Would you apply for a sole or joint mortgage?

rec0286

Hi everyone

I am looking to buy my first house. I have a deposit of around £45k (although £20k of this is a gift from family) and I am on a salary of £30k a year. I am looking at houses in the region of £150-160k. I have good credit reports (years of paying credit cards off in full each month, no missed payments on cards or contracts/bills and no defaults etc).

My partner has no savings to put towards a deposit, is on £18k a year and has a poor credit history (e.g. multiple missed bills, a couple of unsettled defaults from 2014).

In this scenario would I be better off applying for a mortgage on my own and adding him in a few years after he built up his credit history? I know this would mean I would need to try for a mortgage based on my salary alone. Or would it still be worth trying to apply for a mortgage with my partner? I was hoping to apply to HSBC for a 5 year fixed term but I know they are very competitive. I don't know how much it will help but I have banked with them for around 12 years now.

Any advice would be really helpful, thank you!

afooksy

Hi rec9286 myself & partner are in same boat except its me with the bad credit, I have contributed money towards the deposit though.


I would of never got accepted for a mortgage so its all in his name. We are in the process of buying now and have been told we can get have something in place with the solicitors to show how much I contributed. I would speak to a mortgage broker if you haven't done already who can properly assess your chances of getting a joint mortgage, if its not possible just go alone but just protect yourself as we have done.
x

betmunch

You need to define partner better (I hate that term!)


Is the partner wife/husband, or girl/boyfriend?


If its wife/husband then many lenders will insist on the mortgage being in joint names.


If its girl/boyfriend then no trouble at all if they are not contributing to the deposit

rec0286

Thanks both for your reply

afooksy: As he hasn't contributed towards the deposit he wouldn't need to protect himself against this. I would ask that he puts some money towards the mortgage as rent, so I'm not sure whether or not the lender would need to be aware of that (although I know it wouldn't mean I can borrow any more if it was a sole mortgage)

Betmunch: Sorry to be unclear - it's my boyfriend, not husband.

afooksy

I will be doing the same thing and paying towards the mortgage each month and we didn't have to tell the lender - they only looked at my partners affordability and I wasn't included at all. We aren't married either x

afooksy

oh should just add - do you have a joint account with your boyfriend that has any bills paid out of? When we applied for MIP our mortgage advisor said they might see me as a risk because my credit is so bad and the joint account means myself & Boyfriend are financially associated. It didn't turn out to be a problem though - we went with Woolwich x

rec0286

afooksy - thanks for the advice! No we don't have a joint account - I pay bills out of my account and he transfers me his half. Thanks for your help!

Mojisola

rec0286 wrote: »

As he hasn't contributed towards the deposit he wouldn't need to protect himself against this. I would ask that he puts some money towards the mortgage as rent, so I'm not sure whether or not the lender would need to be aware of that (although I know it wouldn't mean I can borrow any more if it was a sole mortgage)

afooksy wrote: »

I will be doing the same thing and paying towards the mortgage each month and we didn't have to tell the lender - they only looked at my partners affordability and I wasn't included at all.

Paying towards the mortgage allows the non-owner to build up beneficial rights to the property.

Magda_Darcy

In a similar dilemma for different reason - my husband's a lot older than me, and will be well into retirement in 25 years. So not sure whether to apply based just on my salary (which should be just enough and avoids the awkwardness of his current fixed-term contract) over 25 years, or go for a joint application and the shorter mortgage term, which they might think a bit of a stretch :-S

betmunch

Or use a lender that will ignore his age if it's affordable on your salary only?

Best of both worlds that way

Debtslayer

rec0286 wrote: »

Hi everyone

I am looking to buy my first house. I have a deposit of around £45k (although £20k of this is a gift from family) and I am on a salary of £30k a year. I am looking at houses in the region of £150-160k. I have good credit reports (years of paying credit cards off in full each month, no missed payments on cards or contracts/bills and no defaults etc). Is it your family that is putting in the 20k?

My partner has no savings to put towards a deposit, is on £18k a year and has a poor credit history (e.g. multiple missed bills, a couple of unsettled defaults from 2014).

In this scenario would I be better off applying for a mortgage on my own and adding him in a few years after he built up his credit history? I know this would mean I would need to try for a mortgage based on my salary alone. Or would it still be worth trying to apply for a mortgage with my partner? I was hoping to apply to HSBC for a 5 year fixed term but I know they are very competitive. I don't know how much it will help but I have banked with them for around 12 years now.

Any advice would be really helpful, thank you!

Personally I would just apply in your name for now; you shouldn't have a problem borrowing the amount you mention above. You can always look to add your boyfriend later when you come to remortgage and he has hopefully improved his credit history