Is trust enough?

kit

Hi

My partner and I are in the process of buying a house. As I am unable to get a mortgage (due to my exhusband running up debts in joint names) my partner is getting the mortgage and I am providing the deposit.

So... we are paying £130,000 for the house. £102,000 is by mortgage in my partners name only. £28,000 and all legal fees are being paid by me (using all of my divorce settlement).

Due to my partner having the mortgage, the deeds have to be in his sole name.

My question is what rights to I have if things dont work out? My partner says he will never rip me off and leave me with nothing but do I need to cover myself? If not for my sake, for our young daughter's sake?

Don't get me wrong.... I have faith that our relationship is strong and will last but I also know that anything can happen so it helps to be prepared!

Murtle

Cover yourself. I think this is the hindsight you don't ever want to see if needed in the future. (if that makes sense)

x x

frivolous_fay

I suppose I'm in a similar position. No little 'un, but for 6 years I've been paying my share of a mortgage not in my name, not in my partner's name, but in my partner's parents' names

Legally, I'd be in an extremely dubious position if anything went pear-shaped with our relationship!

It was pretty much our only choice... we were unable to raise a mortgage at the time, he was a PhD student, I didn't yet have a job... I put a lot of faith in the good nature of b/f's parents and in the strength of our relationship. Even if things did go wrong I think they'd be decent enough to treat me fairly.

Sorry, this doesn't really help you much, but I thought I'd share

klaatu

I don't know your exact circumstances, and I'm not a financial advisor, but are you sure that the fact that the mortgage is in your partner's name only means that the house can't be in joint ownership?

I'm pretty sure I've bought a house before where the mortgage was in my name only, but the house was jointly owned. I think the partner who doesn't have the mortgage has to sign a declaration that they give up any right to stay in the house should the mortgage company need to repossess.

Steve

Ian_W

kit wrote:

My partner says he will never rip me off and leave me with nothing but do I need to cover myself? If not for my sake, for our young daughter's sake?
Don't get me wrong.... I have faith that our relationship is strong and will last but I also know that anything can happen so it helps to be prepared!

Pressed thanks instead of quote - which is nice for you!!

Trust isn't enough and in a common law relationship it's often all you have. Think back to the recent publicity about this - left partner and had nothing to show as his name on mortgage, partner died and parents got the house
etc, etc.

If you're going to put all your money from your settlement into the property it's vital you have an agreement drawn up by a lawyer that protects your rights should you split up and also recognises that although it's only his name on the mortgage and deeds you will be contributing. You also need your position protecting in case he dies or, for your daughters sake, you do. Both are probably very unlikely but life is very uncertain.

I'm sure he means what he says but you need to be sure you're covered if he ever changes his mind. It would show he was serious if he's prepared to make formal legal provision for this.

Ian_W

klaatu wrote:

I'm pretty sure I've bought a house before where the mortgage was in my name only, but the house was jointly owned. I think the partner who doesn't have the mortgage has to sign a declaration that they give up any right to stay in the house should the mortgage company need to repossess.
Steve

I think you'll find that any adult resident who isn't on the mortgage has to sign that disclaimer BUT AFAIK if the house is jointly owned both have to be on the mortgage. If only one is on the mortgage - only one can be on the title deeds otherwise the lender couldn't repossess a half owned property if there is a default.

Gorgeous_George

frivolous-fay

Sounds like you're paying rent in your parents-in-law's BTL.

kit
Speak to your solicitor. If it all goes wrong, the mortgage company will have first dips at your house. It may not leave anything to fight over. I think you would be in a very vulnerable position.



GG

Astaroth

I am no expert on mortgages but you will be financially linked to your partner (assuming you live at the same address) and therefore any effect you will have on the application will already have been felt. If they agree to him having the mortgage with you living at the address I would be surprised that they wouldnt let you be named on the otherwise identical mortgage.

There is always the option of pulling together a contract but talking purely on a personal basis (I also have a common law partner that I have lived with for almost 5 years) I would not be happy with my partner suggesting that we needed a contact for anything. She has also had previous credit problems (including bankruptcy) and therefore all credit cards/ loans etc are in my name but our property is in joint names still.

kit

Astaroth wrote:

I am no expert on mortgages but you will be financially linked to your partner (assuming you live at the same address) and therefore any effect you will have on the application will already have been felt. If they agree to him having the mortgage with you living at the address I would be surprised that they wouldnt let you be named on the otherwise identical mortgage.

There is always the option of pulling together a contract but talking purely on a personal basis (I also have a common law partner that I have lived with for almost 5 years) I would not be happy with my partner suggesting that we needed a contact for anything. She has also had previous credit problems (including bankruptcy) and therefore all credit cards/ loans etc are in my name but our property is in joint names still.

If we had a joint mortgage then the max we could have got was £70,000! My partner on his own was offered £106,000..... our advisor did try to argue with the mortgage company re this but they wouldnt budge!!

Thanks guys for all your advise..... I'm still not sure what to do... keep the advice coming..... I'll keep thinking.

frivolous_fay

George,

Strictly speaking, yes, but the agreement is that the flat is ours in all but name, and when it sells, the equity will be ours to put towards our first actual mortgage.

Claire_DC

I'm currently going to be in a similar position.. haven't got the best credit due to spending after a few traumatic experiences, so my fiance has got the mortgage in his name and i will contribute towards it each month and pay the repayments for the 5k personal loan he's got to do it up.. plus put £1.5k towards that also that i have saved for it.

A lot of the furniture going into the house is mine from my current rented flat (which i will be giving up to move into the house with him) and i will only really have insurance in my name there until i've sorted my debts.

This is my choice as i didn't want my possibly not so good credit score to affect us moving out of this flat and buying our own place.

Once i've sorted my credit file, he said he'll add me to the deeds/mortgage on a new fixed rate period (once ours has come to an end in about 5 years) but until then i'm going on trust alone.. he's a decent person though and i really don't think he'd put me into any trouble.