Sole Applicant - Source of Deposit - from wife as a gift?

Tallman

Hi all,

In the process of buying a house at the moment and having to deal with a lot of questions about source of deposit.

Basically, the mortgage application is via Halifax and I am the sole applicant. My wife is not working following time out from having our baby so it didn't make sense to include her in the mortgage application when my income was enough to get the mortgage agreement needed. If I had to include her income £0 then, we would have had to lend less and below what we needed to buy the property

My wife is aware she won't be part of the mortgage and will also need to fill
In a form saying she has no right or interest in the property if for example it was repossessed at a later date etc. She is happy with this.

The source of deposit is from our joint savings account with the bulk of the savings being from a flat sale last summer (2014) Been renting since. The savings is also made up of a gift from her mother 2 years ago that went straight into our joint account. I have to somehow divide our joint savings account into what is mine and what is hers/mums and treat theirs as gifts. Even though the money is in the joint account?

The conveyancer seems to think because my wife isn't part of the mortgage and also because of the gift from the mother in law - I might have issues with the lender as the sole applicant. The mortgage broker on the other hand says Halifax are quite relaxed about gifts and as long as the gifters fill in and sign the form declaring the gift, it's fine.

They are both happy to sign the necessary forms but the conveyancer still seems to think it's going to mean the mortgage will be rejected when she reports the gifts to the lender.

Has anyone has similar experiences/scenarios - especially when Halifax is the lender and how did the application go for you? Is the conveyancer right?

Thanks

ACG

I have never had this enquiry with halifax (many other lenders would not do it),but I would side with your conveyancer. However, if you had disclosed all of this at the outset to your broker they would (or should) have checked before applying.

ExpertAdvice

Totally agree with ACG.

As a general rule of thumb, most of the lenders are not happy with the deposit coming from a partner if they are not named on the mortgage. Halifax generally doesn't ask for proof of deposit.

Also, some brokers wouldn't submit the application in this situation due to their compliance restrictions.

If the broker, lender and the solicitor are happy, you should be ok as you declared everything from the outset!!!

csgohan4

The fact the gifter will be living with you means she does have an interest does it not?


It's totally different if the gifter was your parents in their own house.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Done a few of these (Halifax are the best solution at accepting this / and the other one likely to accept reduces lending on single applicant).

Did anyone look at putting wife on with Child Benefit (I seem to recall that works with them - but don't hold me to that) ?

Thrugelmir

Tallman wrote: »

In a form saying she has no right or interest in the property if for example it was repossessed at a later date etc. She is happy with this.

You are married (with a baby). So arguably you will be completing the form out of convenience to suit the outcome of the mortgage application. Your wife would need to take independent legal advice regarding signing this. In order to stand any chance of the form standing up to scrutiny at a later date in a court of law. Which is why lenders will feel uneasy with the situation. As it gives them a problem.

amnblog

Halifax have no problem with your spouse not being on the mortgage for a purchase.


As stated above I would also expect them not to fuss about the deposit source.


If however, your Legal Team make a fuss, they may cause a hold up themselves.


Speak again to your broker.