Girlfriend moving in

viclspence

it will all depend on how 'understanding' she is. I have a friend who moved in to her boyfriend's house and all she actually pays each month is food, it is their agreement that if she only pays that and they ever split up she has no stake in the house. She is only 22 though, not sure how old you are, so she isn't in a position of wanting security yet.

pinkshoes

If she's seen to be paying half the mortgage, then she could attempt to claim half the equity increase from when she moved in, to when she moved out.

i.e. If it's now worth £150k, and you have a £100k mortgage left (so £50k equity), then you split up in 2 years and the house has increased in value to £160k and £90k left on the mortgage (so £70k equity), then the equity increase would be £20k over 2 years, so she'd be entitled to half of this, £10k.

I'd treat her more like a lodger.

Ulfar

Rather than renting a place with her, which was my previous suggestion how about buying a new place with her.

Rent out your current place, if you can get consent to let.

vaporate

I hate gold diggers.

BitterAndTwisted

Ulfar wrote: »

If the your partner makes a financial contribution towards the house and this includes bills and she can prove it then yes she can be awarded a stake in the equity.

This is PRECISELY why I suggested in my first post that the OP charges the g/f the equivalent of what rent in a house-share would be rather than her paying half of what the mortgage payments are plus half of any utility bills. Don't forget that once she moves in the OP's 25% single-occupancy discount for Council Tax ends as well.

boliston

Ulfar wrote: »

If the your partner makes a financial contribution towards the house and this includes bills and she can prove it then yes she can be awarded a stake in the equity.

This is a legal minefield and as others have said consult a solicitor.

There are other options can you not move in with her to a rented place and rent yours out.

I think there is a difference between sharing electic/gas bills/phone bills compared with sharing the MORTGAGE bill. If you have a flat share you would normally be expected to pay rent PLUS a share of utility bills and legally I can't see any difference between sharing with a friend and sharing with a "partner" in this respect.

prudryden

How about doing this! Work out a spread sheet giving points towards her share of the mortgage e.g. so many points for each meal she cooks, so many points for each shirt she irons, so many points for each load of washing, so many points for each counseling session and hand holding etc.

BitterAndTwisted

That wasn't particularly helpful and not even slightly amusing either. Please try harder.

prudryden

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

That wasn't particularly helpful and not even slightly amusing either. Please try harder.

I bet his girlfriend found it thought provoking, if not amusing. Anyway, I liked it and that is what truly matters these days.

charlea

Hey if you want to give away 50% percent of your house for nothing then pm me please im always in need of a bit of cash

Personaly though I would keep all the bills in your name and your name only and i would charge her rent in the same way that i would charge rent to a lodger /tennant ect or a person who is in a shared house .You can get room share agrements quite easily I would also get this witnessed if posssible

I would also NOT accept a direct debit payment from her bank account DIRECTLY to your mortgage account as this could be seen as a payment towards the mortgage from your girlfriend.

If you are going to take a direct debit from her bank account, for her rent then I would have have a seperate bank account just for any payments that she has given you AND KEEP IT THAT WAY

This way you can say this was money for bills or food. In fact what i would do is to pay all the bills (in your name) from this account as well.

If you have to add more money to this banK account, in case what she gives you is not enough to cover the bills then transfer money into the account as well from your own bank account (this should prove, should you need to of course in the future, that what she paid was not enough to cover the bills ect and that at no point did she ever contribute towards your mortgage)

Might sound stupid and sneaky even but the fact that you are asking and have been looking around to find anwsers to this means that you are worried about your position in this situation

If of course she wants her amount of rent that she gives you to pay towards YOUR mortgage so that she can have a stake or if she want to put her name on the deeds, Then I would ask her for a large deposit (at the very least half of what you had to put down as a deposit) and a percentage of whatever you have been paying since you bought the house
My brothers girlfriend soon changed her mind about putting her name on the deeds when he put this suggestion to her recently he saw no reason to give away half of his house for nothing

Of course this is just my own personal thoughts and not professional You might be in love and happy at the moment but when/if the !!!! hits the fan
You def dont want to be the one picking it off you as it stinks
so i would def see a laywer /solicitor probably the best money you will spend for peace of mind

Also with the comments that your girlfriends friends have made - who need enemies

However im not sure where she stands if you have children and are not married maybe someone else would know about this you might want to check

whittboy wrote: »

Wow, this is all a lot more complicated than I thought it was going to be, I think I may have to get some legal advice.

I asked her opinion before I bought the house as I did intend on her moving in when I bought it, but always with the intention that I would be the sole owner of the property until if/when we get married so renting this place out to rent somewhere else seems to miss the point a bit, also, as somebody mentioned, I'm not really sure how she'd take that.

It seems then that what I really need to clairfy is if the monthly fee she pays to me is her share of the mortgage or simply rent, because if it is mortgage then she could have a claim on some of the house,

Anyway thanks for the input.