Purchasing with Girlfriend - agreement re division of ownership/costs

mither_2

Hi All,
I'm hoping you can provide some advice/point me in the right direction. 
My girlfriend and I are buying a property together. I'm putting in 75% with my girlfriend putting in the other 25%.
We have stipulated this split within the transfer deed. 
I could have bought the house outright but GF was keen to put money in and have a share of the property, partly for financial reasons and partly to ensure that it felt like her house too. I would have been fine with either arrangement.
We have some plans of what we want to do to the house (she's keen to change the bathroom & kitchen for example) and we have agreed that we would split these costs 75:25 so that we retain the same ownership of the house. 
Our logic is that we would both sign an agreement and would continue on this basis until we both agreed not to. 
Does anyone have a template agreement that they have used for similar purposes?
I'm sure there will be some that will say this isn't really romantic, if we really loved each other this wouldn't be necessary but there are some reasons behind this:

• I could pay for everything but then it would be my house and I would keep 100% if we split
• If I paid for everything then she would feel that her time and efforts wouldn't be valued if we split - she's also very keen to have a sense of ownership. I'm quite laid back and so will let her choose the decor. Being able to pick the design is a big thing for her. 
• If we went 50:50 then she would have left funds available to do other things
• hopefully we'll get married soon this will become largely irrelevant anyway though I'd still hope for some kind of recognition of the division if we then goy divorced very soon after 

Any thoughts/links would be appreciated. 
Thanks

greatcrested

I hate these posts which come up regularly.

I'm not going to advise (others will!), other than to point out that joint purchase of property is a much bigger commitment than marriage. Which begs the question, why not get married?

Especially as mariage brings with it a whole raft to rights regarding property (and other assets) which make your problem redundant.

And if you are not yet confidant enough in the long-term future of your relationship, then don't buy a property together jointly......

MovingForwards

Ask your solicitor to draw up a declaration of trust, costs about £200 and covers everything you want it to.

rainbow_fountains

My boyfriend and I are also purchasing a property, our deposits are uneven (mines twice as much as his), so we’re tenants in common rather than joint tenants, and we got a deed of trust saying I own more of the house than him. 

In terms of mortgage payments, bills and renovations we’re just doing 50/50 as we earn about the same. If we ever part ways or have to sell the house we’ll each get our deposits back (and split the rest 50/50).

I think you should consider doing the same as far as the deed of trust/split ownership goes, as for paying the mortgage, bills and renovation that’s up to you guys to decide based on your personal finances and what you can afford.

mither_2

Do you know where I can find a template declaration of trust? 
Ideally I'd like to take this and amend it for our purposes. 
I'd prefer to save on the £200 cost and time involved if we can just come up with something between us. 
 

mither_2

greatcrested said:

I hate these posts which come up regularly.

I'm not going to advise (others will!), other than to point out that joint purchase of property is a much bigger commitment than marriage. Which begs the question, why not get married?

Especially as mariage brings with it a whole raft to rights regarding property (and other assets) which make your problem redundant.

And if you are not yet confidant enough in the long-term future of your relationship, then don't buy a property together jointly......

Not really an option at the moment. Hopefully it will happen in a few months time if things improve following the vaccination of the vulnerable and elderly.
"Marriage brings with it a whole raft of of rights regarding property (and other assets) which make your problem redundant?" 
How so? Why would getting marriage change this? I suppose we could get some pre-nuptial arrangement but this seems even more formal than what we're doing here?  

mither_2

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en/documents/declaration-of-trust
This link is pretty handy and should do the job I think. 
Thanks

[Deleted User]

mither_2 said:

Do you know where I can find a template declaration of trust? 
Ideally I'd like to take this and amend it for our purposes. 
I'd prefer to save on the £200 cost and time involved if we can just come up with something between us. 
 

I realise this is a money saving website but why would you scrimp on £200 for such an important document to protect tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds. It sounds very penny-wise and pound-foolish. 

DCFC79

mither_2 said:

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en/documents/declaration-of-trust
This link is pretty handy and should do the job I think. 
Thanks

Id get the solicitor to do whats needed to protect the 2 of you.

getmore4less

mither_2 said:

Hi All,
I'm hoping you can provide some advice/point me in the right direction. 
My girlfriend and I are buying a property together. I'm putting in 75% with my girlfriend putting in the other 25%.
We have stipulated this split within the transfer deed. 
I could have bought the house outright but GF was keen to put money in and have a share of the property, partly for financial reasons and partly to ensure that it felt like her house too. I would have been fine with either arrangement.
We have some plans of what we want to do to the house (she's keen to change the bathroom & kitchen for example) and we have agreed that we would split these costs 75:25 so that we retain the same ownership of the house. 
Our logic is that we would both sign an agreement and would continue on this basis until we both agreed not to. 
Does anyone have a template agreement that they have used for similar purposes?
I'm sure there will be some that will say this isn't really romantic, if we really loved each other this wouldn't be necessary but there are some reasons behind this:

• I could pay for everything but then it would be my house and I would keep 100% if we split
• If I paid for everything then she would feel that her time and efforts wouldn't be valued if we split - she's also very keen to have a sense of ownership. I'm quite laid back and so will let her choose the decor. Being able to pick the design is a big thing for her. 
• If we went 50:50 then she would have left funds available to do other things
• hopefully we'll get married soon this will become largely irrelevant anyway though I'd still hope for some kind of recognition of the division if we then goy divorced very soon after 

Any thoughts/links would be appreciated. 
Thanks

No mortgage?

If there is you need to rethink.

getmore4less

is it this mortgage?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77881200#Comment_77881200

if you have split the deposit 75% 25% then you need to factoring the mortgage split to determine ownership.

if you go 50:50 on the mortgage then you need to own   
(0.75*0.5)+(0.25*0.75)  == 56.25% 
(0.75*0.5)+(0.25*0.25) == 43.75%
with you each owing 1/2 any outstanding debt from those shares