Guides
Practical notes on borrowing capacity
Written for practitioners, and kept to the things that actually change the outcome: when to obtain the report, how to instruct it, what the rules require if it becomes expert evidence, and what drives the number.
- For solicitors
When to obtain a mortgage capacity report in financial remedy proceedings
Timing is the thing most often got wrong. A capacity report obtained too early is built on facts that have not settled; one obtained too late arrives after the negotiating position has already been taken.
Read the guide - For solicitors
Joint instruction, and the single joint expert, on mortgage capacity
Two different things are routinely called the same thing. A jointly instructed capacity report and a single joint expert appointment under FPR 25.11 are not the same document, do not carry the same duties, and do not cost the same.
Read the guide - For solicitors
Part 25 and Practice Direction 25B: what an expert report must contain
Most mortgage capacity reports in circulation are not Part 25 expert reports, and do not need to be. But if one is put forward as expert evidence, it has to meet the Practice Direction — and a good many do not.
Read the guide - For solicitors
Drafting a letter of instruction for a mortgage capacity report
A weak letter of instruction produces a weak report. Most of the disappointment with capacity reports comes from questions that were never asked and assumptions that were never agreed.
Read the guide - For solicitors and clients
How mortgage capacity is actually calculated
Almost everyone starts with income multiples. Lenders stopped doing that years ago. Understanding what replaced them explains most of the disagreements about capacity figures.
Read the guide - For solicitors and clients
How maintenance affects borrowing capacity
Maintenance is usually the single largest variable in a capacity assessment, and the one lenders disagree about most. It also creates a genuine circularity that the parties have to negotiate their way out of.
Read the guide - For solicitors
Nil capacity: evidencing that a party cannot borrow
Much of the market sells nil capacity as a cheaper product. That is exactly backwards: a negative finding is the one most likely to be attacked, and the one that most needs reasoning.
Read the guide - General
What is a mortgage capacity report?
If your solicitor has asked for a mortgage capacity report, or the other side has produced one, this explains what it is and what weight it carries.
Read the guide