Boyfriend moving in - property ownership advice

sj77

I have owned my own house for the last 14 years and been paying the mortgage and looking at my boyfriend moving in with me and want some advice. My boyfriend has no savings or property to speak off but wants to pay my overpayments for the next 10 years (when the mortgage will be paid off) for a stake in the property whilst I pay the main mortgage. I am concerned about protecting my investment as am used to the idea that this is my property and do not want to jeopardise losing part/half of it. I do however want to protect him as well if he has invested money to ensure that he at least gets back what he put in.

We are not jumping into this, we will live together first before even considering joint mortgages.

Is it too much to ask him to just pay half the bills and I continue to pay the mortgage on my own as I earn sufficient money to do so?

Any advice appreciated

Mojisola

Lots to think about here - https://www.advicenow.org.uk/living-together/

If he is going to pay towards the mortgage, get a legal agreement drawn up covering what proportion of the house he is entitled to.

If you break up, will you have enough capital to buy him out or will you need to sell the house to give him his share?

iwb100

Can you not start off with a sort of rent arrangement? He pays an agreed rent a month to cover bills/mortgage whatever you want. But initially at least it's done like renting so he isn't essentially building up any investment?

I mean he'd have to pay rent to live somewhere else presumably, so this would be no different. Then you can decide on mortgage etc when you're comfortable to do so!

RAS

sj77 wrote: »

My boyfriend has no savings or property to speak off but wants to pay my overpayments for the next 10 years (when the mortgage will be paid off) for a stake in the property whilst I pay the main mortgage.

Really not a good idea at this stage.

If he moves in now he is a lodger and you can ask him to leave at any time.

The moment he starts paying toward the mortgage and gets a stake in the property, you cannot lock him out of the house if you break up. I am astounded that he is even suggesting this idea.

I would point out to him that in order to give him a stake in the property, you will need the mortgage companies approval (you will be disposing of their assets as well as yours), so you want to wait a while.

Remember as well that if you create a joint tenant situation, he would inherit the whole house as the sole survivor if you died.

DaftyDuck

RAS wrote: »

Really not a good idea at this stage.

If he moves in now he is a lodger and you can ask him to leave at any time.

The moment he starts paying toward the mortgage and gets a stake in the property, you cannot lock him out of the house

This. With knobs on.

Living together is a new experience. It may not suit you both, for an infinite variety of reasons. Do not do this for a number of months at least.

beckysbobbles1

I would agree with the other posters. If you can afford to pay the mortgage on your own like you currently are then continue to do so.

I would ask him to pay 50/50 for all other household bills such as council tax, utilities, food etc but keep the mortagge out of it.

If you want to have a joint account (please think carefully first) then set one up to pay the bills but not the mortgage. Keep this from your sole account.

I know this isn's the nicest but I would also email him discussing paying 50/50 bills but you keep paying the mortgage and keep a record of the email. I think it just protects yourself, just in case.

peachyprice

OP, ask youself why he is asking so much from you at this early stage. Is it a deal breaker for him if you refuse to go along with his plan to gain a share of a property with so little input? It sounds to me as if thinks he's found himself a nice little mealticket.

I would do as suggested, and set up a lodger/rental agreement for the time being, there's no rush to give him a share of your house.

If you're still together in X number of years time and he's your life partner it's easy to give him a stake in your property, if you give him a stake now and you break up it's impossible to get it back.

You've worked hard for 14 years to buy your own property, you need to protect that.

sj77

thanks everyone for your thoughts, its summed up what I was thinking because its a big step and I wasnt sure of the legalities in protecting my investment.

I said initially we would do the lodger thing where he pays half the bills as rent so that way there is no investment in the property itself.

After reading your responses I think actually this may be better long term and as he has shown no desire until now to get on the property ladder/get a mortgage of his own so surely paying rent is what he would have been doing in the future anyway. He's not losing out.

Thanks for your quick responses

Errata

If you take him in as a lodger he needs a contract and a rent book.

bodmil

What about if he pays half the bills making it very cheap rent for him so he should be happy and you get to keep your mortgage as is. Then he should put X aside in a savings acount for a year. He can then either put that on your mortgage when you're happy, or keep it as a deposit fund for a new house together later in ther future?

I don't know how long you've been together but anyone with zero savings is clearly not thinking about the future however long you've known him.

Person_one

Errata wrote: »

If you take him in as a lodger he needs a contract and a rent book.

Lodgers don't share a bed with the landlady.

OP, I agree that you should have a 'trial period' where he doesn't contribute to the mortgage for a couple of years at least while you find out how you get on living under the same roof.

However, after that, if you decide that you're both in it for the long haul then I do think it should be looked at again. It would then be his home just as much as its your investment and especially if you ever get married you'd have to make a mental adjustment towards 'ours' rather than 'mine'.