DON’T tell Mick Jagger, but I must admit I took plenty of satisfaction from helping a South African couple secure their first home in the UK.

As ever, this was not a straightforward case, there were obstacles to clear.

The first was that the couple in question did not yet have indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Secondly the wife – a self-employed chiropractor – was set up as a Limited Company but only had one year’s accounts to show.

Oh yes, and they also wanted to borrow 85% of the purchase price … which at the time was the maximum loan for many lenders.

Far from ideal – just one of these factors would concern most high street lenders, let alone trying to get all three over the line.

So much so that, the estate agents selling the property even called me to say their in-house mortgage adviser thought I was wasting everybody’s time by applying to the Halifax.

The big difference between me and him?? I had read the small print.

Visa situations can be difficult if a client does not yet have the full rights to stay in the UK.

However, at the time, the Halifax were happy to accept applications provided the applicants had lived in the UK for at least the past three years, which they had.

And while they prefer to have two years of figures for self-employed applications, they will consider those with only one year of accounts … they just don’t shout about it.

Thankfully the income was good enough for the requested loan and the couple were able to secure their home.

And when I called the agents back a week or so later to say the mortgage had gone to Offer, I’ll admit to feeling just a little smug inside.

If you are looking to buy a property but are concerned that your set-up might be a little complicated, please feel free to get in touch. It costs nothing to have a chat and your new home might be closer than you think.