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

Person_one

psychopathbabble wrote: »

You can rent a room out for up to £4k a year before paying tax.

There's no way she could be classed as a lodger under that scheme if she's sharing a bedroom with one of the homeowners.

psychopathbabble

Person_one wrote: »

There's no way she could be classed as a lodger under that scheme if she's sharing a bedroom with one of the homeowners.

True, didn't think of that. I was just replying to the post about renting a room tax free.

But then if she is living there with the boyfriend, then is it classed as additional income if it goes to paying gran or mortgage? Hmmm... very much worth looking into!

property.advert

Mortgage and specific property ownership bills (such as buildings insurance) split 2 ways, other bills (utilities etc.) split 3 ways. She then pays rent to you both as a lodger.

If a room in a shared house was £100 a week then charge her that. She has to live somewhere and not just freeload, girlfriend or not.

mildred1978

Padstow wrote: »

Something else that's overlooked too, is the pride we take in owning our own home.

You don't "own your own home" until all debts on it are paid off. You're 35 years off that, and won't even own the tiniest fraction of it for many many years!

neverdespairgirl

evespikey wrote: »

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?

It can work. OH and I lived together as a couple for nearly 6 years, sharing the flat with another girl. We all got on really well.

I can see there might well be problems, but on the other hand, it really can work too.

charlieann

would it not be better for you and your brother to continue paying the 50/50 amount agreed and use additional income such as rent from the gf to overpay and try to reduce the term of the mortgage, instead of either of you trying to reduce outgoings?

aliasojo

peachyprice wrote: »

As far as I can see, the only fair way of this working is for you and your brother to continue paying your halves as you will be for the first 6 months, when his GF moves in she pays the going rate for a house share in the area which is split equally between you and your brother .

In this scenario you are both still paying equal amounts towards the mortgage/loans, your bother is benefitting financially by having his GF in residence, you are benefitting financially for having to share your living space with another adult.

IMO, trying to base her contribution on the mortgage is over-complicating things.

Completely agree with this. It's really very simple. I think you are overthinking things and complicating matters unnecessarily tbh.

FBaby

I think it is very straight forward. She shouldn't be paying the same amount that you and brother because she won't get the same benefits, ie. contributing towards an investment. That would be very unfair. At the same time, it isn't fair she shouldn't contribute, nor that you should pay the same than if she wasn't living there because you will have to share the house with her.

My suggestion: Say what you owe for loan/mortgage is £600. You contribute £250, your brother contributes £250, she contributes £100. All bills are shared equally. This means that in addition to the £40 you save on the bills, you will save £50ish (whatever your mortgage/loan payment actually is).

Person_one

mildred1978 wrote: »

You don't "own your own home" until all debts on it are paid off. You're 35 years off that, and won't even own the tiniest fraction of it for many many years!

Actually, technically, you own it from day one. The mortgage is a loan secured against it. As long as you keep up the payments the bank has no ownership rights at all.

heretolearn_2

I can sort of see your brother's logic. No doubt if he owned the house on his own and she moved in, he wouldn't be expecting her to pay him rent.

But this is not the same situation as half the house is yours, so she can't expect you to be providing her with a free place to live (the contribution towards bills is a separate thing).

Just ask your brother this. If you decided to move your best mate in, would he get to live there rent free? I bet the answer would be no, he would have to pay rent. There's no real difference as far as this goes between a girlfriend and a mate. It's a third party moving into a property paid for by both of you.

Your brother's getting that 'a couple is one person' thing going on. Some couples forget they are still two separate people as well. It usually crops up with a couple in the pub thinking that buying one round between them counts as their share!