Buying flat with brother, girlfriend to move in, what "rent" does she pay?

BitterAndTwisted

I can understand why this brother would think that trousering his g/f's rent and therefore reducing only his monthly contributions would be fair. But it isn't.

Any income received from said g/f should be shared equally between the two of them. If this can't be agreed I foretell any number of disputes between the two of them. And she hasn't even moved in yet. I've had a couple living with me before and it doesn't really take very long to be made to feel like a lodger in my own home.

Padstow

JodyBPM wrote: »

I think I'd look at it in a slightly different way. Assuming that you and your brother can both afford the mortgage without her contribution, I'd say that you both keep paying exactly what you will before she moves in, even after she moves in.

Bills should be split 3 ways.

Charge the girlfriend half the going rate for a houseshare (half as she is sharing a room with your brother). Use the money that she pays to make capital repayments to your grandmother, thereby paying her off quicker, and reducing your interest costs. This also means that if the girlfriend moves out at a later date, you are still used to affording the full amount between the two of you. Once grandma has been paid off in full, you could then put the rent money into a savings account for maintenance, improvements, decoration etc. (or you might want to split it half to repay granny and half for maintenance from the offset).

I don't think there is any question that they are able to pay the mortgage without a lodger. The mortgage was granted on the two salaries, plus granny's kind deposit.
I was just about to spout on and on about granny's soft loan, future inheritence, savings % as opposed to mortgage %, but I have stopped myself.

The OP asked for opinions on rent. I said my bit. Act as a landlord would.

evespikey

This is a tricky one. I always advise against living with a couple. Have you ever done it before? Have you lived with them as a couple for even a brief period to see how it feels? It is a lot different living with a couple for, say, a week on holiday than a regular working week. What if they planned on kids- one of you would have to move out, and presumably not be paying the mortgage. How would you manage financially; would you be happy to sell?

Aside from that, another issue to think about is how much your brother and his gf are a couple. By that I mean do they see themselves as a household or just two people in a relationship living together i.e. if she is out of work, will he support her (pay her bills)? Do they have a joint account/treat their income as shared? If they are sharing a room I wouldn't expect two sets of rent for one room- the extra contribution of household bills would be enough.

RichGold

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I can understand why this brother would think that trousering his g/f's rent and therefore reducing only his monthly contributions would be fair. But it isn't.

Any income received from said g/f should be shared equally between the two of them. If this can't be agreed I foretell any number of disputes between the two of them. And she hasn't even moved in yet. I've had a couple living with me before and it doesn't really take very long to be made to feel like a lodger in my own home.

In that circumstance in the event of the inevitable split later on down the line that would give the girlfriend a claim to part of the houses equity, unless you have her sign up at the beginning as a lodger.

This whole idea sounds like a recipe for problems later.

claretmatt

This will all end in tears.....

nev87

Appreciate all the input so far, please keep them coming as they're all appreciated and the bigger the sample the easier the final decision is.

I will of course let you all know what the final decision is.

The suggestion of using the "rent" to directly pay back our grandmother is interesting. Any further input on that people?

I don't think there is any question that they are able to pay the mortgage without a lodger. The mortgage was granted on the two salaries, plus granny's kind deposit.
I was just about to spout on and on about granny's soft loan, future inheritence, savings % as opposed to mortgage %, but I have stopped myself.

Yes, mortgage is granted on our combined salaries and we can afford it comfortably. We know we're very lucky to have our grandmother lend us the amount and are paying her interest as a thank you. We are getting our agreement with her written up after moving in, this will not impact inheritance as we are to return the amount to her estate in the event that she passes away. Anyway, explaining away, as you say this question is about "rent" not our mortgage etc etc, that's all sorted thankfully!

Re: 35 years, that is our choice and in coming years, as our salaries rise, we shall remortgage.

Being the next candy brothers would be just great!

Padstow

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

my mortgage is at 35 years as well. Not everybody can afford the payments on 25 years or less when they first start off, but you've got 35 years to make overpayments and to remortgage for a shorter term. You're also presuming that two brothers will want to live together in a flat for 35 years.

I didn't mean to offend as I had no idea there were 35yr mortgages. £1600pmx35yrs, sounds bad, but it's London.
scheming_gypsy, any way is better than paying rent for many years. Something else that's overlooked too, is the pride we take in owning our own home.
I'm bowing out now as I've taken the thread off topic.

Judith_W

I agree it should be split 3 ways. You are having to put up with another person sharing your house, that is worth more than £40 a month!

Just because they are sharing a bedroom, you will all be using the rest of the house 3 ways so why should it be different?

KiKi

I agree with peachyprice. Forget your mortgage payments, don't relate anything she's paying to that.

Charge her 1/3 of bills. Then agree an amount with your brother - which is nothing to do with how much you're paying on the mortgage - that she should pay in rent. A bit less than the going rate. Let him take, say, 65% of it, and you take 35%. That way, you're covering the communal rooms, but he gets a subsidy for sharing a bedroom. (Not like that's a hardship, I'm sure..!)

KiKi

BitterAndTwisted

nev87 wrote: »

We are getting our agreement with her written up after moving in, this will not impact inheritance as we are to return the amount to her estate in the event that she passes away.

Oh really? And what about the declaration signed when you applied for the mortgage that the monies from granny towards the deposit were a gift? Sounds like you were skating towards mortgage fraud there.

What happens if granny passes away before you've repaid the whole of the loan?