Partner's rights on property in my name

FBaby

If it was an option for him to be on the mortgage then he would be but it isn't at this stage.

So if that is how you feel, why are you talking about 'risk to you' in your first post?

On one hand you seem to say that you want your OH the same rights than if he was on the deeds/mortgage, on the other you talk about protecting yourself. Which is it?

The reality is that if he was on the mortgage, he would definitely have rights. If he isn't, he *might* be entitled to some financial interests, but to do so, he would have to pay heavily to make a case taking the risk of losing and finding themselves in an even worse financial position. So all the risk is on him.

The safest way forward for him is NOT to pay the mortgage at all and put what he would pay towards it in savings for himself and then review the situation in a few years, depending on how the relationship has evolved.

TBagpuss

I would suggest that you think about having a cohabitation agreement. It is a bit like a pre-nuptial agreement, in that it allows the two of you to set out what you would each be entitled to in the event of your relationsjip breaking down.

It would be possible, for example, for such an agreement to define how any payment to him would be calculated, when it would be payable, what would or would not be taken into account (for instance, suppose you were buying with a 10% deposit, you could state in the agreement that he would be entitled to a lump sum equal to 45% of the net equity in the property at the date of the separation, payable 3 months after the date on which you separate)
You can include provisions aboutwhat happens if he doesn't pay the agreed amounts each month (e.g. you might agree that the actual amount of missed payments would be deducted from any lump sum, or that that would only happen if there were more than a certain number of missied paymetns, and equally, could set out whether his share would increase if he covered any missed payments of yours, or made other finacial contributions)

It has the advantahe that you and he would need to sit down and discuss what you see as being fair, so you can iron out and diferences. Once the agreement is in place, it is a good ideato review and update it periodically (typically once evey 5 years, andany time your circumstnaces change) so that it remains current.

An agreement of this kind is not strictly legally binding, but it is very strong evidence - and claims made against a property by cohabitees are based on the underlyingidea that there is a trust of the property , that there was an actual or implied agreement that the non-owner woild have a share. The Cohabitation Agreement sets out very clearly that there is an agreement, and what theterms agreed are, so there is less to fight over in a wosrt-case scenario! (and if you discover that you have compeltely different expectations, you find out at the beginning, not after years together!)

JosephPaul

If your friend pay half money then he is also owner.

Kynthia

If he can't be on the mortgage but you want him to have a financial share of the property then your solicitor can draw up a trust deed. This could specify his percentage of beneficial ownership, meaning he would get a share of the equity if you should split or sell. However you'd need to include something about his responsibility to pay half the mortgage in order to receive this. Take the solicitor's advice. Or you could marry as then the property would be a marital asset.

armchaireconomist

Him contributing and "being able to claim something back if we split up", despite legally being entitled to nothing is a long and messy legal grey area, of which it sounds you're fully aware. If you want him to pay half the mortgage, put him on it. If not, split the bills and stop taking advantage of him.

Soundgirlrocks

sammyjammy wrote: »

What scare stories? I don't see any?

Every time this comes up the thread follow the same pattern - "Don't do it they will have a right to your house" and the advice is the owner pays the mortgage in full whilst the partner lives rent & mortgage free. The reality is a couple of years cohabiting and sharing the mortgage and bills isn't going to give you 50% share of the property.

I do find it a irritating assumption that the owning partner is "taking advantage" of the un owning partner. Personally (and judging by how often this comes up I'm not alone) I wouldn't want to be with someone who was taking advantage of me by living rent & mortgage free, whilst I paid for it all, ergo most couples split the cost. Obviously circumstances come into play and each couple is different but why is it wrong to expect someone to pay something towards their housing costs?

captainpants

Hi Purplebuzz


Just adding my two cents in the hope that it helps. My boyfriend moved into my house last year. We split bills and mortgage payments 50/50. I am the only person on the mortgage and we have a cohabitation agreement that we drew up together. I had the house valued before he moved in and part of our cohabitation agreement is that his contribution of 50% to the mortgage entitles him to 50% of the increased value of the house from the point he moved in. I live in London so the house is only going to go up in value (I think!) - I hope that we will never have to come to the point where the split happens but I feel this is a fair situation for both of us. I was informally advised on this route by my old boss who is a family lawyer.


best of luck with everything.

carlsagen

I was in this situation a number of years ago with a previous partner.

It wasn't a consideration when i purchased the house but when we split the complications came. Because we had co habited for a number of years and had a equal share in the bills (including the mortgage) it came down to some common law husband/wife rule. Which resulted in us having to sell the house and split the profit 50/50 (minus my original deposit). This wasn't a problem and it was an amicable split.

My advice to you its, if you are already considering a split. Don't move in together, you should be focusing on building a happy life together not what your partner will get if/when you split up.

Or if you are just being du diligent then i suggest you take the burden of the mortgage, bills etc and perhaps he does the shopping and pays for the nice things in life like meals out, weekends away etc. That way you could avoid any solicitor arguing that he's contributed to the house if the worst should happen?

Mojisola

carlsagen wrote: »

it came down to some common law husband/wife rule. Which resulted in us having to sell the house and split the profit 50/50.

No such thing in UK law.

It was because both of you had contributed to the mortgage which gave your partner a beneficial right to the property.

AlexMac

Because you say at post 18 "he can't go on the mortgage at the moment" you imply there may be a future time when you will want to stick him on the mortgage and designate him on the land registry ("deeds") as co-owner ("in common" or "joint" depending on whether you wish to own % shares or not - significant when one of you dies; https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/overview).

I'm no expert, but if you're not married when/if that transfer takes place, there will be more punitive tax (SDLT) implications than if you were (when transfers of shares between spouses are free). So take advice on that if it's part of the plan.

Also, when we sold my (now) wife's property (prior to us marrying, and when she alone owned it), it was simpler not to tell anyone I'd been living there and contributing because her solicitor insisted that even her adult son (who lived there with us) take independent legal advice before signing away any rights to the place, to keep the lenders happy.

In fact that's a major reason why we got married after about 10 years of co-habitation; we didn't need the government or the church to cement our union but it was getting much more complex to deal with jointly owned properties, inheritance, pensions etc as lovers...

But then we had absolute mutual trust and let things ride for many years.... Friends who acrimoniously separated recently, without having ever been married, are having an absolute nightmare trying to untangle their assets

So you need to work out if you plan on making him a fairly permanent fixture... or a discard-able item? And take legal advice accordingly