Shared ownership with family?

greensalad

Hi all, this is my first step in researching this so sorry if I have missed anything. But I am interested to know a) if this is possible b) if I'm likely to qualify and c) how it could actually be done.

I live in rented with my boyfriend. We make 57k in our household pre tax. I also make an extra £6k a year but as freelance.

We have been looking into getting a mortgage but although I feel we could afford repayments, property prices in our area (Surrey) is high. We also live in a very up and coming area popular with buy-to-let and my biggest concern is that although we can probably afford mortgage repayments we simply cannot save fast enough to keep up with the market.

My Dad is looking to invest in property and it has been discussed that maybe we could look into shared ownership on a property. He would pay 50% in cash as his investment, we'd buy 50% but get a mortgage. This obviously means our deposit needs to be lower but also that we can have a shorter term, overpay, or simply pay less than we would normally need to do.

I've looked into things such as springboard mortgages but this really isn't what we're after. The key for us is that my Dad wants to own a portion of the property because he wants to benefit from any gains on the value, not just gain interest on savings like a springboard mortgage offers.

Obviosuly we would draw up a solid agreement with a solicitor and I would also like to draw up a rough plan for an exit strategy as I don't want to share ownership with my Dad forever! Perhaps that we would save up a deposit over again and use it to buy his share out once we've paid our full 50%, or use it towards another property etc.

My question is, is this possible? I'm sure it is but I'm sure there are also lots of issues and other things to consider with something like this.

To be honest my Dad is probably the best person to ask but I want to show him I have researched the options myself to show I am committed!