IVA Mortgages, Getting a Mortgage With or After an IVA

What is an IVA mortgage?

An IVA mortgage is a residential or buy to let mortgage for a borrower who is in, or has completed, an individual voluntary arrangement, from a lender whose criteria accept that status. During the arrangement, a mortgage needs the supervisor's written approval and a lender willing to consider an active IVA. After it, specialist lenders consider the case under their own rules on how long ago the IVA completed, and once the entry has left the credit file, six years after the IVA started, a wider range of lenders can look at it. Lenders treat a current or past IVA as adverse credit, alongside defaults, county court judgments and bankruptcy.

An IVA is a legally binding arrangement between a person and their creditors, proposed and then supervised by a licensed insolvency practitioner. In England and Wales it is approved when three-quarters or more by value of the creditors who respond vote for it, and the unsecured debts included in it are released when it completes. The Insolvency Service recorded 71,841 IVAs in England and Wales in 2025, more than half of all individual insolvencies that year (Insolvency Service: individual insolvency statistics, December 2025). IVAs also exist in Northern Ireland, while Scotland's comparable route is a protected trust deed, with rules of its own.

Secured debts sit outside the arrangement. The mortgage is not included, it continues to be paid in full, and the lender keeps its right to enforce its security. A lender sees the IVA in two records. The credit file keeps it for six years from the date it started (Insolvency Service: IVA key facts). The public Individual Insolvency Register for England and Wales lists it while it runs and until three months after it ends (gov.uk: individual voluntary arrangements). Lenders also look at the completion date on the completion certificate, because their rules on time since completion run from it.

The mortgage itself is ordinary lending. A mortgage on your own home is normally a regulated mortgage contract under the mortgage conduct rules of the Financial Conduct Authority, and most buy to let mortgages are not regulated by the FCA. The IVA changes which lenders will consider the case, the price and the maximum loan to value (LTV); the product is otherwise the same.

Mortgage Lane arranges mortgages for borrowers who have completed an IVA, whether recently or years ago, and remortgages for borrowers still in one where the supervisor consents. For a completed IVA that covers purchases, remortgages, first-time buyers, joint applications where one applicant had an IVA, and buy to let.

IVA mortgage rates

Each lender sets its own rate for a borrower with an IVA. The rate depends on the product, the loan to value and the credit profile, including how long ago the IVA completed and how the file has looked since. Specialist lenders price for the extra risk, and a lender may set a lower maximum loan to value for a more recent IVA, so the deposit affects both which lenders fit and the rate. Once the entry has left the credit file, a borrower can be assessed for a lender's standard products, subject to any question on the application form about past insolvency.

Because the start date sets when the IVA leaves the credit file, the length of the initial product period is chosen with the next remortgage in mind. A borrower whose IVA leaves the file in a year or two may prefer a product whose initial rate and early repayment charges end soon after that date, so that the next remortgage is assessed without the IVA on the file.

In an IVA, or recently out of one? Get in touch with the arrangement's start date, its status and the completion certificate if you have one. Those dates decide which lenders can consider the case. If you are still deciding whether to enter an IVA, we can explain what it would mean for your mortgage; the decision itself is one for a debt adviser.

IVA mortgage criteria

The rows below separate the published rules, which come from the Insolvency Service and the credit reference agencies, from the points each lender sets for itself. Where a row gives a figure from Mortgage Lane's own experience, it says so. Lenders' rules change, and none of the rows is a decision on any application. Rules checked 6 October 2026.

How lenders assess an IVA

Lenders look first at whether an IVA is active, completed or terminated, then at its dates and at the credit file since it started. An active IVA is the narrowest case. The borrower is still bound by the arrangement, and the standard terms bar credit of more than £500 without the supervisor's prior written approval (IVA Protocol 2025: standard terms and conditions). A lender that considers an active IVA may limit it to a remortgage and set a lower maximum loan to value, and it will want the supervisor's consent in writing.

A completed IVA, evidenced by the completion certificate, is assessed under each lender's rules on time since completion. Under the 2025 standard terms the supervisor issues the certificate within 28 days of the later of the last payment due and the debtor meeting every other requirement, and the certificate releases the debtor from the debts in the arrangement. The next change comes six years after the start date, when the entry leaves the file and no longer shows on the credit report a lender reads. Lenders that ask about insolvency on the application form can still learn of it after that.

A terminated IVA is assessed with what followed. When an IVA fails, the supervisor issues a certificate of termination, creditors can pursue the outstanding balances again with the interest and charges added during the arrangement, and the supervisor or a creditor can petition for bankruptcy. Where bankruptcy followed, lenders assess the bankruptcy and its discharge date, which our page on mortgages after bankruptcy covers. Where it did not, they assess the terminated arrangement and the debts that remain, which may lead to defaults or county court judgments of their own.

In every case the file since the IVA matters. A borrower who has kept every account up to date since completion has a stronger case, and the missed payments and defaults that led into the IVA, dated years earlier, are read alongside the conduct that followed. Accounts included in the IVA can also show on the credit report as separate entries with their own dates (Experian: individual voluntary arrangements), so it is worth checking the reports held by each of the main credit reference agencies before applying. Our pages on CCJ mortgages, mortgages with defaults and mortgages with missed payments cover those entries.

An IVA when you already have a mortgage

A homeowner with a mortgage can enter an IVA, and a protocol IVA from 1 July 2025 does not ask them to sell the home or release equity from it. The mortgage stays outside the arrangement. The IVA Protocol is a voluntary standard framework for consumer IVAs that insolvency practitioners and creditors agree to follow. The Insolvency Service published the revised version on gov.uk in April 2025 (Insolvency Service: IVA protocol). It could be used from 31 March 2025 and must be used for protocol IVAs proposed from 1 July 2025 (Insolvency Service announcement, May 2025), so an IVA proposed between 31 March and 30 June 2025 may be on either version. An IVA outside the protocol, which the protocol calls a bespoke IVA, can be agreed on different terms.

Under the IVA Protocol 2025, the available equity in the family home is 85% of the property's value less the mortgage and any other secured borrowing, and the test applies to the debtor's own beneficial interest, so on a jointly owned home only the debtor's share counts. If that interest is under £10,000, the IVA runs for 60 months and the home is excluded. If it is £10,000 or more, the IVA runs for 72 months in place of any contribution from the equity, and the home is still excluded. There is no further review of the equity once the IVA is in force, and no requirement to sell, remortgage or release equity. The value used is the homeowner's own reasonable estimate, for example from an online source, verified by the insolvency practitioner. The protocol says a protocol IVA is unlikely to be appropriate where the home has very high equity or the debtor has an interest in more than one property or a buy to let, and an IVA outside the protocol should then be considered. If a homeowner chooses to sell during the IVA and the IVA later fails, creditors may look into how the sale money was used.

Arrangements proposed on the IVA Protocol 2021, which was not to be used after 30 June 2025, keep the terms they were approved on. Those terms set a £5,000 threshold on the same 85% basis. At or below it the IVA ran for 60 months. Above it the IVA ran for 72 months, and where the lending criteria suggested the debtor might be able to release equity, the supervisor reviewed the position at month 54 and the debtor had to try to remortgage or take a secured loan. Secured borrowing was kept within 85% of the value, and the extra cost was capped at 50% of the expected final payment into the IVA. If equity was released and paid in, the IVA could end early; if not, payments continued to month 72.

The 2021 standard terms also exempted that remortgage from the £500 credit clause (IVA Protocol 2021: standard terms and conditions). An IVA approved on the 2021 terms in June 2025 with an equity review reaches month 54 at the end of 2029, so these reviews will affect some remortgages until then. Older arrangements, including those on the 2016 protocol, have their own terms, and the supervisor can confirm which apply.

The mortgage lender's position is the same under either version. The mortgage is a secured debt and is not part of the IVA, so arrears on it are not written off and the lender can still enforce its security if payments are missed. The proposal's budget has to allow for the mortgage payment, and the nominee is expected to look ahead at likely changes to it, such as a fixed rate ending during the IVA.

This section sets out the published protocol terms as they affect a mortgage. It is not debt advice, and Mortgage Lane does not advise on whether to enter, vary or leave an IVA: a licensed insolvency practitioner or a free debt adviser does, and MoneyHelper's debt advice locator lists free services.

Can I get an IVA?

An IVA is available in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland to someone who cannot pay their debts and can afford regular payments towards them. The 2025 protocol describes the usual protocol case as someone with a regular, sustainable income other than state benefits or a state pension, debts of £7,000 or more in total, uncomplicated assets and no eligibility for a debt relief order. In England and Wales the proposal is approved when creditors holding three-quarters or more by value of the debts of those who respond vote in favour. It still fails if more than half by value of the creditors who are not associates of the debtor vote against it (Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016, rule 15.34). In Northern Ireland, nidirect says the unsecured debts generally need to be at least £15,000, depending on the creditors. Only a licensed insolvency practitioner can set up an IVA, and gov.uk has a search for insolvency practitioners.

Changing from a debt management plan (DMP) to an IVA

A debt management plan is an informal agreement to repay debts in full. Creditors do not have to agree to it, and unless the agreement says otherwise they can still ask for the full balance later (gov.uk: debt management plans). Moving from a plan to an IVA is possible where an insolvency practitioner advises it. The 2025 protocol asks the nominee to record any debt management plan in the last 24 months, and says a protocol IVA is unlikely to suit someone whose debts a plan could clear over a similar period with a much higher return to creditors. An IVA is on the Individual Insolvency Register while it runs and on the credit file for six years from its start. A debt management plan is not an insolvency and does not go on the register, so the switch changes what a mortgage lender sees.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland has no IVA. The comparable route is a trust deed, which becomes protected if enough creditors accept its terms. Payments usually run for four years, the credit rating is affected for six years from the date the trust deed begins, and the home may have to be included unless the trustee agrees otherwise before the deed is signed (mygov.scot: trust deeds). Those rules differ from the IVA protocol and are not covered on this page. In Northern Ireland, IVAs are made under Northern Ireland's own insolvency legislation and listed on the Department for the Economy's IVA register, which is separate from the Individual Insolvency Register for England and Wales. The 2025 protocol's standard terms refer to the England and Wales rules, so the supervisor confirms which terms a Northern Ireland IVA follows.

Types of IVA case, and where each sits

Where an IVA case sits depends on whether the IVA is still running, how long ago it finished, and whether one or both applicants have had one.

Mortgage after a completed IVA: within the first year

Some specialist lenders consider an IVA that completed within the last 12 months, while others set a longer minimum period. A lender that accepts a recent completion may set a lower maximum loan to value, so at this stage the deposit can be what limits the case. Waiting can bring more lenders into range as the completion date ages. Buying now means working within the rules of the lenders that accept a recent completion and planning the remortgage from the start. If a lender has already turned you down, our guide on what to do when a bad credit mortgage is declined covers the checks to make before the next application.

Get in touch with the completion certificate and the size of your deposit.

Mortgage after a completed IVA: one to three years

Between one and three years after completion, more lenders' minimum periods may be met and the maximum loan to value on offer may rise. The credit file since completion matters most at this stage: every account kept up to date since the IVA ended supports the case, and a new missed payment or default sets it back.

Get in touch with the completion date and your credit reports since.

Mortgage after a completed IVA: over three years, and once off the file

Beyond three years from completion, more lenders' minimum periods can be met, and the exclusion in the government's Mortgage Guarantee Scheme for an IVA in force within the last three years no longer applies. Six years after the start date the entry leaves the credit file and a lender's credit scoring no longer sees it, although an application form may still ask whether you have ever had an IVA, and the answer must be truthful. On a 60-month IVA with no extension the entry leaves the file about a year after completion. On a 72-month IVA it leaves at about the time the arrangement ends. Under the 2025 protocol, payment holidays of up to nine months in total can extend an IVA by up to 12 months. That moves completion later but not the six-year mark, except at Equifax, which keeps an IVA that runs past six years on the file until it completes.

Get in touch with the start date: the six-year mark may be closer than the completion date suggests.

Mortgage during an IVA

A mortgage during an active IVA needs the supervisor's prior written approval, because the standard terms bar credit of more than £500 without it, and a new mortgage or a remortgage is credit above that amount. A lender that considers an active IVA may limit it to a remortgage and may set a lower maximum loan to value. On the 2021 terms, a remortgage to release equity for the arrangement was exempt from the credit clause and could be required at the month 54 review. The 2025 terms have no equity review and no such exemption, so a remortgage during a 2025 protocol IVA is for the borrower's own reasons, such as a fixed rate ending, and needs the supervisor's approval first.

Get in touch once you know the supervisor's position, because nothing proceeds without it.

Failed or terminated IVA

An IVA that fails, through missed payments or another breach the debtor cannot put right, ends with a certificate of termination. Creditors can then pursue the outstanding balances, including interest and charges added during the IVA, and the supervisor or a creditor can petition for bankruptcy. Lenders assess what followed: a bankruptcy and its discharge date, or the terminated IVA and the debts that remain. Some specialist lenders consider either after a period they set, and the file since the termination matters most.

Get in touch with the termination date and what followed it.

IVA with a joint mortgage

Where one owner of a jointly mortgaged home enters an IVA, the mortgage continues in both names and both owners remain liable for it. The IVA is recorded on the debtor's credit file, not the other owner's. A joint mortgage does link the two files as financial associates, though, and a lender may look at a financial associate's credit information even on a sole application (Experian: joint mortgages). The protocol's equity test uses only the debtor's beneficial interest, and in an interlocking IVA on a jointly owned home each owner's share is assessed separately. For new borrowing, a joint application is assessed on both files. A sole application by the owner without the IVA, on their income alone, can keep the IVA out of the assessment where that income supports the loan, subject to what the lender makes of the financial association. Our page on single person mortgages covers the sole route.

Get in touch with both credit files and both incomes.

Remortgage after an IVA

A remortgage to a new lender after completion is assessed under the same rules as a purchase. A product transfer with the current lender, with no extra borrowing beyond the current balance and no change likely to matter for affordability, does not need a new affordability assessment under the FCA's rules (FCA Handbook, MCOB 11.6.3R). That can make it the simpler route for a borrower who kept the mortgage paid throughout the IVA. Our remortgage with bad credit page compares the two routes. If the IVA is still running, tell the supervisor before changing the mortgage.

Get in touch with your current lender's product transfer offer and the completion date.

First-time buyers after an IVA

A first-time buyer after an IVA can use the same routes as any other buyer, within the lender's limits for the IVA. The Mortgage Guarantee Scheme supports loans of 91% to 95% through participating lenders. It treats a borrower as credit-impaired, and so outside the scheme, if an IVA or bankruptcy order was in force at any time in the three years before the mortgage completes (HM Treasury: 2025 Mortgage Guarantee Scheme rules, Schedule 2). After that the scheme rule no longer applies, but each lender's own criteria do, and in our experience adverse credit cases usually top out at 90% loan to value, so 95% mortgages are unlikely while the IVA is on the file. Shared ownership reduces the loan by buying a share of the home, and in our experience needs at least a 10% deposit on that share. A larger deposit, or family help from a relative's savings or property, lowers the loan to value so that it fits within a lower lender limit. The first-time buyer mortgage guide compares the schemes, and our pages on family help mortgages and shared ownership mortgages cover each route.

Get in touch with your deposit and the completion date.

Buy to let after an IVA

Some specialist buy to let lenders consider a completed IVA, as our page on bad credit buy to let mortgages explains. The loan is assessed mainly on the expected rent; banks and building societies, and lenders in their groups, do this under the Prudential Regulation Authority's underwriting standards for buy to let, and the IVA affects the choice of lender and the terms. During an IVA any new borrowing over £500 needs the supervisor's prior written approval, and the 2025 protocol says a protocol IVA is unlikely to be appropriate for someone who already has an interest in a buy to let. The buy to let mortgage guide covers how the rent and the structure set the loan.

Get in touch with the property, the expected rent and the completion certificate.

How an IVA mortgage is arranged

1. The dates and the paperwork. The arrangement's start date, term and status; the completion certificate; credit reports showing the IVA's dates and every account since; and for an active arrangement, the supervisor's written consent.
2. Lender match. The case is set against each lender's rules on status, time since completion and maximum loan to value, the deposit is checked against that limit, and the loan is checked against income.
3. Agreement in principle and full application. An agreement in principle with the IVA disclosed, then the full application with the certificate and a short explanation of what led to the IVA, and the lender's valuation.
4. Offer, completion and the next remortgage. The mortgage offer and completion, with the initial product period chosen so that the next remortgage falls after the IVA has aged or left the file.

The IVA clocks: the arithmetic

An IVA mortgage case is set by two dates, the start date and the completion date, and by a deposit the borrower can still change.

Step 1. The two clocks

The illustration is a 60-month IVA approved in October 2021 on the 2021 protocol, with every payment made on time and no extension. The table shows when each change happens; lenders apply their own rules to each date.

Illustrative dates on a hypothetical IVA. Not debt advice and not an offer of finance.

For a 72-month IVA the six-year mark and the end of the arrangement nearly coincide. If payment holidays extend an IVA beyond six years, Equifax keeps the entry until the IVA completes (Equifax: the insolvency register). Otherwise the start date alone sets when the entry leaves the file.

Step 2. The home equity test for a homeowner entering a protocol IVA from 1 July 2025

In this illustration the home is worth £250,000, has a £180,000 mortgage and is owned in equal shares by the debtor and a partner who is not entering an IVA.

With a £195,000 mortgage instead, the available equity is £17,500 and the half share £8,750, under the threshold, so the IVA runs for 60 months with the home excluded. A sole owner of the same home would have the full £17,500 and a 72-month IVA. Illustrative; the verified valuation and the protocol's calculation decide the term, and this is not debt advice.

Step 3. What the deposit decides after completion

The purchase is an illustrative £250,000 with a £37,500 deposit, tested at five maximum loan to value limits a lender might set. The limits show the arithmetic and are not any lender's tiers. The 90% row is the usual top limit for adverse credit in our experience, and the 95% row is the standard residential band once the IVA has left the file.

Each five-point step in the lender's limit moves the deposit needed by £12,500 at this price, and the gap between a 75% limit and the 95% band is £50,000. The 95% band only becomes relevant once the IVA has left the file, so the start date is checked before the deposit is counted. At an illustrative 5.2% over 30 years on a repayment basis, the £212,500 loan at 85% costs £1,166.86 a month, and the £225,000 loan at 90% with a £25,000 deposit costs £1,235.50. The 5.2% is the illustrative rate used across our guides, not a product rate.

Step 4. The income check

The loan to value limit is one cap on the loan and income is the other. On £48,000 of gross income at 5 times, the standard income multiple in Mortgage Lane's experience, the maximum on income is £240,000, above both the 85% and the 90% loan. A £300 a month car finance payment takes £3,600 a year off the income before the multiple, so the maximum becomes 5 times £44,400, or £222,000. That still covers the £212,500 loan at 85%, but it is £3,000 short of the £225,000 loan at 90%, so for this borrower the larger loan fails on income even where a lender's limit would allow it. The 5 times multiple is Mortgage Lane's experience; each lender's own affordability assessment decides the actual figure.

Step 5. Timing the next remortgage

A borrower whose 60-month IVA completed three months ago, with no extension, has about nine months until the entry leaves the credit file. A product whose initial period and early repayment charges end soon after that date lets the next remortgage be assessed without the IVA on the file, subject to any question about past insolvency. A long fixed rate taken now keeps the specialist product for longer, which can still suit a borrower who wants the payment fixed.

What decides the case

Once an IVA starts, its start date is fixed, and its end date moves only if the arrangement is extended or ends early. The borrower can still change the deposit and the timing of the application, and every month of up-to-date payments adds to the record since completion; each lender's rules decide the rest. We check the start date and the completion certificate first, then the deposit against the lender's limit.

Declined mortgages sets out the recovery sequence after a refusal, and our pages on 85% LTV mortgages and 90% LTV mortgages cover the deposit bands that the limits above map onto.