Buying part of a property with my brother

Figzoid

Hi there, This is my first post but when I came across the site I had to register. It's fantastic!

I have a rather complicated situation and need some advice or direction.

My older brother purchased a property in the 1970's and lived there until he died last year.

In 1995 my wife and I moved into the property and agreed to purchase half of it (it's a big house). At the time there was no mortgage on the property and so in order to refurb the property and make some alterations internally, my brother took out a mortgage in his and his wife's name and of the amount borrowed I took responsibility for 50%. My brother kept this money as my payment. To this day my sister-in-law and I still share the mortgage which is now only about £K. Current market value of the property is about £200-£250K (it's in Merseyside so although it's a large house the price is not very high).

The difficulty we have now is that, prompted by my brother's very unexpected death in Sept last year, we all feel the need to make personal wills. However, although, between our two families, we are very clear and in agreement as to ownership of the property, there is no 'legal' or official recognition of the 50/50 split and the existing mortgage is in the name of my sister-in-law only now.

Can someone help me with advice as to how to arrange for my name to appear on the deeds so that we can officially cross the I's and dot the T's?

I find it all rather daunting and frightening.

Thank you in anticipation.

puddy

you would have to be on the mortgage to be on the deeds as i understand.

Alter_ego

jenner wrote: »

you would have to be on the mortgage to be on the deeds as i understand.

I don't think so. The other way round-maybe.

puddy

how so? im looking to buy with my partner. its better if i just take out a mortgage in my name and he pays me money, but we want his name on the deeds. i rang my mortgage lender and they said when we get the mortgage on the new property, he would have to be on the mortgage in order to be on the deeds.

if this is not true, i would love to know as we wold prefer it if he could be on the deeds without being on the mortgage

Alter_ego

jenner wrote: »

how so? im looking to buy with my partner. its better if i just take out a mortgage in my name and he pays me money, but we want his name on the deeds. i rang my mortgage lender and they said when we get the mortgage on the new property, he would have to be on the mortgage in order to be on the deeds.

if this is not true, i would love to know as we wold prefer it if he could be on the deeds without being on the mortgage

I am joint owner of our house (named on the deeds), with my mother. She has a mortgage on her half. I do not.
This was set up by our solicitor without any problems in 1992.
If your lender doesn't allow it, obviously it's difficult. But it certainly is possible legally.

puddy

i dont know what do do now, i had asked on here and people said it wasnt possible, i also asked each of the solicitors that i checked out for a quote about it, they also said that he would have to be on the mortgage to be on the deeds. i cant say it makes sense to me, but it was explained this way, if something happened to one of you and mortgage wasnt paid, the mortgage company would reposess the whole house, they are not bothered about other people on the deeds and so dont allow this because otherwise its a second charge on a property. if they need to reposess it, how do they do this with someone still owning half of it?

poppy10_2

Alter_ego wrote: »

I am joint owner of our house (named on the deeds), with my mother. She has a mortgage on her half. I do not.

That can't be right. A mortgage company can't have a charge on half a house.

dgl1001

You need to own the property as tenants in common so you each own a part of the property. a solicitor should be able to do this for about £500

Alter_ego

poppy10 wrote: »

That can't be right. A mortgage company can't have a charge on half a house.

I assure you it is right. There are family circumstances that I don't wish to make public, but it was done for us in 1992 as I said.