Unequel Deposit Amount - Joint Mortgage?

hanfrangipane

tubsolard wrote: »

From the outside I can understand why it may look like this.


But circumstances, history, personal experience and personality all make a difference.


I know why she mooted the idea (it's not necessary for me to go into detail on here) and I'm completely comfortable with protecting her financial interests and making sure she's happy.

I definitely see where you are coming from Tubs.


I don't know much about the specific legalities or drawing up official documents, but I agree with the calculation that was suggested by MyOnlyPost, for what it's worth.


Regarding the comments on trust/relationships etc, I think it is just helpful in these situations where there isn't anything legal, such as marriage, which defines what a usual equitable split is via divorce to have something written down which underlines what you both agree would be fair in the unfortunate situation where something might happen down the line. As Guest has said, unfortunately these things are more common than we would like to think!


Personally, I purchased a house a few years ago and my boyfriend at the time lived with me and contributed to the household bills etc. He also paid for a fair amount of furniture as his contribution to us living together as he couldn't be on a mortgage at that point for a few different reasons. We agreed between us that should we break up, I would buy him out of the furniture purchased but that he wouldn't get any of his contributions back (I paid for all the upkeep of the house too). Anyway, the specifics of our split aren't particularly relevent other than to say that when we did break up 18 months or so into living there, emotions were clearly running high and it was much easier to refer back to what we had agreed when we were both level headed.


All big commitments like this are entered into from a place of trust. I trust my current partner and we will likely purchase a house in the next couple of years and I will be doing a similar agreement again. He will be on the mortgage so I'll probably go down a more formal route and we both agree we will feel happier having it agreed in advance. Doesn't mean we don't trust each other, just that we are realistic that you can't foresee specific relationship breakdowns in advance so it just future proofs things a bit just in case but allows us to work towards building a future together should the relationship go as we are both hoping it will!


Doesn't really help you with the formal bits you asked about but just thought my experience may help coming from someone who has done this in the past.

getmore4less

Equity based on debt servicing works and is as simple as you think it might be.

As long as you don't try to change it, when you overpay the debt you adjust the payments going forward.

It must works.

When selling you split the money before paying the shares of the debt.

Include all upfront costs in the purchase price they form part of the deposits paid.

(some don't understand why this works, just pretend you borrowed the money separately,)

getmore4less

AndyTails wrote: »

The idea of you paying more of the mortgage so that you are on equal terms at the end of the mortgage is bizarre! Normally when buying unequally you're trying to protect yourselves against the possibility of breaking up and selling the house in the short to medium term, not the long term.


A more "normal" way to set it up is to get your solicitor to draw something up which says the first £105k of the sale price is your girlfriend's, the next £20k is yours, and the rest is split 50:50. You then pay 50:50 on the mortgage going forwards.


The slight risk with this is if the market goes down and £40k is wiped off the value of the house, then you split up and sell, your girlfriend would get £85k and you would get nothing. But this is always a theoretical risk in any house purchase, and given the probabilities of a housing market crash coinciding with you splitting up with your girlfriend, I wouldn't be too worried.

Which is a very poor way, not equitable or fare.

alex_163163

You can definitely get something legal drawn up. I am in the same position currently in that I am contributing more deposit than my boyfriend. It's not that I don't trust my boyfriend and I pray to god we don't split up, ever! But in case we do in the near-ish future, we have decided between us that we will each get our initial deposit sum back, and split any future gained equity as we will be paying the mortgage 50:50. I know this may get muddled by marriage, children, maternity leave etc in the future but for us that is 5years or so off. So for now this arrangement works for us, and we will relook at it in the future when we need to.

We have instructed our solicitor to draw up a declaration of trust, for an additional fee (£150). However not all conyenancers offer it so you may have to find another solicitor to do this bit - just ask yours first.

leslieknope

i don't think it's a bad thing to want to protect your interests. we go into relationships with the best will in the world but we can't always know what the future will bring!

i would suggest you discuss it with her and just get something officially written up. personally i would suggest paying an equal amount of the monthly mortgage and if you ever split up, she would take the larger share to reflect her deposit. so you would get the 30 odd % and she would get the 60 odd %. or she would get her deposit and you would get yours, and then halve the remaining between you. but whatever works for you both and whatever you are both comfortable with really. i don't think there's a wrong or right way to do it as long as you're in agreement and get it written up.

cashbackproblems

Guest101 wrote: »

Marriage means everything is joint. That's the legal position. people who struggle with that are usually deluded.

not if you have the correct legal contracts or have your parents having a charge over the property etc.