Advice on girlfriend moving into my mortgaged property

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

maybe you should merge your 2 threads so that there's no confusion for people wishing to respond.

MToon

Brie said:

maybe you should merge your 2 threads so that there's no confusion for people wishing to respond.

Sorry - how do I do this?

lovemula21

It sounds sensible for now. If you decide to marry and/or have children then you may wish to combine finances and do things differently. 

VyEu

What you write is correct: don't let her contribute to mortgage and/or major works on the property. And don't give her the impression (verbal or otherwise) that she's a joint owner with you.

A Cohab agreement is a safeguard which I'd recommend but you're also right about the cost.

Two ways of going about this:
1) charge flat fee for rent. So some months when bills are higher, you'll lose out, but when they're lower, s gain (so should roughly even out over the year). Annual/six-month increase, depending on what you agree. 
2) make it super clear what she's paying for when it comes to bills and food, show her the bills if necessary. Just make it super super clear it's not going on the mortgage.

End of the day, the prima facie position is that it's 100% yours and she has to try and establish that beneficial interest which isn't easy to do and even then, it's the civil courts procedure (not family courts) and it can be very expensive to bring a claim.

If you marry all of that goes out the window and the former matrimonial home is 50/50 (usually) on divorce, so if you wanted to avoid that, it's pre nup time.