best way to put my wife's name on the house

happyhero

Hi, when we bought our house it worked out easier to just apply for the mortgage in just my name and buy the house in just my name, next year I am hoping to pay the mortgage off and I have always planned that once the mortgage is gone I will put my wife down as an equal owner as I feel it should be. We were not married when I bought the house but are now.

I had assumed the best and easiest time would be once the mortgage has gone but now I am wanting to check, is there a reason to do it before the mortgage ends, I'm not talking about any reasons to cover my wife if anything happened at this point since we are only talking a matter of a few months but more I mean reasons to make it easier legally or financially?

On the surface it seems simpler to wait until the mortgage is out of the equation next year, what do you think?

Secondly how do I go about getting my wife to be joint owner, what's the procedure?

I understand there are 2 ways we can own the house jointly, which should we pick?

Will it cost me anything to give us joint ownership?

Do I need a solicitor or is there a better person for the job?

kingstreet

Once the mortgage is gone, you can do the change of ownership yourself with the Land Registry.

You would not then need a solicitor.

Assuming you would want your wife to have 100% ownership on your death and vice versa, a joint tenancy would be the right approach.

Those wanting their share to pass into their estate on death, rather than automatically to the survivor would use tenants in common.