Buying Sister in Laws house.

w4terfall

Bit of the back story first off. My sister in law Vicky purchased her house with her parter 18 months ago. They have since split. Her partner was the one to leave the house so it has fallen on Vicky to pay for everything. She has realised quite quickly that she wants to leave the house for both financial reasons and also it holds to many bad memories for her now. Vicky can afford to live on her own there and scrape by but cannot pass the affordability test for the mortgage to be solely in her name and wants her partner off the deeds for obvious reasons. So she has to sell.

Me and my wife will be 1st time buyers and are currently renting. We are looking to buy a house at the end of the year. 

We got thinking about the possibility of us buying the house off her. From this we wondered on the best way to do it. 

How it could benefit every party in terms of we know what we would be buying, she would have a less stressful sale time etc

Would it be best to buy as if it were any other deal between unknown parties? Some sort of shared mortgage initially to help out then a transfer of equity? 

We are at the very first step of this so any help would be well received. 

Thanks a lot. Pete 

Comms69

Just buy it as you normally would, she saves on estate agent fees, so she can share some of that saving

w4terfall

Mickey666 said:

I'd keep it 'arms-length', ie treat it as any other house sale/purchase.  I don't see any advantage with a shared mortgage (even if the lender would agree).  Are you over-thinking this?  Vicky wants to sell up and leave, you want to buy.  Sounds simple enough, unless there are other issues at play as well.

We are over thinking it a little bit I think. One of the main thoughts was to act swiftly to get the partner off the mortgage  and now more than ever due to corona we would need to wait until we are back off furlough before applying for the mortgage anyway. 

jonnygee2

One of the main thoughts was to act swiftly to get the partner off the mortgage  

Understandable, but they are on the mortgage right now, so nothing is happening without their involvement.

Who actually owns the house? Is it jointly owned?

In theory it's pretty simple, as above you just buy at arms length. The potential complicating factor is the ex-partner objecting to the arrangement in some way - I'm sure they could torpedo the sale somehow if they wanted to - so I guess a first step would be approaching them about it?

Comms69

w4terfall said:

Mickey666 said:

I'd keep it 'arms-length', ie treat it as any other house sale/purchase.  I don't see any advantage with a shared mortgage (even if the lender would agree).  Are you over-thinking this?  Vicky wants to sell up and leave, you want to buy.  Sounds simple enough, unless there are other issues at play as well.

We are over thinking it a little bit I think. One of the main thoughts was to act swiftly to get the partner off the mortgage  and now more than ever due to corona we would need to wait until we are back off furlough before applying for the mortgage anyway. 

You have to keep in mind ex partner would have to agree too

w4terfall

The partner is being very reasonable at the minute and only asking for what she put into the property at the time when it is sold. When they bought the house a large amount of deposit came from Vicki’s parents which she doesn’t want the other person to change their mind and ask for 1/2 later down the line. 

We don’t think that would happen but too much trust has been given thus far with nothing being drawn up at the initial sale to state where the money would go if it were to be sold due to the relationship breaking up. 

Comms69

w4terfall said:

The partner is being very reasonable at the minute and only asking for what she put into the property at the time when it is sold. When they bought the house a large amount of deposit came from Vicki’s parents which she doesn’t want the other person to change their mind and ask for 1/2 later down the line. 

We don’t think that would happen but too much trust has been given thus far with nothing being drawn up at the initial sale to state where the money would go if it were to be sold due to the relationship breaking up. 

Sounds like a sensible idea to keep things that way. Out of curiosity tenants in common or joint tenants?

w4terfall

They are joint tenants. (If I’m right in thinking thats what it is to own it 50/50)