How can my partner buy into my house?

jillecca

My partner and I are buying a house together. I am able to pay for my half in cash while my partner intends to take out a mortgage to cover his half. We are not married and wish to be equal tenants in common and have both our names on the deeds.

I find myself needing to move into the house much sooner than anticipated and would like to avoid having to wait for my partner's mortgage to complete (even if that only means a saving of 3-4 weeks). I am in the fortunate position of having the funds to buy the house outright and so we are exploring the options for paying in cash now to complete the sale and allowing my partner to repay me shortly afterwards. We would rather have both of our names on the deeds from the start, to avoid the solicitor's fees from having to add him to the deeds later (yes, I'm aware of his entitlement to half of the house in the interim!)

Is it possible for my partner to apply for a mortgage now, for me to pay for the house in both our names and then for my partner to receive the funds slightly later, which would be used to repay me? If not, how can my partner acquire the funds to buy into my property? Is there a special kind of mortgage that we need that differs from the norm? Is a home equity loan the answer?

We would be very grateful for any thoughts, as we are stunned by how little information we can find on the matter! We can't be the only people in this situation!

Thanks
Jill

DVardysShadow

Lenders will not stand for having only his name on the mortgage. To have a mortgage, the property is effectively signed over to the lender in anticipation of default. So all owners have to consent to this.

Other than that the timing of what you want to do seems feasible.

zzzLazyDaisy

That's right. Both names on the house, both names on the mortgage.

Tenants in Common will deal with the shares in the house, but if he defaults the lender will come after either or both of you, for the full amount of the mortgage.

So, say he loses his job, YOU are responsible for ensuring the mortgage is paid.

Apart from that the only other thing is that buying the house in your name incurs solicitor's fees, land registry fees and stamp duty (and presumably you will still have a survey etc?). Then putting the house into joint names is treated as a sale from you to the two of you, with solicitor's fees, land registry fees, possibly also a further survey, depending on the lender, and possibly also another lot of stamp duty depending on the value of the house.

Apart from that, if you don't mind throwing money at the issue, there's nothing to stop you doing it.