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Mortgage Guides

Gifted mortgage deposits

Online mortgages are provided by NatWest which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. Royal Bank of Scotland may receive a fee based on a percentage of any mortgage entered into for this referral.  NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland mortgages are available to over 18s. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

gifted deposit present for a house

What is a gifted deposit?

When you take out a mortgage, you'll need to place a mortgage deposit. This is an amount of money you pay upfront towards th cost of the property.

A gifted deposit means someone else, often a family member, provides the funds for some, or all of, your mortgage deposit.

How much deposit will I need for a mortgage? Open in new window

Can I use a gifted deposit as a first time buyer?

  • Yes, you can use gifts to help make up a mortgage deposit for a first time buyer mortgage.
  • The most common scenario is a parent gifting funds to help their child with a deposit.
  • Using a gift as a house deposit is different to taking out a loan - the money is usually received without any expectation of repayment or stake in the property. You cannot use an unsecured repayable loan, from a bank or other financial institution, towards your mortgage deposit with NatWest.
     

Will I need to provide a gifted deposit letter?

If you're using a gifted deposit, a mortgage lender will ask you to prove the money is a gift and whether any repayment is expected. This is sometimes referred to as a 'gifted deposit declaration'.

This generally takes the form of a gifted deposit letter, signed by the gifting party(ies). Your conveyancer will help ensure the letter is sufficient as a legal statement for consideration by the mortgage lender during a mortgage application.

Joint picture frame and a piggybank

What is Royal Bank's gifted deposit policy?

At Royal Bank, we currently don't have a limit on the maximum amount of gifted deposit that can be used as a percentage of the total deposit within a property purchase.

For a Royal Bank mortgage with a gifted deposit, we require a signed letter or email (no signature required) from the gifting party, confirming the gift is either non repayable or repayable.

If repayable, the details of the repayment should be outlined in the letter. This will then be included in affordability calculations (how we decide how likely you are to be able to afford your mortgage repayments).

Our first time buyer guide

Getting on the housing ladder can be a daunting prospect. Our first time buyer guide is here with some useful information, tips and things to consider.

See our guide for first time buyer mortgages Open in new window

More tips on saving for your deposit

Saving for a deposit can be difficult. There's no silver-bullet, but there are things you can do to make the process easier.

Read our deposit saving tips Open in new window
Information Message

We're now offering 91-95% LTV mortgages

The UK Government's mortgage guarantee scheme provides support for banking institutions to offer 91-95% LTV mortgages, meaning you could buy your new home with just a 5% deposit.

Find out more about 95% mortgages.

Can I only receive deposit gifts from family members?

  • No, we allow gifted deposits from other third parties, such as friends. Again, a gifted deposit letter will be required as described above.
  • However, unlike gifted deposits from family members, gifts from other third parties are only accepted if they are not repayable.
Couple celebrating with dog having just moved house

Can I use deposit gifts from multiple sources?

Yes, it is possible to use multiple gifts towards your mortgage deposit.

You will need to provide information about the source of each gift independently, and each gift will be subject to their own gifted deposit letter.