender measures your income. Most use salary plus dividends at around 4.5 times income, while a minority use salary plus your share of retained company profit, which can allow more borrowing. Do mortgage lenders look at dividends or retained profit? Most look at salary plus the dividends you have actually drawn, usually averaged over one or two years. A smaller group of lenders assess salary plus retained profit, looking at what the company earned rather than what you extracted, which often helps directors who leave profit in the company. Does taking low dividends to save tax affect my mortgage? Yes. If you keep dividends low for tax reasons, most lenders will see a low income and offer a smaller mortgage, even if the company is profitable. Targeting a lender that assesses retained profit, or planning your dividends ahead of applying, addresses this. How much can a director borrow? As a rough guide, lenders work to around 4.5 times income, though it ranges from about 4 to 5.5 times depending on the whole application. Whether dividends or retained profit count, and any haircut applied, makes a large difference to the final figure. What documents does a director need for a mortgage? Typically one to three years of finalised accounts, SA302 tax calculations with matching tax year overviews, recent personal and business bank statements, and proof of deposit and ID. Consistent figures across all of these speed up underwriting.