Unequal shares in a house

graduate

Hi all

My OH and I are buying a house together. I will be putting down all the deposit. We are planning to get a deed of trust to cover this.

My question relates to any future money that may be paid off in addition to the mortgage repayments that either of us might make that come from just one of us. For example if my partner receives some money and pays off a lump sum or if I (as I earn more) make an overpayment on the mortgage. Is there a way to protect these?

Many thanks
g

ambioni

How are you buying the house: as joint tenants or tenants-in-common? With joint tenants you both own the house equally but can have a DOT to cover the situation of you splitting up and this could reflect how much you have contributed (i.e. if one of you has put in the deposit the DOT might award this amount to you out of the sale before your partner gets anything). As tenants in common you can own unequal shares of the house and this can also be a good way to protect your interest if you have contributed unequally. If you buy as tenants in common and one of you dies the house does not pass to the other (unless your wills state this) and could be passed to your descendants or family instead, so you need to decide which is best. Tenants in common is more often used when friends buy a place together or couples who have children from previous relationships.

A DOT can of course be updated if one of you suddenly puts in a lot of cash (overpayment or whatever) so it is not permanently fixed in stone although it may cost to change it. In any event, you should make sure that both you and your partner have up to date wills which reflect your wishes.

TBagpuss

You will need a declaration of trust - talk to the solicitor to draft this but you should be able to include provision to vary the terms as needed in future.

You could also, at the same time, have a cohabitation agreement in which you can set out what will happen with future payments - for example to specify that any lump sum payment, or overpayment of more than £X in 12 months is to be taken into account and to be repaid to the payer on sale, before the proceeds of sale are divided.

With any agreement of this kind it is sensible to plan to review it regularly to ensure that it is kept up to date.