Family Help Mortgages

What is a family help mortgage?

A family help mortgage is any residential mortgage structured so that a family member's money, income or savings supports the buyer's borrowing without the family member owning the home. The structures differ by what the family provides. A gifted deposit transfers cash outright. A family springboard or family boost mortgage holds the family's savings in a lender account as security for a set period, letting the buyer borrow with little or no deposit while the family keeps its capital. A family offset mortgage sets the family's savings against the mortgage balance to reduce interest. A joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage adds the family member's income to the loan. A guarantor mortgage makes the family member liable if the buyer defaults, often secured on their home or savings. A concessionary purchase transfers a family home at a discount that some lenders treat as gifted equity. The mortgage in each case is regulated residential lending under the Financial Conduct Authority's MCOB rules, and the family member stays off the title, which keeps a helper who owns a home clear of the additional-dwelling stamp duty surcharge and leaves the buyer's first-time buyer relief available where they qualify (gov.uk SDLT). Our low income mortgages page shows what family help can add to one modest salary.

Family help mortgage rates

Gifted deposit and joint borrower sole proprietor mortgages are priced as standard residential products at the loan-to-value the deposit produces. Family springboard and family boost products are priced by the lenders that offer them, with the family's savings earning interest in the linked account for the holding period under the account terms. On a family offset product the family's savings earn no interest, and the product may be priced above a standard one. Comparing the options means adding the buyer's total cost to the family's cost of capital.

A family member wants to help but does not want to give the money away? Get in touch with the help on offer, whether cash, income or savings, and we will compare the structures that fit it on cost and on each person's position.

Family help mortgage criteria

Each structure has its own criteria, set by the lender that offers it. Positions described as our experience are what Mortgage Lane sees on the cases it arranges with the lenders it uses; they are not a market rule, a panel promise or an offer. Named lender rules are taken from that lender's own published criteria on the date shown and can change. Every case is subject to status and lender criteria.

Types of family help, and how each works

Match the structure to the help: money, income or security.

Family springboard and family boost mortgages

A family springboard or family boost mortgage, the names lenders give the structure, lets a family member deposit savings into an account held with the lender as security for the buyer's mortgage, instead of gifting them. The buyer borrows at a high loan-to-value, sometimes with no deposit of their own. The family's savings are locked for a set period and earn interest; they are returned in full at the end if the mortgage payments have been maintained, or used to cover a shortfall if the property is repossessed and sold at a loss. Each lender sets the percentage of the price held and the holding period. For example, Barclays' published Family Springboard criteria ask helpers to put 10% of the purchase price into a Helpful Start account, held for five years from completion subject to a satisfactory payment history, with the buyer's own deposit anywhere from nil to 9.99% (Barclays intermediary lending criteria, checked 1 October 2026; one lender's rule, which can change). On the cases we arrange, 100% lending with no deposit from the buyer is available through this route.

Get in touch with the savings the family can commit and the purchase price.

Family offset mortgages

A family offset mortgage holds a family member's savings with the lender and sets them against the buyer's mortgage balance, so interest is charged only on the difference. The savings remain the family's and are accessible subject to the product's terms, but earn no interest while offset. It suits families with savings they may need later and buyers with a deposit who want a lower monthly cost.

Get in touch if the family wants to reduce the buyer's interest rather than fund the deposit.

Gifted deposit mortgages

Where the family has cash to give, a gift is the simplest structure. It forms part or all of the deposit and is evidenced by a gift letter confirming no repayment and no interest in the property, with the donor's funds and identity checked. For inheritance tax the gift is a potentially exempt transfer under the seven-year rule, and the buyer's mortgage is a standard product at the loan-to-value the deposit produces. Where parents raise the gift against their own home, our page on how to remortgage to buy a second property covers that borrowing.

Get in touch with the gift and the purchase price.

Joint borrower sole proprietor mortgages

Where the family has income to lend rather than cash, a joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage adds the family member to the loan: their income is assessed and their liability is joint, without adding them to the title, which preserves the buyer's stamp duty position and keeps the family member out of ownership. Full treatment on JBSP mortgages.

Get in touch with both incomes.

Guarantor mortgages

A guarantor, usually a parent, agrees to cover the mortgage if the buyer cannot, often with a charge over their own home or savings as security. Guarantor products are offered by some lenders only, so an adviser checks current availability alongside JBSP and springboard structures. The guarantor's home can be at risk in the guarantor form, while in the springboard form the family's exposure is limited to the savings held.

Get in touch to compare guarantor with JBSP and springboard on your facts.

Concessionary purchases from family

Where the family's help is the property itself, such as a parent selling a home to a child below market value, the discount is treated by some lenders as gifted equity that can form part or all of the deposit. Those lenders usually want the gift confirmed in writing and the seller to move out, and some ask for separate solicitors for buyer and seller. Other lenders lend only on the price paid and need a cash deposit, and some do not accept family sales. Covered on concessionary purchase mortgages, in the first-time buyer mortgage guide and on BMV mortgages.

Get in touch to structure a family purchase as a gift of equity.

How a family help mortgage is arranged

1. Identify the help. Cash to give, income to lend or savings to secure, and the family member's own position: their mortgage, their need for the money and their appetite for liability.
2. Choose the structure and the lender. The structure that fits the help, and a lender whose product offers it on terms that suit both parties; springboard, boost and offset products are lender-specific.
3. Application, evidence and advice. The buyer's application; the gift letter, savings evidence or income evidence; independent legal advice where the helper takes on liability.
4. Completion and the family's position. The mortgage completes with the helper off the title, and the savings account, offset or joint-borrower position runs as agreed, with the exit (release of the savings, or removal of the joint borrower) planned from the outset.

How springboard mortgages work: the example

Read a family springboard mortgage example side by side with a gift of the same money: the buyer's payment is similar and the family's position is not.

Step 1. The purchase

An illustrative £200,000 purchase, with £20,000 available from the family and two ways to use it:

Illustrative arithmetic on hypothetical figures. The 100% loan is available from some lenders on the cases we arrange; the 10% of the price held as security mirrors one lender's published product and is an assumption here; holding periods are set by each lender; and 5.2% is the illustrative rate used across our guides, not a product rate. Not an offer of finance.

Step 2. Reading the comparison

The buyer pays around £110 a month more on the springboard route (£1,098.22 against £988.40), because the loan is £20,000 larger. The family keeps £20,000 it would otherwise have given away and earns interest on it, at the risk of losing some or all of it if the buyer defaults and the sale falls short. Where the buyer also has a deposit of their own, the springboard savings lift the loan-to-value tier the lender prices at rather than replacing the deposit.

Step 3. What "are springboard mortgages good?" turns on

A springboard suits a family that cannot afford to give the money but can afford to lock it up, a buyer who can carry the higher payment on the larger loan, and parties who both understand that the savings are security that can be called on, not a gift. It is a worse fit than a gift where the family can afford to give, because the buyer then gets the lower loan-to-value tier a real deposit buys, and worse than JBSP where the buyer's constraint is income rather than deposit.

Step 4. The family's position across the structures

What decides the case

The help on offer is fixed. The family and the buyer control the structure, the lender and the terms: the holding period, the savings percentage, the exit and the advice each takes before signing.

Related reading: JBSP mortgages for the income route; the first-time buyer mortgage guide for the full comparison; 95% mortgages for the deposit tiers.