Can I use my mother's house as a mortgage deposit?

Q I'm a first-time buyer with a steady income but no deposit. My mother has agreed to go to a lawyer and sign over her house, worth ?100,000, to me. Can I then use this house as deposit insurance and borrow ?200,000 as a 100% mortgage?

My mother and I are both well aware that, should this be possible, her house would be at risk if I couldn't make my payments.

AS

Q If you're trying to take out a 100% mortgage, you don't need a deposit - hence the name. However, I suspect you're trying to borrow far more than three or three-and-a-half times your income, as is the standard borrowing criteria these days (to raise a loan of ?200,000, you would normally have to have an income of more than ?57,000).

As to whether you can use your mother's house as security against a mortgage, that's going to come down to individual lenders. Some may be willing to accept your mother's transfer of home ownership to you as security, but I couldn't say for sure which ones. You'd really need to speak to a mortgage broker or financial adviser.

There are further implications beyond you getting into financial difficulties and your mother losing her home, however. If your mother were to become ill and need care, she would be judged as having given her property to you to prevent her local authority using it to pay for her care. If it then had to be sold (and local authorities can force such sales), you would no longer have any security for your mortgage (assuming you can get a lender to accept this arrangement in the first place).