Co-habitation and rights

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

I hope that someone can help.

I am currently living with my fiancee and i am 25 weeks pregnant.

When i moved in with him we put the mortgage in his name as i already had a mortgage. I have now sold that flat and we recently visited a financial advisor re putting the flat in joint names.

She has advised against it as we are intending to move in the next 2 years and she feels the £1000 required to change the title deeds (the bank are happy for the mortgage to be joint) is a waste of money.

My question is where does that leave me - i used the the profit i made on my flat to pay off joint debt and do diy on current flat.

What happens if we split up either now or after we marry?

Does the baby make a difference?

I hope you can help.

Thanks in advance.

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

thanks for your help

my oh has suggested at least doing a will to protect me in the event anything happens to him

my worry is more if we split up - there is no suggestion of that at present - but im sure most people who split up didnt realise they would either

a lot could happen in 2 years

dmg24

albertross wrote: »

If your name isn't on the deeds, you have no rights to the house unless you marry. If you can prove that you paid towards the mortgage/deposit, then you may be in a better position, with a good solicitor.

There is talk of this changing in the near future to give you more protection.

But if you are moving in the next 2 years it is a bit of a waste, unless you think you may split up, or the OH has health problems (if so, get them to sort out a will).

Baby makes no difference if unmarried.

Not strictly true. The OP may have a constructive interest in the property. This is obviously not as simple as a 50/50 split, but if the OP has made equal contributions as their partner (and these contributions do not have to be monetary), then they are entitled to the respective equity in the property.

I am surprised that it would cost you £1000 to change the deeds. It should not cost more than a few hundred at most.

floss2

How about speaking to your solicitor about a written agreement between you & BF, to clarify that you have put the equivalent of £xxx equity into your relationship...also check out the joint names question while you're there.

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

thanks for all the advice

the hard bit is that my oh looks at my doubts as hesitation over our relationship

but i have been burned in the past and i just want to protect myself and more importantly the baby

he is a lovely decent guy - but i know from experience that you never really know someone 100% and someone you couldnt dream about being nasty has the potential to change if they feel they have been hurt or treated badly.

kr15snw

Could you go and see a solicitor and get a mini contract written up? This is what me and my boyfriend are going to do when we buy our next place together (currently living at his house). I will be putting 15 thousand into the property so we will work out what percentage this it when we buy the house. Say it was 10% for example (house worth 150 thousand). If we split up and the house was worth 200 thousand when it happened then I would still get 10%, so I would get 20 thousand back.

This would obviously change if we were married / had kids. As I think the court would be more interested in you having the home as you have the child. Make sense?

FriendlyJ

Hiya Miss Kitty Fantastico - the website that I have posted earlier might be of use to you - gives all sorts of advice to co-habiting couples & their legal rights
J

FriendlyJ

Oops forgot to put add the post:o Here it is:
It might have been posted somewhere else before, but I have some leaflets at work about living together & the legal implications - they have a website its The living Together Campaign & it explains what rights couples living together really have, and shows how you can protect yourself & your partner. It has advice on loads of stuff property, pensions etc
advicenow.org.uk/livingtogether
Can't do a link as I'm on my work laptop & it won't let me
J

hobo28

Get it changed. If its in his name and your not married you are not entitled to any of it unless you have contributed to the bills and/or mortgage. Even then a judge will probably only look at the period of time you've been living together.

Get it sorted now is my suggestion.

sarmia

We did it a couple of years a go on a previous house, we paid a solicitor £250 pounds to sort it out. This wasnt the solicitor we used when we bought the house and I contacted the mortgage company too as if there is a mortgage you will need to speak to them. It took about 3 weeks.

Get it done, for your own piece of mind!!

Spendless

dmg24 wrote: »

Not strictly true. The OP may have a constructive interest in the property. This is obviously not as simple as a 50/50 split, but if the OP has made equal contributions as their partner (and these contributions do not have to be monetary), then they are entitled to the respective equity in the property.

I am surprised that it would cost you £1000 to change the deeds. It should not cost more than a few hundred at most.

This is exactly what I was told by my solicitor when I bought a house on my own and queried what happened if a later boyfriend moved in and then we split up. He also said each case is judged on it's own merit so you can't say what you would definately/definately not get.

I am also :eek: at the £1000 bill and would get this double checked.