Joint mortgage question

zipp

Hi,
My partner & I are ready to buy our first property together.
We have finally worked out the area (roughly) and have saved enough cash to put down a decent deposit.
We have been advised by friends to go and get some guarantee letters from various mortgage providers now so that we can move relatively swiftly once we see a property that we want.

I am interested in advice from anyone who has taken a joint mortgage out with their partner or spouse, any advice, warnings or tips you may have are most welcome.

We are not married but have been together for over ten years.
I believe that we would sign a tennants in common agreement as my partner will be putting more money into the deposit than myself and is on a higher wage so would be paying slightly more towards the mortgage.
Any advice on the tennants in common agreement, solicitors, etc also greatly appreciated.

As this will be our first buy any advice at all you may have would be a help.

Many thanks
Zipp

Annisele

Think about what you'd do in a range of unpalatable situations - and make wills!

What happens if you split up? What if you need to sell when the property is worth less than the outstanding mortgage? What if one of you becomes too ill to work? Or is long term unemployed? Or if you have children? Or one of you dies? You get the picture...

I appreciate I sound like some sort of prophet of doom, but it's easier to sort these sorts of things before it all goes wrong. If it never does go wrong, you've just wasted some time thinking about unpleasant things.

Have a look around the forum and you'll see plenty of people in a serious hole because they didn't think about this stuff early enough.

zipp

Thankyou for your advice,

We will indeed need to have a written agreement which takes all factors into consideration of course.
We are also interested to know how it all works and if anyone has recommendations as to the practicalities of actually getting a joint mortgage and what to expect when we apply etc.

Many thanks
Zipp