Mortgage in my name - living with girlfriend

RexItaliae

Arsenal2019 said:

RexItaliae said:

Seeing the comments in this thread, I decided to double check whether my lender (NatWest) was actually told about me buying on my own but having my partner coming living with me, as I started worrying that they were not aware and that they issued a mortgage offer anyway. The broker noticed that NatWest hadn't actually asked for this information so she raised the issue with them, and they replied that they contacted my solicitor providing them with a "occupier consent form" that they'll have to present to my partner for him to sign. The bank explained that they have no objection to my partner living with me provided they sign the form.

Thank you for this information. Can I ask what was exactly on the form… that’s ofc if you feel comfortable sharing that info on here or dm

thanks

I haven't heard from my solicitor yet so I haven't seen the form, however if you Google "natwest occupier consent form" you can find a form with that name on natwest group's website. I don't quite understand it in its entirety so I expect that the solicitor will explain to me and partner (well mostly him as he's the one who needs to sign it) what it exactly means. I guess different banks have different requirements and therefore different forms. If I were you I'd obviously tell the broker that there's a chance your girlfriend might come live with you in the future and therefore you need to find a lender that will allow for that, provided your girlfriend is happy to sign whatever document that bank requires for this purpose. 

MToon

So a little bit of background I purchased a property in my name around 2 years ago, the house is mortgaged and has 3 years left to run on the fixed rate (so not looking at moving or buying again anytime soon).  I put a large deposit down on the property so there is a lot of equity already in the house (£85k+) as it has also increased in value.  My girlfriend and I have been together for 3 years and have always lived separately due to her work and finishing uni etc.  At the moment she lives at home with her parents.  However, since I’ve had the house she’s stayed at weekends and it’s been going well.  

We’ve now had a discussion about her moving in, potentially in a few months time and I’ve been doing some research online about how best to safeguard my investment after hearing horror stories online and from various work colleagues over the years.  My girlfriend isn’t interested in going on the mortgage and I’m comfortably able to afford the bills each month from my own salary so I don’t need her to contribute either, although I don’t want to subsidise her living with me so she would pay 50/50 of the utilities / council tax and food bills etc. 

From what I understand having researched online you can get a cohabitation agreement drawn up but these seem pricey (£1000+) so wondered if they are really necessary if she isn’t going to be contributing to the mortgage.  My main query is how do I prove she isn’t contributing to this? I’d be able to prove the increased utility and council tax bill for instance and the bills would all remain in my name but is that enough? Do I need to save the money she gives me so that I can prove it hasn’t been used?

As mentioned above we’ve both agreed that she contributes half of the bills and food shop etc, but nothing towards the mortgage or elements that may increase the value of the property etc.  I’m not bothered about charging her ‘rent’ either as I don’t think that’s particularly fair and after just finishing uni etc that can free some of her income up to save for a deposit if we bought a house together in the future etc. 

Does this sound sensible? I may still go down the route of getting a cohabitation agreement which I’m sure she would be fine to sign but it might cause some friction with her parents as they are very old school 50/50 everything shared sort of opinion.  Plus the extra outlay of £1000+ could be better spent elsewhere if I’m honest!  

Brie

I think the crucial thing would be to have something that you both sign outlining what financial contribution she will make.  £X into a bank account each month from which you will split payment of council tax, utilities, food, cleaner etc.  And making sure that it is expenses, not maintenance of the house and that she is NOT paying rent.  Whether this needs to be done by a lawyer or not others can better advise.  

Complications will come if there are children and/or a split between the two of you.  

Others with better legal experience are likely to wander by soon.

Brie

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Albermarle

My girlfriend isn’t interested in going on the mortgage

This statement is what stood out for me.

I could understand if you both wanted to see how living together worked out for say 6 months, before making a more joint mortgage arrangement. But it seems like she is not interested in helping with the mortgage long term, even if things go well, which seems a bit odd.

Albermarle

Similar thread

Mortgage in my name - living with girlfriend — MoneySavingExpert Forum

lisyloo

What myself and my husband do (normal married couple) for bills is that we each put an equal amount into a joint bank account to cover energy, water, tv licence, food, council tax.
I have an excel spreadsheet where I have the totals by year and a budget for this year (so we know what the right figure is).
we find this useful as its entirely equal and also separates the household expenditure from our personal accounts.
It's not hard to keep records e.g. 2 water bills a year.

You could do something like that.

MToon

Albermarle said:

My girlfriend isn’t interested in going on the mortgage

This statement is what stood out for me.

I could understand if you both wanted to see how living together worked out for say 6 months, before making a more joint mortgage arrangement. But it seems like she is not interested in helping with the mortgage long term, even if things go well, which seems a bit odd.

Apologises I should clarify this - she’s not interested in going on the mortgage at this stage and isn’t in a position too either due to only just having finished uni - she’s paying off her student overdraft and buying a new car etc which I’m fine with.  Given I’ve got 3 years left to run on the mortgage I hadn’t planned on making any changes before that anyway.  If things were going well at that point when my re-mortgage is due I’m sure she would want to be added at that point and it’s something we’ve talked about. 

MToon

Brie said:

reported to merge into other post

Sorry didn’t realise this had posted on this section, it didn’t show up for me.  Happy for them to be merged.

MToon

Thank you, this is what I was thinking - the only issue is things like my gas / electric are on a smart metre so vary every month as I just pay the amount used. So I couldn’t say for certain what the cost would be each month (an average maybe?).  Problem is I think if I went to a solicitor to get something drawn up they’d just recommend a full cohabitation agreement.