Beneficial interest in boyfriend's house??

sarahlouise1979

Hi,

Have been advised by CCCS that bankruptcy and voluntary repossession of my flat is my best option to deal with large unsecured debts and negative equity in the flat. I moved out of the flat about 3 weeks ago and into my boyfriend's house where I will be paying him £275 a month 'rent' and then half towards the other bills (which he will still be paying, i will just transfer him a 'lump sum' each month to cover the amounts). The lady at the CCCS said that this was absolutley fine and that us paying half each even though he earns more than me is ok. She gave me the number for the Insolvency Service helpline so that I could check about keeping my car (only worth £600) and about beneficial interest in my boyfriend's house.

I have just got off the phone from the Insolvency Service Helpline, and the man I spoke to said that i could pay half towards the gas, electric, water etc but that was it! And i wouldn't be allowed to pay towards the mortgage as 'what would you be getting out of it?'- er, somewhere to live!! I'm really confused as everyone else i've spoken to,both CCCS and National Debtline have said that as I have literally just moved in and will be going BR very soon, it would be fine and that it would be very unlikely that anyone could say I had a beneficial interest in his house. Help please!!

alastairq

And i wouldn't be allowed to pay towards the mortgage as 'what would you be getting out of it?'- er, somewhere to live!!

The IS guy is being strictly kosher in his terminology.

A mortgage isn't the same thing as 'rent'.

A mortgage is a secured loan,acquired to purchase an asset...that asset being the security, usually.

Having just moved in with OH, [I presume as an unmarried couple] your beneficial interest in the value of the property will be on the small side of negligible.

It is this aspect to which [I think] the IS guy is referring.

Also, such a [definitive] payment cannot be included on your SOA. [as he more or less says]

However, there is nothing to prevent you doing as you intended, and pay rent.

However, be aware, OH [BF?] will need to declare your rent payments as income.....but, there is a scheme of 'letting out the back room' [not quite what it sounds like]....whereby a house owner can claim the first 4500 [??] per year free of tax....there are those on here who know more about it than I....the topic came up a few days ago.

Mojisola

Read up on the topic here - https://www.advicenow.org.uk/living-together/

The rent-a-room scheme can't be used if you're moving in as a couple.

silvercar

The lady at the CCCS said that this was absolutley fine and that us paying half each even though he earns more than me is ok.

From what was posted on another thread, you should be paying in proportion to your income, but your bf doesn't have to declare his income and if he chooses not to then the costs will be assumed to be split 50-50.

sarahlouise1979

Mojisola wrote: »

Read up on the topic here - https://www.advicenow.org.uk/living-together/

The rent-a-room scheme can't be used if you're moving in as a couple.

Ok, so if he was just a friend???

sarahlouise1979

So if I'm understanding correctly, I can't pay towards his mortgage because then I might have beneficial interest in his home, and I can't pay him rent as we're a couple... So I might as well go rent somewhere else on my own, pay a fair bit more than I would do if I was living with OH, and have nothing to pay into an IPA?? Seems stupid!

Mojisola

sarahlouise1979 wrote: »

Ok, so if he was just a friend???

Friends or strangers - that doesn't matter but if you are a couple you won't need to claim under the rent-a-room scheme because couples would just be sharing the bills.

Under the rent-a-room scheme one person is earning money from the other.

sarahlouise1979

Mojisola wrote: »

Friends or strangers - that doesn't matter but if you are a couple you won't need to claim under the rent-a-room scheme because couples would just be sharing the bills.

Under the rent-a-room scheme one person is earning money from the other.

Sharing all bills (including the mortgage) is what we want to do! But I don't want to share my previous financial mistakes, which is why I'm worried about the beneficial interest thing...

Ineedaname

The OR will only be interested in BI built up prior to date of BR. So if you're going to move in and go BR fairly quickly there won't be any BI built up...

sarahlouise1979

Ineedaname wrote: »

The OR will only be interested in BI built up prior to date of BR. So if you're going to move in and go BR fairly quickly there won't be any BI built up...

That makes sense- thank you very much! I moved in 3 weeks ago, and hope to go BR within the next 2 months. So it should be ok to share all bills 50/50 and state that this is the case on the BR forms?

debtinfo

Yes it is ok for you to pay an appropriate amount of all the bills including the mortgage and to put that on your soa