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Newspage Raw

To borrow, or not to borrow: the mortgage challenges facing actors

ended 15. October 2026

We’re writing an article on the challenges actors face when they try to get a mortgage, and we're keen to hear from brokers who are familiar with this type of borrower. Earlier this year, the Actors’ Trust’s Spotlights and Shadows report, a survey of 3,595 UK actors, found that 81% of actors said they need non-acting work to make ends meet, and 51% spent most of the last year mainly in non-acting work.
So the typical working actor is often both self-employed and employed, in the same tax year, in a mix that changes annually. Lender systems, meanwhile, may be built around one or the other.

  1. Have you arranged a mortgage for an actor, performer or someone else in film and TV? What did the lender do with the mixed income?
  2. Which lenders handle employed and self-employed income in the same application sensibly, and what do they want to see?
  3. Where do these cases usually fall down — the mix, the irregularity, the credit file, or agent and residual payments?
  4. Real (anonymised) client examples are especially welcome.
  5. What would you tell an actor to do in the twelve months before they apply?

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Tracey DixonVerified
Buy-to-Let Mortgage Specialist & Owner at Pure Mortgage and Protection
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I worked with a client in the film industry whose business profits had fallen following disruption caused by the writers’ strike. Although his drawings remained stable, the lower profits created a significant barrier to obtaining the mortgage amount he needed.

I approached several lenders to explain the circumstances and explore how they would assess his income. Ultimately, I couldn’t secure the full borrowing required. This was a case where disruption across an industry had a direct impact on someone’s ability to move home.

The challenge was demonstrating sustainable income when the accounts showed a decline, despite there being a clear explanation for it. An explanation alone wasn’t enough to overcome the affordability assessment.

My advice to someone in this position would be to speak to a broker well before applying and work with their accountant to bring together clear evidence of their income, current work and the reasons for any fluctuations.
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Harvey DhillonVerified
Founder & CEO at Zmartly
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I'd tell an actor who wants a mortgage to file their tax return early, not leave it for the January deadline. Leaving it that late is a mistake, because it's the return that produces HMRC's tax calculation, the SA302, which a lender may ask for as evidence of income. You can file once the tax year ends in April, and your tax calculation can be printed 72 hours after filing. If you also have a PAYE job, both incomes go on one return, so you may need to wait for your P60, which can come as late as the end of May. Self-employed fees now count for tax when the money arrives, because the cash basis is the default. So a fee invoiced in March but paid in late April shows up on the next year's tax calculation, unless you choose traditional accounting on the return. Picking the lender is a broker's job, but knowing which year your fees fall in, and filing in time, is yours.
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Nouran MoustafaVerified
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
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Actors are not necessarily bad mortgage applicants. They are bad spreadsheet applicants.

Someone can earn perfectly good money across acting jobs, PAYE work, self-employment and residual payments, but a lender’s system wants everything neatly labelled and predictable.

That is where these cases fall apart. One lender may recognise several income streams while another heavily discounts them or wants a longer track record.

The year before applying matters enormously. Keep accounts and tax returns up to date, retain contracts, payslips, P60s, agent statements and bank evidence, and avoid unnecessary damage to the credit file.

The trick is finding a lender that understands the income rather than forcing the income to fit the lender.

A complicated payslip does not automatically mean an unaffordable mortgage.
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Thomas BoughtonVerified
Founder at Artillium Real Estate Finance
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Actors and those in the entertainment industry can struggle to secure mortgages due to irregular or fluctuating income, often falling outside high-street lending criteria. Specialist lenders may take a more pragmatic approach, but typically at higher rates, further restricting affordability.

Interestingly, the actors I've worked with have demonstrated excellent credit histories, sensible spending habits and low credit utilisation which almost always evolves into good mortgage conduct. Lenders should look beyond conventional income structures and consider overall financial conduct.

A potential solution would be a grading system that assesses an actor's previous roles, profile and future opportunities to determine risk more holistically.

Actors only need one major break and who knows, maybe one day they'll return to the lender that offered them their original mortgage when they're rich and famous...