Calculating Your Mortgage with a Permanent Contract or Letter of Intent

The key points in brief

Calculating your mortgage with an employer's statement or permanent contract. Do you or your partner have a temporary contract, for example for six months or a year, or is one of you in a probationary period? Even without a permanent contract it is possible to apply for a mortgage.

1. Permanent contract

Want to calculate your maximum mortgage? To do this you need to start from your gross annual income. Are both you and your partner permanently employed and do you want to buy the home together? Then you can provide both incomes, which will likely give you the option to borrow more for the purchase of the property.

If you have a permanent contract, you may use your structural gross annual salary to calculate your maximum mortgage. This means you cannot include any non-structural bonuses or allowances. If you both have a permanent contract, you can add both incomes together to calculate the total income figure. Based on this amount you can submit your mortgage loan application.

2. Temporary contract

Do you or your partner have a temporary contract, for example for six months or a year, or is one of you in a probationary period? In that case the mortgage provider will not automatically count that income when calculating your maximum mortgage.

To limit future risk as much as possible, the bank only takes into account income from permanent employment. Do you currently have a temporary contract, but has your employer indicated that they intend to convert it to a permanent contract in due course? If so, ask for an employer's statement or letter of intent (werkgeversverklaring/intentieverklaring).

3. Zero-hours contract

With a zero-hours contract you can apply for a mortgage, provided you can demonstrate your gross income over the past three calendar years. You also need an employer's statement (letter of intent). In addition, if you have been working on a zero-hours basis during the past quarter, your employer is required to continue paying you for the hours you worked in recent months. This means you have a stable income, which also serves as a guarantee for the provider.

4. Letter of intent (employer's statement) from your employer

If, alongside a temporary contract with an income, you can obtain a clear and formal letter of intent from your employer, the bank is more willing to include that income in the calculation of your maximum mortgage.

Your employer needs to complete a written employer's statement (downloadable here shortly) to express the intention that, in all likelihood, they will offer you a permanent contract once your temporary contract ends. Your income can then be treated as coming from permanent employment, allowing you to include it in the calculation of your maximum mortgage.

5. Mortgage for highly educated applicants

Even if you are highly educated but do not yet have a permanent contract, it is possible to take out a mortgage. For highly educated applicants with a high income there are often more options, because they tend to pay off the mortgage faster. With a higher income, a mortgage for highly educated applicants is very achievable. Read more about the mortgage for highly educated applicants.

6. Example employer's statement

The employer's statement consists of the following sections:

• The employee's details
• The employer's details
• The nature of the employment contract
• A statement regarding continuation of the employment
• The income the employee receives
• Any loans or wage garnishments, where applicable

Download the digitally fillable employer's statement