Trapped by renting, freed by their track record

24 June 2026

As a broker you may have come across clients like Andrew and Justine. They’d moved their family back to the UK, and were hoping to find a forever home.

Instead, they found themselves living between a rock and a hard place.

They both had good jobs. Affording a mortgage wasn’t the problem. Finding a lender prepared to offer one was.

Without savings for a deposit, they were turned away time after time. Renting became the only option. But renting made it impossible to save.

They were trapped in a cycle. And it went on for 12 years.

Then one day, the radio was on.

And their prospects changed.

Turning rental history into buying power

Skipton Building Society’s Track Record mortgage starts with a simple question: if you’ve been paying your rent on time, month after month, why wouldn’t you be able to pay a mortgage?

If your client can show they’ve paid all their rent on time for 12 months in a row (within the last 18 months), Track Record could help them buy a home. Even if they don’t have a deposit.

For Andrew and Justine, in their mid‑50s, it was the answer they’d stopped expecting.

“We’ve been together since we were 21 and we have three boys,” explains Justine. “We were born and bred in Hemel Hempstead and moved to Costa del Sol in 2007. We loved it. But decided to move back for education reasons. Our eldest was then A-Level stage.”

They’d only been away for six years. But when they returned in 2013, the mortgage landscape felt completely different.

“Things had really changed with regards to mortgages,” continues Justine. “Andrew is self-employed. Before we’d always had self-certified mortgages. But now that just wasn’t an option. So we were renting. All our money had gone into the move and being able to stay in Spain.”

At first they thought it would be temporary.

It wasn’t.

“As time went on, we felt we’d never own a home again,” admits Andrew. “With three children, life as it is, expenses as it is, we just didn’t have the means to get the deposit together.

“We couldn’t see any way forward.”

Paying more than enough, but still not enough

Rising rent only made things harder. Their first rental home in 2007 was around £900 a month. By 2025, they were paying £2,300 rent for a four-bed house in Milton Keynes.

Andrew reflects, “The cost was stressful. There was also the fear that the landlord could pull the rug from under your feet, which did happen in one of the properties.”

Stuck in this uncertain situation, saving for a deposit simply wasn’t realistic.

“It was so frustrating,” says Justine. “The rent we were paying showed we could easily afford a mortgage. And that was always on my mind. Other people earned less than we did and still got mortgages – because they had that lump sum. We couldn’t move forward.”

Andrew agrees, “It really highlighted to me where the mortgage market is misaligned with the reality of modern-day Britain, and the lending criteria is so restrictive that it really does need looking at.”

“You never really have security when you rent,” adds Justine. “You can’t make it your own.”

It felt hopeless.

Until the radio gave them hope.

The moment everything clicked

Justine had already looked into Track Record when it first launched. At the time, it was only for first‑time buyers. “So I put it out of my head,” she says.

Then, in 2024, Skipton changed the criteria.

Track record was opened up to include people in situations like Andrew and Justine’s.

Justine heard about the change on the radio.

“I honestly thought I’d misheard,” Justine laughs. “They said If you’ve rented a property for a year and can prove your rent track record, you should speak to Skipton.”

A mortgage that looks at real life

Track Record is designed around real renting experiences.

Skipton looks at your clients’ recent rent payments. If they’ve paid on time for 12 months in a row, within the last 18 months, they could be eligible.

• They don’t even have to be renting right now.
• They could be living in shared accommodation.
• They could put down a small deposit – 5% of less – or none at all.

For Andrew and Justine, it felt almost too good to be true.

“We were waiting at every step for Skipton to say, ‘Oh, well, no, you can’t have it,’” Justine admits. “Like when Rebecca asked us our ages, I looked at Andrew and went, ‘This is it, this is where they’re going to say no.’ And they didn’t.”

Within weeks, their mortgage was approved. Now they own a four-bedroom home in a village just outside Milton Keynes.

“The whole application was really straightforward,” says Andrew. “I can’t commend Skipton enough on how easy it was. I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult.”

“I personally felt that Skipton really wanted us to get this mortgage,” adds Justine. “They were invested in us. They wanted us to succeed.”

A home to call their own

One year on, the difference is life‑changing.

“At our age, being able to say, ‘This is our home’ is a massive relief,” says Andrew. “All the pressures that we had before, to now have that little bit more security for Justine and my children – you can’t measure it.”

For Justine, it’s about control.

“We’re in charge now. We don’t have to move next year. We don’t have to move next month. We’re not going to get notices. We can plan. We can do things to our own home. And we can actually make it our own.”

She pauses.

“Sometimes we just look at each other and say, ‘This is ours.’ And that’s still a really lovely feeling.”

Track Record is another way we bring you common-sense lending

Track Record could help your clients take the next step. It might be right for them if:

• They’re 21 or over.
• They haven’t owned a property in the UK in the last three years.
• They’ve paid all their rent on time for 12 months in a row in the last 18 months.
• Are currently in a shared housing arrangement, and can demonstrate they've 12 months of rental payment history.

See if Track Record mortgages could help you find a way for your clients.

Subject to eligibility and lending criteria. For intermediary Use Only.