Thank you Shelt, I'll pass that info on to her. She's been in contact with a mortgage broker this evening so hopefully that helps.
Biggest nuisance is that the bank said it would be fine, it's been quite a gamble for her, one she thought she was taking with the right advice- if you can't take your bank manager's advice there's a bit of an issue!
Her ex-dh wants his money asap so she's under huge amounts of stress.
Thesaff- her bank told her they would include WFF and child support as income, then back-tracked. The stupid bit is that they're effectively saying they don't trust him to keep up his payments, but they do trust him enough to be liable for the mortgage.
I wonder if perhaps she could put her parents on the title instead of leaving him on it. It doesn't make sense to pay him his bit of the little equity they have and then still leave him on the title!
Oh well, we shall keep our fingers crossed for her. Rent would be higher than mortgage payments so on a purely financial angle this is the best option for her and the kids.