How to manage imbalance in husband/wife pension?

Flugelhorn

Tabbytabitha wrote: »

And then she'd have to pay tax on the rental income and comply with the various regulations required of landlords.

Can't you "rent a room" and not pay tax etc up to a certain amount? Of course in this case it would be the whole house, not just a room

maman

Debra0001 wrote: »

Most couples have separate bank accounts now.
Love to see a survey on here on how people split bills. So varied!

Thanks guys

Sadly we've had many threads on here about shared finances.


Personally I find your attitude refreshing but all the threads deteriorate eventually as some posters simply can't get beyond the 'if you really loved each other you'd put all the money in one pot' way of thinking.

Tabbytabitha

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]One partner paying more than 50% of the bills does not make the other partner liable to tax.[/FONT]

My comment was somewhat tongue in cheek but you said about him paying this as rent before splitting the bills - not as part of them.

Tabbytabitha

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Can't you "rent a room" and not pay tax etc up to a certain amount? Of course in this case it would be the whole house, not just a room

That is true,

Slinky

Why not investigate equity release and draw down some of the capital of your house for you to live on. Your kids can't (and hopefully don't) expect you to live in poverty to fund their future lifestyle.

Slinky

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Can't you "rent a room" and not pay tax etc up to a certain amount? Of course in this case it would be the whole house, not just a room

You can't rent a whole house and use the rent a room scheme, that's fraud.

Flugelhorn

Slinky wrote: »

You can't rent a whole house and use the rent a room scheme, that's fraud.

Guessed it might be ! of course it was the end of a bit of trail of threads - where one person "owns" a greater proportion of the house but needs more cash, so it was suggested that they charge rent for the difference... and then have to pay tax etc on it :eek: all sort of went from there..

Lrimas

Your situation is not as odd as people here seem to think. I would seriously dislike being dependent on someone else for money and I'm choosing not to marry my OH to ensure we don't have a financial bond (or as little as one I can get away with while owning a house together)

Anyway - onto your problem. You want to ensure that you are being fair to him but you need to be fair to yourself as well.

You both have assets, his is just liquid while yours are tied up in property. It is really unfair for him to keep 100% of his pension while you have to support him with a place to stay.

If I were in your situation I would probably downsize (both put 50% into new property) and you invest the surplus.

You can also charge him rent (yes, it is fair in your situation) or rent out the room/house - none of these options are unfair towards him.

kangoora

Debra0001 wrote: »

Financial fairness solutions not marriage advise thank you

As previously mentioned, I see three options. You need money (which he has) and he needs somewhere to live (which you have - as a majority owner).

1. You sell him 33% of the house in exchange for money from his pension.
2. You downsize, both put in 50% and you keep the remainder or whatever this works out to proportionally
3. He pays rent on 33% of the house at a market rate

What you are not going to be able to do is keep 83% of the house to pass onto your children AND get access to his pension/money - not if you are being 'fair', unless you want to go down the route where he pays you rent.......

Downsizing seems to be the route with the least chance of any arguments/acrimony occurring.

enthusiasticsaver

So does his great retirement involve paying for you to go on holidays etc too?

I think realistically unless your tiny pension and benefits are covering your bills you will need to negotiate with your OH as to what to do with the property. Either you both move out and rent it out or sell it or you take in lodgers. Rather than worrying about passing your property on to your children I would be more worried about how to survive in retirement given your partner won't support you and your pension won't be enough to live off. Maybe selling it is the way to go and you give some to your children to help them buy their own place, keep some back for yourself and you and your DH rent somewhere.