question:- I'm mortgage free. should my girlfriend pay me rent ?

justwondering25

pennypinchUK wrote: »

Let's look at it from another viewpoint. If she moves in and it all goes sour will she expect to get a share of the house in a financial settlement? Currently the law says she'd have a claim, whether she pays rent now or not. Sadly, with the law as it currently stands, a partner's financial position prior to the relationship starting is irrelevant to what any financial settlement will be.

If there was a mortgage to pay on the property it would be a simple case of her paying her fair share. But there are other costs associated with houses - repairs, maintenance and improvements, etc. And she should certainly be prepared to pay her fair share of those.

There's a compromise here. She pays a fair share of the upkeep of the property. She also pays an agreed sum equivalent to half of what the mortgage would be in to a savings account. After (say) 5 years, if they're still together it becomes joint funds. If they've split up she's got funds to help her get back on her own feet. This would probably need a prenuptual agreement, but it sounds like they're being sensible and having the tough financial conversation at this early stage, rather than a later stage when it could be a lot more difficult if not nasty. Doubtless you'd review the arrangement if you went on to have a child/children together.

Good luck to you both, anyhow.

thank you for your advice , me and my girlfriend have come to a similar conclusion , the main difference been , if we split , the "Us Fund" (basically what 50 % of the rent would be , paid into a joint account each month) would be split between us.

Andyluke2

What planet are you living on? :mad:

Yes you are a great MSE but you are talking about a relationship not a business!!!

So what if you have no debts, no mortgage etc....a relationship is for sharing and if your place seems to be a good place to build on the relationship then you should be grateful for that and share it with her, not asking for rent, shes not a flat mate.

My GF moved in with me, yes the bills went up, council tax rose but we came to an ammicable arrangement - I pay the bills, she pays for the food....an easy compromise.

awehla

When I moved into my partners house in June 2001 (he had a mortgage but not paid off) I was a student and paid him £100-£150 a month (I forget the exact amount now) and then when I got a full time job I paid a bit more (£200 I think) and paid for half the bills as well. Till April 2003 we had my boyfriends housemate with us who also paid my boyfriend rent and helped with the bills. In July 2007 we moved into a different house and have a joint mortgage now. It hasn't been easy since my boyfriend now earns twice as much as I do and there was some tension surrounding the fact he earned more than me when I was "renting" off him.

Basically we've got to the stage where we have a joint account and I pay £500 a month into it and he pays £650 and everything like bills and mortgage comes out of it. If we need to buy extras relating to the house he can pay himself back out of the joint account later. He knows when we have kids I'll be working part time or will possibly give up work for a while. Being married does not give a woman license to live off a man and doesn't make any difference to whether she "pays her way" or not. If you work you pay, simple as.

It's difficult if you own the house out right though. I don't think you can really charge her anything if you currently pay 0 on your mortgage. She should pay half the bills, maintenance etc. or a percentage if she doesn't earn as much as you.

xxSaffronxx

awehla wrote: »

Being married does not give a woman license to live off a man and doesn't make any difference to whether she "pays her way" or not. If you work you pay, simple as.

Yup agree with that one!! Im a woman and I would not expect my husband to pay for everything just because we are married

amus

awehla wrote: »

When I moved into my partners house in June 2001 (he had a mortgage but not paid off) I was a student and paid him £100-£150 a month (I forget the exact amount now) and then when I got a full time job I paid a bit more (£200 I think) and paid for half the bills as well. Till April 2003 we had my boyfriends housemate with us who also paid my boyfriend rent and helped with the bills. In July 2007 we moved into a different house and have a joint mortgage now. It hasn't been easy since my boyfriend now earns twice as much as I do and there was some tension surrounding the fact he earned more than me when I was "renting" off him.

Basically we've got to the stage where we have a joint account and I pay £500 a month into it and he pays £650 and everything like bills and mortgage comes out of it. If we need to buy extras relating to the house he can pay himself back out of the joint account later. He knows when we have kids I'll be working part time or will possibly give up work for a while. Being married does not give a woman license to live off a man and doesn't make any difference to whether she "pays her way" or not. If you work you pay, simple as.

It's difficult if you own the house out right though. I don't think you can really charge her anything if you currently pay 0 on your mortgage. She should pay half the bills, maintenance etc. or a percentage if she doesn't earn as much as you.

To be honest I agree if you are talking about a married couple without children but once children come into the equation its a bit different. As it is usually the woman that takes time off to have and raise children she is unable to pay her way, and has sacrificed a part of her career to raise hers and her partners child, therefore she should still be entitled to everything in equal shares whether she is paying for it or not IMO

pmj1812

You've worked hard and in many respects life has treated you well so far. But before you negotiate too hard with your girlfriend, who you may be spending the rest of your life with, I think it might be wise to think a bit more to the future.

What might happen to your fortunes as you and your girlfriend grow old together? If you were to get a serious degenerative disease, would she put her life and ambitions on hold for years on end to care for you? If you needed medical care that could only be bought privately, would you hope she would be willing to sell everything she could do without to give you a decent quality of life for a bit longer?

Sorry to be morbid, but it's amazing how fast life can turn around and if you've withheld something that you could have given freely now, then how much could you reasonably ask her to sacrifice later - as a wife, mother and companion in later life?

Augustus_the_Strong

You are being mean. When you split up (which is likely to happen before long if you carry on like this) you have the full value of the house to console you.

Split all your future bills according to your income - if she earns twice as much as you, she would pay 2/3 of the amount. Work out how much you need to cover all your bills and mutual spending, open a new joint account between you, put in 1/3 and 2/3 of that amount each per month and live happily together. If salaries change you can re-calibrate the proportions.

golfiematt

it shouldnt be an issue, if she is a decent person then im sure you could work something out.

jessex1990

why not just ask her to pay half of the bills? sound fair? as well as services that she wants and you dont use for example higher telephone, tv packages, PPV, subscriptions to magazines etc ...

Thats hardly profiteering.

My rent is £250 per person per month to pay off the mortgage and the gas/electric bills (which the landlords pay) we pay all the other bills, so no i wouldnt say that £250 is unreasonable (i live in a 1 bed ex council flat worth approx £100,000)

Rah

what an interesting dilemma.
My view is that if you have no mortgage, you should not charge your girlfriend any rent.
However, if you are both working you should pay half each towards bills and other costs of running the home.

I am in a related but different situation. I bought a house last year in my sole name and my boyfriend lives in it with me. He is just starting up setting up his own business at the moment and has no income. Therefore he doesn't pay me anything.
when he starts earning money he will start paying half the mortgage and bills.

however if there wasn't a mortgage no-one should have any rent to pay!