Co-Habitation Agreements?

shadow81

My partner and I are making plans to move in together. He owns his house so I will be giving up my rented place. I've been stung before after living with someone, paying half the mortgage for 5 years and walking away with nothing when it went south. Not this time! We are looking at ways to legally protect both of us and a cohabitation agreement has come u in addition to wills. We have talked about sharing the mortgage however I am fairly fresh out of a DMP and my credit rating is still recovering. So I don't want to harm his mortgage prospects with a link to my poor credit file. Cohabitation Agreements seem expensive at anywhere between £650-£1500. It would be cheaper to get married. I have seen an online company offering the agreement service for £299 inclusive of VAT. Can these sorts of firms be trusted or can I verify their service with a regulator? Or would we be better off heading to a bricks and mortar law firm (or registry office....)

gettingtheresometime

I suggested to my son, when he was thinking about asking his girlfriend to move in with him. that they split the bills 50:50 and instead of her paying towards the mortgage, she saved an amount equal to half the mortgage payment.
That way if they decided to buy a property together she would have some capital to put towards it and if they split up she had a rainy day fund.
What would this 'agreement' achieve apart from relieving you of cash?

getmore4less

If you can't  go all in for whatever reason go with the above till you can do something more formal.

Split the living costs.

leave all ownership costs to the OH till you are ready.

shadow81

It's a legally binding agreement similar to a pre-nup. If for any reason we split before putting the house between us or getting married it lays out how accrued assets and capital between us are split. Meaning I would get any equity I am entitled to and what I paid into the property on leaving. As co-habitees, as I sorely found out, when it goes bums up if your name isn't on the mortgage or deeds you get nothing without a costly court squabble. This would protect my future and also ensures from his side that he doesn't have to go through all that hassle should be part. It's also a commitment and sacrifice in some resepcts on his side seeing as I'm giving up my house and travelling further for work. It balances the financial power in our joint future. Until we get to a point when we can link financially at least.

The savings idea is good. But does defeat the the gains in the short term of pooling costs. Which is partly why we're doing it. We're always together so makes no sense to be paying two lots of rent/mortgage and bills. 

AskAsk

have you got a firm website that we can see the firm you are referring to?

TBagpuss

I would suggest that you real with a real solicitor. Costs will vary depending on how complex the agreement is and how much to-ing and fro-ing there is. The agreement is much more likely to be open to challenge if you can't show that you both took advice before signing it. You tend to get what you pay for. £299 will probably get you boilerplate text and not legal advice. 

getmore4less

given the number of people that come on here with trust deeds drawn up by solicitors that are complete bonkers when they are on the mortgage and deeds but messed  up the financial in the trust deed I would start with agreeing what you think you want and put it past the people here to see if it makes any sense.

If you want to pool resources and get a beneficial interest in his property what do the numbers look like.
Separate living costs and buying cost DO NOT MIX those.

Aranyani

What are you expecting to pay toward the mortgage/house?  Do you expect to be building equity?  I have to say the savings plan seems like a better idea at least for the first year or two, keep your assets liquid and the ability to sprint away sharpish if it turns out you can’t live together.  Have you even considered leaving your house empty for 6 months as a trial run rather than giving it up straightaway?