Buying Together - My 1st time - Her Not !

HouseHuntr

Hi,

I currently live with my partner in her house and we have now decided to buy a place together. I've never owned a property but she owns hers and should come out with equity of approx £80K.

She wants to put the £80k into the house, but also wants to protect it for the future which is fair enough and I'm sure a solicitor will advise on the best practice for this. Is this the best course of action ? Are their pitfallls to doing this ?

Could we get a joint first time-buyers mortgage as I've never had one ?

Also looking for general advice on how people decide on sharing expenses etc when they buy together.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Your solicitor will advise you to buy as 'tenants in common' and your GF will own a bigger % than you.

Could we get a joint first time-buyers mortgage as I've never had one ?

No, I am afraid that is not possible.

Also looking for general advice on how people decide on sharing expenses etc when they buy together.

I would advise you to open an account together where you put money in each month to pay for utility bills, renovations etc.

PasturesNew

For sharing expenses, if you go down the route that she owns more than you, then one way might be:
- split bills 50/50
- split maintenance/house improvement in the same percentage as the ownership

But then also, will she be paying a proportionate part of the buying (and selling) costs in the future?

Or, you could simply split all the bills (buying, maintenance, utilities, selling) 50/50 and simply have her 'owning' more of the property, based on her £80k.

Everybody is different. Depends on your relationship, incomes, what you feel is "right". Think through all the split up scenarios and home improvements/changes and who would pay for them.

lady_noluck

The way my partner and I have done it is this:

He sold his flat and put £57,000 into a house we bought together. A declaration of trust was drawn up to say that if we split up and sold that house, he would get back the first £57,000 out of the equity then the remainder split 50/50. We split all the buying costs 50/50 too.

We have a joint bank account for bills and split them 50/50 each month.

Hope that helps.....

HouseHuntr

Thanks so far, some food for thought there. Liking the idea of the trust declaration where she would take the her £80K first and then we equally divide what's left. We will probably split everything 50/50 once we've bought.