Can I be gifted deposit money by my partner?

Confused20000

This is my first posting I'm hoping you chaps can help. 
My partner and I are getting on a bit, and rent our home. We want to buy, but our situation is complex. We have both been married previously,  and have no plans to marry.
We were offered the home we rent to purchase as our landlord wants to sell, but despite us both working, my partners ex wife (still living in their family home on a joint mortgage) hasn't been paying the mortgage and has effectively black listed my partner. I tried to get a residential mortgage on my wages but I cannot as they are too low. So, we looked at buy to let. I already have a small flat on buy to let with my ex husband so it seemed an option. I tried to get a product switch on my mortgage with my ex so some funds could be released for the deposit but it turns out my ex had a voluntary IVA in place which ended last November, and my mortgage company won't release any funds for a further 6 years...
Amazingly, my partners house has just sold! Leaving him with the money for the deposit to buy our rental, but it can only be in my name as he is blacklisted. 
He is good with this, we have been together many years, and are not about to do each other over, but here is the question. 
Can he gift me the money? We are common-law spouces but not married. 
We have found somewhere else to move into BTW as we are fully aware you cannot reside in a buy to let home you own. We would aim to switch to a residential mortgage in 5 years once he is free from the financial implications his ex wife put on him, and us. Any advice gratefully received, as this has been a heck of a journey!

user1977

Lenders will expect gifts to come with no strings attached, which is unlikely to be the case if it's someone who lives with you.

There's not a "blacklist". Have you actually spoken to a mortgage broker about how best to go about it?

_Penny_Dreadful

Confused20000 said:

This is my first posting I'm hoping you chaps can help. 
My partner and I are getting on a bit, and rent our home. We want to buy, but our situation is complex. We have both been married previously,  and have no plans to marry.
We were offered the home we rent to purchase as our landlord wants to sell, but despite us both working, my partners ex wife (still living in their family home on a joint mortgage) hasn't been paying the mortgage and has effectively black listed my partner. I tried to get a residential mortgage on my wages but I cannot as they are too low. So, we looked at buy to let. I already have a small flat on buy to let with my ex husband so it seemed an option. I tried to get a product switch on my mortgage with my ex so some funds could be released for the deposit but it turns out my ex had a voluntary IVA in place which ended last November, and my mortgage company won't release any funds for a further 6 years...
Amazingly, my partners house has just sold! Leaving him with the money for the deposit to buy our rental, but it can only be in my name as he is blacklisted. 
He is good with this, we have been together many years, and are not about to do each other over, but here is the question. 
Can he gift me the money? We are common-law spouces but not married. 
We have found somewhere else to move into BTW as we are fully aware you cannot reside in a buy to let home you own. We would aim to switch to a residential mortgage in 5 years once he is free from the financial implications his ex wife put on him, and us. Any advice gratefully received, as this has been a heck of a journey!

There’s no such thing as common law spouses in any part of the UK.

You might find a lender who will accept a deposit from your partner but your partner will be expected to sign a document declaring that it is a gift. Even with the deposit if your income is low are you eligible for a BTL mortgage? 

As you already own a property (the BTL with your ex) you may need to factor in the higher rate of SDLT/LBTT/LTT. 

Albermarle

Might be worth reading this.


What is common law marriage? | Legal & General (legalandgeneral.com)

Confused20000

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Confused20000 said:

This is my first posting I'm hoping you chaps can help. 
My partner and I are getting on a bit, and rent our home. We want to buy, but our situation is complex. We have both been married previously,  and have no plans to marry.
We were offered the home we rent to purchase as our landlord wants to sell, but despite us both working, my partners ex wife (still living in their family home on a joint mortgage) hasn't been paying the mortgage and has effectively black listed my partner. I tried to get a residential mortgage on my wages but I cannot as they are too low. So, we looked at buy to let. I already have a small flat on buy to let with my ex husband so it seemed an option. I tried to get a product switch on my mortgage with my ex so some funds could be released for the deposit but it turns out my ex had a voluntary IVA in place which ended last November, and my mortgage company won't release any funds for a further 6 years...
Amazingly, my partners house has just sold! Leaving him with the money for the deposit to buy our rental, but it can only be in my name as he is blacklisted. 
He is good with this, we have been together many years, and are not about to do each other over, but here is the question. 
Can he gift me the money? We are common-law spouces but not married. 
We have found somewhere else to move into BTW as we are fully aware you cannot reside in a buy to let home you own. We would aim to switch to a residential mortgage in 5 years once he is free from the financial implications his ex wife put on him, and us. Any advice gratefully received, as this has been a heck of a journey!

There’s no such thing as common law spouses in any part of the UK.

You might find a lender who will accept a deposit from your partner but your partner will be expected to sign a document declaring that it is a gift. Even with the deposit if your income is low are you eligible for a BTL mortgage? 

As you already own a property (the BTL with your ex) you may need to factor in the higher rate of SDLT/LBTT/LTT. 

Thankyou for reading! Long post.. yes, SD  is 5%, deposit is 25% cash... My mortgage advisor said many lenders value good rental income more than income from employment. I wanted to test the water on my partner offering deposit as a gift before my advisor potentially blew us out of the water because of it 😞. Its been a nightmare!

Emmia

As you're both getting on a bit, is there any risk that this hefty cash gift to you, might be seen as deprivation of assets by the local authority if he needed care? And he's aware that if your relationship ends he has no recourse to get the gifted money back, as it's a gift... And you're not legally married ("common law" means diddly squat legally).

Confused20000

user1977 said:

Lenders will expect gifts to come with no strings attached, which is unlikely to be the case if it's someone who lives with you.

There's not a "blacklist". Have you actually spoken to a mortgage broker about how best to go about it?

Hi, thanks, yes, they won't touch him for 5 years following his release of financial obligation on that mortgage.  

kingstreet

Confused20000 said:

Can he gift me the money? We are common-law spouses but not married. 

A very small number of lenders will accept this. Get broker advice to ensure you don't waste your time.

mexican_dave

While your lender might accept a contribution to the purchase from your partner, I reckon you might fall foul of "money laundering" regulations, meaning your solicitor might advise you cannot proceed. It seems we are all treated as criminals under these laws, designed to catch "drugs barons" etc. Obviously it depends how you might try to conceal where the deposit came from, but I cannot advise to to break the law 🤔!

user1977

mexican_dave said:

While your lender might accept a contribution to the purchase from your partner, I reckon you might fall foul of "money laundering" regulations, meaning your solicitor might advise you cannot proceed. It seems we are all treated as criminals under these laws, designed to catch "drugs barons" etc. Obviously it depends how you might try to conceal where the deposit came from, but I cannot advise to to break the law 🤔!

Other way round, really - all the solicitor needs to do (from the point of view of anti-money laundering regulations) is verify the source of the funds being used, and I can't see a problem doing that from what we've been told.

It's the fact that the source of the funds is likely to be unacceptable to the lender which is the problem.