Help! Girlfriend bought a house...

JJM236

Hi guys,

So my girlfriend of only one year who I do love has just bought a house in Central London.
I currently pay £1200 a month rent and will be moving in with her next week when the purchase goes through.

She has paid all of the deposit and the mortgage is £1450 a month meaning my rent goes all the way down to £725 PCM which I am of course happy about.

The problems/ worries I have with it are:

If I pay half of the mortgage for 10 years and then we break up/ she kicks me out I won't have any equity.
I am the breadwinner so most likely will be paying for a lot of the repairs/ modifications to the house and back to the point above.

I understand her side that I would be paying significantly more rent somewhere else and she has paid all of the deposit etc but I just wanted to get your guys opinion on it?

One of my friends mentioned something like a deed of trust?

Thank you so much!

Pixie5740

Use the search function as this has been debated ad nauseam.

FBaby

No right or wrong response. You need to work things out between yourself in terms of what you feel is reasonable to both of you.

My personal opinion is that it is fair enough that what you pay her to start with is the equivalent of contribution to bills. You can then save what you would have paid towards rent.

This is to be reviewed in X time, so that either you both agree to more commitment, in which case, you can start talking about a deed of trust, your name going on the mortgage/deeds, marriage, or you decide that the relationship is going nowhere, and you are not happy paying her mortgage and therefore decide it is best to go your separate ways.

FBaby

One advice though is when you transfer her the money, do so with the heading of 'mortgage/bills' so that if indeed you somehow find yourself thrown out after 10 years when you are still paying but with no official commitment, you have a better chance in court (if you were to decide to go that route) convincing a judge that you were indeed contributing towards the payment of the mortgage. Keep all receipt and evidence of payment of any repairs (this is usually a lot easier to get back).

shortcrust

She bought a place on her own rather than buying a place jointly with you and has talked about you paying rent. I think I know how a conversation about equity or a deed of trust would go.

gettingtheresometime

When you say you are the breadwinner do you actually mean you earn more than her?

Browntoa

Refuse to answer any thread with a pointless poll

glasgowdan

I think we need to know why she bought her own place before thinking what advice to give!

Doozergirl

I'd just pay the rent, put everything you save on your current rent into actual savings and then see what happens down the line. Her equity will be subsidising you to some degree. That savings pot is a great bonus and becomes either your own pot if you split or a pot for your joint future to go back against the mortgage.

I think a deed of trust is taking the michael at this point in time. Let her celebrate her own success.

If you commit and get married then it all comes out in the wash. If you choose to cohabit indefinitely then it might have to be broached but I'd give it a year to at least see that co-habiting works before you start demanding equity.

Presumably you're not funding major renovations? A bit of maintenance isn't going to be massive. If you start funding major improvements then that's certainly time to talk.

goodwithsaving

One year. That's nothing.
If she can buy somewhere in C. London on her own, I wouldn't be seeking to take advantage. Good on her.
Pay the rent, save the rest of what you would be paying on rent elsewhere. Be grateful of the reduction.
Does she even know you want to pay for maintenance? If she has any sense, she will pay for it herself so you don't build any interest in the property.

societys_child

If she has any sense, she will pay for it herself so you don't build any interest in the property.

Agree with this, especially as the OPs question appears to be, how much can I make out of this . .

Can't vote in the poll as my answer isn't there.