Whilst I don't doubt that Susan's mum had a mortgage that Susan has paid off as a result of the profits from the company I am slightly confused by the fact that she had a mortgage in the first place.
Susan claims that they left China with only the clothes on their backs (nothing wrong with that), then went to Australia for 6 years (I think)
At some point after their arrival in the UK her mother began a market stall (I got the impression it was pretty successful).
My question is (according to the information supplied by Susan)..
How do you get a mortgage as an immigrant with no money (I think, she was a bit vague about what they did in Australia)and you are self-employed and you don't speak the language? I am genuinely curious as I always thought they did credit checks and I had believed that it is even harder to get a mortgage if your self employed. By Susan's accounts they have only been in the UK for 8-9 years.

It is interesting that Susan's business was a market stall in the beginning (I believe it is now an online business). It explains her early success and the fact that she can sell (I admire her for this as it's not easy to start out like this)

You don't think 15 years is enough time to build up enough money for a mortgage?

Well that's why I'm asking.
This has been put forward (by the programme) as a major personal achievment by Susan of which she is rightly proud. I just wondered about the logistics behind getting a mortgage with their history of moving and being a single parent, no financial support etc.
I just thought it was difficult to get a mortgage with those circumstances.
It is possible of course that they arrived in the UK with a large amount of money from their time in Australia, or enough for a very large deposit. However, that is not the picture that is being portrayed by Susan (or the programme)

I did wonder if you needed to be resident for any particular time before you could apply for a mortgage? I know it is 3 years for many things.

It was very easy to get mortgages up until 2-3 years ago. So easy it led to a credit crunch. You may have heard of it.