joint borrower sole proprietor Help....

meeee29

My mother in Law got married around 5 years ago, at the time she had a mortgage on a property and her now husband moved in with her. She has always kept the mortgage / property solely in her name. Earlier this year she was diagnosed with cancer (Aged 62) , fortunately she made it though the treatment and is now free of Cancer. Her current husband earns very little and cannot afford to contribute much towards anything, however as he does earn some money the benefits she receives are far to low to pay her current mortgage (Around £600 a month) and the normal day to day running costs of everything. She also has a loan for around £7k which costs £150 a month.

We originally looked at lifetime mortgages but we don’t think it would be her best option. Our current idea is to consolidate both the loan and the current mortgage into one and to re-mortgage for 13 years (she will be 75) this will bring her monthly payments down to £190 a month. However, to do this myself & my wife have to be added to her Mortgage as “joint borrower sole proprietor” as it is the only way anyone will lend her the money. I am aware this may not be the best thing for us to do from our point of view (We also have a mortgage on our property) but if the worst came to the worst we could afford to pay the £190 a month for her mortgage as well and it is my wife’s mother so we are prepared to take the risk.

Basically after getting a mortgage agreed in principle for her we have been advised we need to seek independent legal advice and also to get a deed of trust drawn up covering the aspects of the agreement. The main concern I have is my wife Mum passes away and we end up paying the mortgage for the next 10 years while her husband lives in the property what we are paying for, even though he has agreed to wave any claim to the property often things change so I would need this in some sort of legal writing to confirm his intentions.

We have approached a couple of legal executives and solicitors, but the fees they seem to charge are in my option on the high side for the advice & deed of trust. We have been quoted around £500 for an hour of legal advice (not sure how the advice can last an hour) and another £250 for the deed of trust. Do these prices seem high? If so, can anyone point me in the direct of a reasonably priced outfit that can carry out this work.

Sorry for such a long post, Any advance would be gratefully received

[Deleted User]

Nope, prices seem standard for what it is. You need advice saying how much risk you are taking with no asset backing it up. A lot of solicitors are reluctant to even do it so you are lucky you found one.

There are lenders that do these with no independent legal advice needed but its probably best advice to get advice anyway

getmore4less

How much is left on the mortgage?
What rate and term?

How much is the house worth?

meeee29

There is 23K on the Mortgage + 7K loan so total of 30K, the new term would be for 13 years. Mortgage provider is barclays.
House is worth around 280K

MovingForwards

Alternative option is raise the mortgage on yours, pay MILs off, but put a £30k charge on the house (eg a private mortgage).

Has MIL made a will yet?

meeee29

We did debate that as well, could be an option. So to add the the 30K to our mortgage and the MIL to pay us the £190 or whatever it would be instead?

Yes she has made a will not sure what is in it though. We are not really worried about inheriting anything, just more concerned about the stress of the situation on her mum. My wife has also got a sister but again she is not really in a position to get involved in any of this. Ideally it would be better for her to downsize and pay off the mortgage but she is reluctant to do so as its been the family home for years.