Conveyancer won't add me to title deeds!

nishnosh

Hi,

We are a week away from exchanging contracts and our conveyancer (Halifax bank's preferred firm) has come back to us saying the the deeds will only be in my husband's name. This is because the mortgage is in his name only and I am putting in the deposit of £200k - equalling 50%.

I know that my husband isn't going to do a runner, but I will now have to add myself to the deeds after the sale completes at a further cost.

The conveyancer has said my contribution is treated as a 'gift' to my husband and they cant add me to the deeds because all the mortgage documents are in my husband's name.

I don't get it, surely anyone who is paying towards a house has a right to be included on the deeds?

lincroft1710

Knowing that you will be living in the house, I'm surprised Halifax hasn't insisted on the mortgage being in joint names.

pinkteapot

In short, the rule is that the name(s) on the deeds has to match the name(s) on the mortgage.

If the mortgage is in joint names, the deeds will be. If the mortgage is in a sole name, the deeds will be.

I'm not sure you'll be able to add your name after completion as I believe it would need permission of the mortgage company.

I know it's a bit late now but a joint mortgage would have been better. You can get a joint mortgage even if you don't have a salary to take into account.

betmunch

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Knowing that you will be living in the house, I'm surprised Halifax hasn't insisted on the mortgage being in joint names.

Why?

Halifax are quite happy to have spouses living at the property and not named on the mortgage if the mortgage can be obtained on one applicants income.

lincroft1710

betmunch wrote: »

Why?

Halifax are quite happy to have spouses living at the property and not named on the mortgage if the mortgage can be obtained on one applicants income.

Because the spouse has a financial interest in the property. I'm sure there are several threads on here about mortgages needing to be in joint names when a couple live in the house. In my former home which I bought with my ex, both names had to be on the mortgage and she had no income.

Kynthia

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Because the spouse has a financial interest in the property. I'm sure there are several threads on here about mortgages needing to be in joint names when a couple live in the house.

Different lenders treat this situation differently, which is why it is good to have an experienced broker to select the right lender for your circumstances.

OP, did you have an independent mortgage broker who knew you wanted to be on the deeds from the start? Or did you apply for a mortgage directly in just you husband's name and assume you could be on the deeds? It is almost impossible to be on the deeds if you aren't on the mortgage.

nishnosh

The reason we didn't get a joint mortgage was that I am now a full time mum (after being self employed for a couple of years) and when we applied jointly for a mortgage we were only offered half of the money we needed. £130k.

When my husband applied on his own he was offered £344k - we only needed 200k.

This is why we applied in a single name and not joint names. We were never told that this would pose a problem on the ownership.

I need to know that my contribution is covered - and I am panicking a little bit!

We can't push the exchange date as we agreed this with our sellers and they will probably pull out. And out bank manager is on holiday until next week.

Help?!?!

nishnosh

[QUOTE=

OP, did you have an independent mortgage broker who knew you wanted to be on the deeds from the start? Or did you apply for a mortgage directly in just you husband's name and assume you could be on the deeds? It is almost impossible to be on the deeds if you aren't on the mortgage.[/QUOTE]

Kynthia - went through our bank manager and not a mortgage broker.

betmunch

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Because the spouse has a financial interest in the property. I'm sure there are several threads on here about mortgages needing to be in joint names when a couple live in the house. In my former home which I bought with my ex, both names had to be on the mortgage and she had no income.

Yes there will be, but none of them should be about Halifax.

The OP clearly stated they were with Halifax so generalised info doesnt help, we need specific info on Halifax.

pinkteapot

I think the first thing you should do is speak to your conveyancer. Given that you can't go on the deeds, is there any sort of legal agreement they can draw up that would protect your money in the event of you splitting up? I know that if you own the house jointly, as tenants in common, you can have a document drawn up that defines the ownership percentages. However, I don't know if anything is possible with the house in a sole name.

By far the most important thing for you to do is to make sure your husband has a will. I *believe* that if you're married then his estate would pass to you if he died without a will, but it's not worth taking the risk!

If your solicitor can't draw up any sort of agreement then you may just have to live with it (unless you're willing to pull out of the purchase). The mortgage balance will fall in time and your husband's salary may well go up. In some number of years it'll be possible for you to remortgage to a joint mortgage (i.e. when on a joint mortgage you'd be lent as much as your mortgage balance outstanding). At that point, you can change the house to joint names. So it's only the period from now until then that you're worrying about.

Mojisola

pinkteapot wrote: »

I *believe* that if you're married then his estate would pass to you if he died without a will, but it's not worth taking the risk!

If there are children, the spouse would only inherit £250,000 outright. Considering the OP is putting £200,000 into the house, that wouldn't be fair!