Girlfriend moving in, mortgage question?

roscolabri

Hello all,

MY girlfriend of 1 year will be moving in with me in November and I'm wondering what I do with monthly bills etc.

Basically we don't want to put her on my mortgage because we'll only be living at the place for 2 years, with the intention of getting a joint mortgage in 2011 and both deciding on where we wish to live. So do I charge her rent or what?

It seems a bit of an awkard topic and I'll obviously bring it up with her, but I just want some opinions from others in similar positions. Should I be charging her at all?

I was originally thinking a percentage of the monthly house bills like mortgage, insurance, food, water, electricity & gas.

Thanks in advance

magictom123

I take it she works etc. My opinion would be that if she is living there and there is joint agreement that she doesnt want/need to be on the mortgage this would not change the fact that you are both living together and should split the bills 50/50. Better that than a few months down the line she has run up and massive phone bill etc but 'its ok cos i give you a tenner a month'.

If your girlfriend is halfway reasonable she should see living together means a joint responsibility on the bills, regardless of whose name is actually on the dotted line - especially so in my eyes if the intention is to shortly afterwards find a 'joint' home.

catherine_h_2

Hi

Best thing to do is to sit down and have a chat about what she can afford and go from there.

Although I would suggest that she pays the going rent in your area as if she'd moved somewhere alone and put this money into a savings account ready for a deposit on your next house together iyswim
This is obviously assuming that you can afford the bill payments etc as they will go up with someone else in the house:D

Idiophreak

Personally, I'd look at your wages and split "the bills" accordingly.

So if you earn 50% more than she does, you pay 60% of everything, she pays 40%.

As you're paying the mortgage, her 40% would need to be made up of council tax, utilities and so on.

If your mortgage is more than 60% of the outgoings, I'd just have her transfer the difference to you.

Of course, it all depends on what you're going to do when you buy together, really.

If you're going to use any money in your place at the mo as "joint funds", the above's probably acceptable. If, however, you'll put *your* money in from your current mortgage and expect to get a higher share of the property as a result (tenants in wotsit...), the mortgage at the moment could be viewed as your savings, effectively. In which case, I'd just charge her the correct percentage of everything excluding the mortgage...

Mini_Bear

I am in this situation with my boyfriend (i have moved in to his house) we are intending to buy together in 2011 too.
i pay half the council take, buy all the food and contribute £50 towards bills. This may seem generous but my partner earns 4 times what i do with a bonus! he is happy for me to contribute this because he sees me savin 1900/mth of my earnings (80%) so that we can buy the house of our dreams mortgage free in 2011.
I guess its really down to personal circumstances, i wudnt wana let my partner stay wiv me for free and see them blow their ££ on expensive rubbish. I am suprised ur girlf hasnt bought this up as its surely one of the first things that u discuss wen movin in (unless she hasnt paid rent b4).
Good luck OP and def hav an idea of wat u consider fair!

roscolabri

Thanks for all the replies.

At the end of the day, once I've sold the house in 2011 I'll be joining my money with my girlfriends, and whatever we have there and then will be ours no matter what % we both put in, after all, we hope to be married by then too.

She has brought it up before, and being someone that likes paying her way I can't see a problem, it's just that I don't want her to be overpaying. I think I will use the simple calculation that Idiophreak mentioned. See what we're both earning come november time and work it out based on a %.

Thanks for all the replies, it certainly helps getting a little reassurance.

funky_snow

had this scenario in the past - and the approach we took - which I felt was fair was...
Boyfriend pays mortgage as normal. Joint account set up for bills - council tax, elec, gas, phone, water, broadband, etc. We paid in 50/50 as fairly similar incomes - if vastly different would have switched this. Our biggest expense though was food - and so instead of paying 'rent' I would pay for shopping at supermarkets. If some months we weren't spending much at supermarket and I was getting 'too good a deal' I would make sure I treated us both on nights out...
But the key thing here - is to set a precedent for your life together. Are you a couple where money is joint money, or do you want to keep separate finances. Discuss all this thoroughly and agree how you want to do it. I have learnt that although its a delicate matter - best brought up sooner rather than later to understand each others views on money, sharing it, future savings, and how equity in the house is treated by each partner. May not be the most romantic thing to discuss - but well worth it!

milliemonster

I think if you're planning to move in a couple of years time and buy somewhere together and jointly put in for a new house then why don't you just split all the bills (excluding the mortgage) 50/50 irrespective of what you both earn so that it is fairly split, you pay the mortgage and your girlfriend can put some money aside in savings rather than contribute towards your mortgage for when the day comes you want to buy somewhere together?

I understand the argument that she ought to be paying you rent, but this could backfire on you in the future if for some reason it doesn't work out and she claims to have contributed to your house in some way. I personally think it would be easier this way until you move then you can split everything 50/50, she would still be paying her way as she would be saving her side of the 'rent' so to speak towards a bigger deposit for your own place together

GettingHitched

FWIW I am in a similar situation. I moved in with OH in 07..I pay £300 - £400 per month, plus I pay for most of our food and if we go out at weekends, then I pay.

leekat21

When I moved in with my boyfriend, I left rented accommodation. As it was his house, I just paid rent to him. I paid him the same amount that I had previously paid my landlord. We also split all bills 50/50.

It worked well for us.

Now we have a place together and we split bills 50/50 and mortgage/council tax 66%/33% as he earns double what I do.

We also had a deed of trust drawn up by the solicitor who handled the house purchase.