Fixed Term Contract Mortgage

Can you get a mortgage on a fixed term contract?

A fixed-term contract mortgage is a standard regulated residential mortgage for an employee whose contract has an end date, and each lender's policy on contract end dates decides eligibility. It falls under the Financial Conduct Authority's MCOB rules like any other residential mortgage. A day-rate contractor is assessed differently: they invoice through their own limited company or are paid through an umbrella company, and the lender assesses the contract, often on an annualised rate (the day rate multiplied up to a yearly figure) or, for umbrella pay, on the payslips. That route is covered on our contractor mortgages page.

Fixed term contract mortgage rates

Fixed term contract mortgage rates are set by each lender for the loan-to-value, product and term. The contract affects which lenders will consider the case, through their rules on time left and renewals, and so which rates are open to it. An adviser compares those lenders on rate, fees, term and contract rules, and any rate is subject to status and lender criteria.

If you are employed on a fixed-term contract and buying or remortgaging, get in touch with your contract, your payslips and your renewal history. The lender is chosen on its contract rules, and the rest is a standard application.

Fixed term contract mortgage criteria

Lenders differ on the contract rules: time left on the contract, track record, probation and gaps. Where the table says "on the cases we arrange", it describes what Mortgage Lane sees with the lenders it uses, not a market rule, a panel promise or an offer. Named lender rules are specific to that lender, taken from its own published criteria on the date shown, and can change. Every case is subject to status and lender criteria.

Types of fixed-term employment, and how each is assessed

Rolling fixed-term contracts: teachers, NHS and public sector

Staff on repeated fixed-term contracts with the same employer, such as a teacher on annual contracts, an NHS clinician on rotational posts or a council officer on renewed terms, are assessed on the renewal pattern. Some lenders treat the employment as continuing even when little time is left on the current contract, because the run of contracts shows continuity (Halifax's two-year continuous service route, below, is one example); others do not accept rolling renewable contracts at all. An employer's reference on the likelihood of renewal carries weight.

Grant-funded and academic fixed-term posts

Researchers, postdoctoral staff and lecturers on grant-funded contracts are assessed on the time left on the contract and, where the post is one of a series, on the history of contracts. Lenders read the funding period and the institution's reference, and a contract with more than the lender's minimum time remaining can be assessed as employed income in the usual way.

Corporate fixed-term and interim employees

Employees on fixed-term corporate contracts, such as maternity cover, project roles and interim management posts, are assessed on the time left and any renewal, with the employer's reference on future prospects. An interim manager paid through their own company is a contractor, and lenders assess them as one.

First fixed-term contract, probation and new roles

A first fixed-term contract, or one still in its probation period, needs a lender whose policy accepts new contracts. Some lenders count earlier employment in the same field towards the track record, using the CV and previous employment: Virgin Money, for example, accepts fixed-term employment where the customer has a two-year track record in the same line of work, whether permanent or as a contractor (Virgin Money criteria, checked 1 October 2026). On the cases we arrange, specialist lenders can accept no track record on contract and applicants still in probation, while high street lenders usually prefer six to twelve months' track record, or a minimum term in the role, first.

Fixed-term contract first-time buyers

First-time buyers on fixed-term contracts use the same schemes and structures as any first-time buyer, set out in the first-time buyer mortgage guide, with the lender's contract rules on top. Where income is short, a JBSP mortgage adds family income to the fixed-term salary.

Fixed-term contract remortgages

Remortgaging to a new lender on a fixed-term contract follows the same assessment as a purchase. A product transfer with the existing lender is often available without a new income assessment, even where the contract position has changed, provided there is no additional borrowing.

Fixed-term employees versus day-rate contractors

A fixed-term employee is paid a salary through PAYE with an end date. A day-rate contractor invoices through their own limited company or works through an umbrella company, and is assessed on the contract rate or, for umbrella pay, often on the payslips. The evidence, the lenders and the assessment all differ: see contractor mortgages and IT contractor mortgages.

Get in touch with your contract and its dates, your payslips, your renewal history or CV and the employer's reference (and, for a remortgage, your fixed-rate end date), or if you are unsure which assessment applies.

How a fixed term contract mortgage is arranged

1. Gather the contract and history: the current contract's dates and salary, payslips, previous contracts or a CV, and an employer's reference on renewal.
2. Match the lender on its minimum remaining term, renewal history and probation rules.
3. Get an agreement in principle (a decision in principle on the employed income), then make the full application with the contract and reference, followed by the valuation.
4. Receive the offer and complete.

How lenders read a fixed-term contract

Two questions decide a fixed-term contract mortgage: how long is left on the contract, and how often it has been renewed.

Time left on the contract

Each lender sets its own minimum time the contract must have left at application, or asks for evidence of renewal instead; once that is met, the fixed-term employee is assessed on the salary like a permanent one. The rules differ widely. Halifax's criteria for contract workers, which include fixed-term workers, ask for 12 months' continuous employment with at least six months left on the current contract, or two years' continuous service in the same type of work (Halifax criteria, checked 1 October 2026). Bath Building Society considers fixed-term contracts with 24 months to run, or a 24-month track record with at least six months to run (published criteria modified 27 July 2026, checked 29 September 2026). These are single lenders' rules and can change. A contract with two years left clears the time-left rules quoted here; one with two months left turns the case on the second question.

Renewal history

Where little time is left, lenders look for continuity: earlier contracts with the same or similar employers, a pattern of renewal, an employer's reference on the likelihood of renewal, and continuous fixed-term employment in the same field. Rolling public sector contracts are the clearest case. In our experience high street lenders usually prefer six to twelve months' track record, while some specialist lenders accept none. Not every lender accepts rolling contracts: Bath Building Society says it does not accept short-term renewable contracts as an income type.

What does not help

Three things work against the case: presenting a fixed-term employee as permanent, when the contract shows the end date; presenting them as a day-rate contractor, which is a different assessment with different evidence; and applying to a lender whose minimum time left the contract cannot meet when another lender's rules fit.

The affordability assessment

Once the contract rules are met, affordability is assessed much as for any employed borrower: the salary, commitments, credit and the lender's stress test under MCOB, with the same income multiples and term rules. Some lenders work out contract pay differently, though: Halifax annualises a fixed-term worker's gross pay over a 46-week year. In July 2025 the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee recommended letting individual lenders do more lending at high loan-to-income multiples, and the Prudential Regulation Authority is consulting on the rules (PRA CP6/26); this applies to fixed-term employees in the same way as to other borrowers.

The contract's dates are fixed, but the borrower controls the evidence (the reference and the history), the timing (applying with more of the term left) and the choice of lender.

Related reading: contractor mortgages for day-rate contractors, and the first-time buyer mortgage guide for schemes and structures.