buying house, unmarried

taylorjane

hiya all,

i'm looking for some advice. I am planning to buy a house with my boyfriend. I have a downpayment of £100k which I made on my old property. my boyfriend has no downpayment. We are planning to get a mortgage of £150k. We have a young child together and so I work part time, therefore my boyfriend bring in more money than me.

I'm a bit scared to buy the house 50/50 with him, although I believe we will be together for ever you never know. I have previously been divorced and know that a relationship which seems perfect can change.
Can we buy the house so that I own a larger share? would that be fair, since he is earning more and effectivly paying off more of the morgage than me?
If I did own a larger share, what would happen if we later got married, would the share then automatically change to 50/50?

Would really appreciate some other views, both opinions and if anyone has vies on legally what would happen after marriage.

thankyou for your advice everyone

Sammy_Girl

Hello,

I would advise posting on the House Buying board on here as there are many experts on there.

But I can tell you that when we bought our house 3 years ago me and my now husband werent married. I paid a larger share of the deposit than him. You can get a statement drawn up by your solicitor (I think its called Tenants in Common) whereby it stipulates who paid what deposit/share of the house. Therefore if anything does happen then it is recognised that you own a larger share of the house and the proceeds of the sale will be distributed accordingly.

That is what I know, granted it's limited! Hope you get the advice you need.

Debt_Free_Chick

taylorjane wrote: »

hiya all,

i'm looking for some advice. I am planning to buy a house with my boyfriend. I have a downpayment of £100k which I made on my old property. my boyfriend has no downpayment. We are planning to get a mortgage of £150k. We have a young child together and so I work part time, therefore my boyfriend bring in more money than me.

I'm a bit scared to buy the house 50/50 with him, although I believe we will be together for ever you never know. I have previously been divorced and know that a relationship which seems perfect can change.
Can we buy the house so that I own a larger share?

Yes and your solicitor/conveyancer should cover this point when you buy

would that be fair, since he is earning more and effectivly paying off more of the morgage than me?

This is where it gets tricky. If you are putting down 100% of the deposit, then you own a greater share on day-one.

However, if you are then paying less or none of the repayments, then he is accumulating an increased share with every payment he makes.

At some point, he will have paid enough to have brought his share up to 50%.

To put it another way ... your deposit is effectively an advance payment of your share of the mortgage repayments. At some point, your deposit plus his payments will get to the same level, when you will both own 50% of the property.

You need to discuss all of this with your solicitor at the time of purchase. Before then, have an open and honest discussion with your partner.

[Deleted User]

didn't want to read and run and i'm not sure of the facts but i am in a similar position where i hold a large part of the equity in the propery. DH came to it with nothing. However I am a SAHM and he transfers all him wages bar spending to pay the bills and mortgage etc. So i guess in years to come his contribution will match mine.

We do have a clause written in somewhere that if we seperate what will happen and how much both of us get. But because even in conflict we would both remain fair to each other/children, i can't see this becoming a problem. We would both naturally want to do right by each other.

Hope someone else can come by with some better info for you though.

Courgette

I'm no expert and you might find better advice over on mortgages but as an unmarried cohabiting woman you are very vulnerable. I know it's not romantic and no one likes to think that things could go wrong but I think you need to see a solicitor and make sure that the equity you are bringing to the property is legally recognised so that in the event you did split you wouldn't lose what you have put in.

I'm not sure what would happen if you got married though. I got married recently, have a son from a previous rship and own the house (except for the bit that still mortgaged - I'm paying this off alone). I was told by a solicitor that it would depend on the length of the marriage how the house was split if we spilt but I could expect to take the lion's share.

Such a horrible thing to have to think about, makes me feel like such a shallow old witch. Hope some of that's been some use

Courgette

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

However, if you are then paying less or none of the repayments, then he is accumulating an increased share with every payment he makes.

At some point, he will have paid enough to have brought his share up to 50%.

To put it another way ... your deposit is effectively an advance payment of your share of the mortgage repayments. At some point, your deposit plus his payments will get to the same level, when you will both own 50% of the property.

No, he'll never own 50% because the house is worth £150k and the most he'll ever pay towards it is £50k. I think that means he'll own one third eventually? Sorry, maths is not my strong point

loftus

I'm certainly no expert but maybe you could have something written up which protects your deposit in the event of your splitting up but then divides any remaining equity between you? It could always be revisited later.
As for your boyfriend paying the mortgage. I wouldn't get too hung up on this point. You work part-time because you look after your child so your contribution to the household is as valid as his is.

loftus

Courgette wrote: »

No, he'll never own 50% because the house is worth £150k and the most he'll ever pay towards it is £50k. Does that mean he'll owe one third? Sorry, maths is not my strong point

The house is worth £250k - £100k deposit and £150k mortgage.

Courgette

loftus wrote: »

The house is worth £250k - £100k deposit and £150k mortgage.

Missed that bit, sorry. Changes the picture quite a bit too I guess

jennieshrew

You might find this helpful. http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/basics/cohabit.htm I'm sure there are better links but i'm not an expert and I just did a quick google. I did something similar before my husband and I got married as I was putting in a different amount of equity to me. Someone else will have more of a coherent answer I expect!

Oldernotwiser

Deleted_User wrote: »

didn't want to read and run and i'm not sure of the facts but i am in a similar position where i hold a large part of the equity in the propery. DH came to it with nothing. However I am a SAHM and he transfers all him wages bar spending to pay the bills and mortgage etc. So i guess in years to come his contribution will match mine.

Don't you think that this implies that your contribution as a SAHM is valueless?