How do we buy a house together and why isn't this very googleable?

ClosingTheBureauForAnHour

Me and my partner both have mortgages from before getting together.

My house is bigger and in a handier location (not to brag!) so he's in the process of selling his and moving into mine. We're planning to then sell mine and move to somewhere we've both chosen asap.

Neither of us are particularly daft but tbh feel quite out of our depths on how to technically go about this..

1. Do we get a joint mortgage on my house as soon as he sells up or do we do it in one go when we buy the new house? We're realistic about things and know it could take around a year. We trust each other, he's chilled about not having his name on deeds for a while and keeping his equity to one side so the question is purely around which is cheapest

2. He's got an exit fee from his mortgage, which is on a good rate. I'm on a worse tracker with no exit fee. Is there some clever fiddle where we can port his mortgage to here and get an extra bit of mortgage for the gap? If not, we're planning for me to pay off his fee/knock it off the shared costs along the way

3. Before anyone kindly jumps in about protecting myself, we're planning to be Tenants In Common and we'll agree the equity split. I'm 99% sure we're sickeningly loved up anyway. I'd assume there are loads of couples who got together in these circumstances but there is zero info on the logistics that I can find. I completely understand that this is a microscopic violin situation though. Anyone been in the same boat and have any tips?

Brie

Personally I'd wait til you buy a new place together to get the mortgage with you both on it.  Otherwise you will look like you are selling a portion of your house and him buying it with all the tax/fees/solicitors costs added in.  Why do that twice?

I doubt he can port his mortgage to a portion of your house so think that's a non starter - again having to sell him a portion etc etc.

Good to know you've already discussed the equity split etc and expect you know you'll want to legally document all that.  And get wills too.   And if you are talking about the search function on MSE - yes, it rather stinks.  Very hard to find a specific topic unless you are truly lucky.  

MikeJXE

ClosingTheBureauForAnHour said:

Me and my partner both have mortgages from before getting together.

My house is bigger and in a handier location (not to brag!) so he's in the process of selling his and moving into mine. We're planning to then sell mine and move to somewhere we've both chosen asap.

Neither of us are particularly daft but tbh feel quite out of our depths on how to technically go about this..

1. Do we get a joint mortgage on my house as soon as he sells up or do we do it in one go when we buy the new house? We're realistic about things and know it could take around a year. We trust each other, he's chilled about not having his name on deeds for a while and keeping his equity to one side so the question is purely around which is cheapest

I can’t answer which is cheapest but

2. He's got an exit fee from his mortgage, which is on a good rate. I'm on a worse tracker with no exit fee. Is there some clever fiddle where we can port his mortgage to here and get an extra bit of mortgage for the gap? If not, we're planning for me to pay off his fee/knock it off the shared costs along the way

If there is equity in his property why are you paying his early release fee ?

3. Before anyone kindly jumps in about protecting myself, we're planning to be Tenants In Common and we'll agree the equity split. I'm 99% sure we're sickeningly loved up anyway. I'd assume there are loads of couples who got together in these circumstances but there is zero info on the logistics that I can find. I completely understand that this is a microscopic violin situation though. Anyone been in the same boat and have any tips?

See above in bold 

I am not going to jump in about you protecting yourself yet we do see a lot about these loved up partnerships on here that fail and ask for a way out.

Be good to know how long you have been together and who is the most wealthy 

ClosingTheBureauForAnHour

MikeJXE said:

ClosingTheBureauForAnHour said:

Me and my partner both have mortgages from before getting together.

My house is bigger and in a handier location (not to brag!) so he's in the process of selling his and moving into mine. We're planning to then sell mine and move to somewhere we've both chosen asap.

Neither of us are particularly daft but tbh feel quite out of our depths on how to technically go about this..

1. Do we get a joint mortgage on my house as soon as he sells up or do we do it in one go when we buy the new house? We're realistic about things and know it could take around a year. We trust each other, he's chilled about not having his name on deeds for a while and keeping his equity to one side so the question is purely around which is cheapest

I can’t answer which is cheapest but

2. He's got an exit fee from his mortgage, which is on a good rate. I'm on a worse tracker with no exit fee. Is there some clever fiddle where we can port his mortgage to here and get an extra bit of mortgage for the gap? If not, we're planning for me to pay off his fee/knock it off the shared costs along the way

If there is equity in his property why are you paying his early release fee ?

3. Before anyone kindly jumps in about protecting myself, we're planning to be Tenants In Common and we'll agree the equity split. I'm 99% sure we're sickeningly loved up anyway. I'd assume there are loads of couples who got together in these circumstances but there is zero info on the logistics that I can find. I completely understand that this is a microscopic violin situation though. Anyone been in the same boat and have any tips?

See above in bold 

I am not going to jump in about you protecting yourself yet we do see a lot about these loved up partnerships on here that fail and ask for a way out.

Be good to know how long you have been together and who is the most wealthy 

Thank you. We're pretty open about this and have decided the tenants in common style agreement makes sense.

I've got a much bigger equity/deposit as was lucky to buy my first house much younger and house prices have shot up since then (don't hate the player, hate the game and all that..).

In terms of current earnings, he earns slightly less but a similar amount. We plan to pay 50/50 on the mortgage and I generally do more of the grocery shopping etc to mean that overall I pay a bit more around the house. If we broke up we'd walk away with our equity split portion and would have paid 50/50 for the time we were together. I feel like the fact that we've had this conversation reflects well and that I'm not being too foolish. 

I thought I'd explain this in my original post but keep that brief as the conversation veers into "how do couples split bills". In my view there isn't a right or wrong answer to this but hopefully this sounds like a fair-ish set up.

ClosingTheBureauForAnHour

Brie said:

Personally I'd wait til you buy a new place together to get the mortgage with you both on it.  Otherwise you will look like you are selling a portion of your house and him buying it with all the tax/fees/solicitors costs added in.  Why do that twice?

I doubt he can port his mortgage to a portion of your house so think that's a non starter - again having to sell him a portion etc etc.

Good to know you've already discussed the equity split etc and expect you know you'll want to legally document all that.  And get wills too.   And if you are talking about the search function on MSE - yes, it rather stinks.  Very hard to find a specific topic unless you are truly lucky.  

Thank you. That makes sense about the legal fees. We may as well hang on and he can put his equity/deposit in savings while staying here. Annoyingly I'm due to remortgage within the next year potentially before his sale goes through/my sale goes through, but these thinks take as long as they take I guess.

Thought it was worth an ask on the mortgage question as he's on a bit of a bargain but understood if that's not allowed.

Yes I'm surprised that there's so little info out there on how two people with a mortgage buy a house together. I know there are a lot of variable personal circumstances but I'd think it's very common for people to be in this situation.

Couldn't find even basic advice anywhere around the logistics!

theartfullodger

Which country (eg Wales, NI...) laws are different.

Of course relationships never go wrong... Artful, on 3rd successful marriage 

ClosingTheBureauForAnHour

theartfullodger said:

Which country (eg Wales, NI...) laws are different.

Of course relationships never go wrong... Artful, on 3rd successful marriage 

Ah good point - we're in England.

Absolutely love that turn of phrase! Yes, we don't plan to break up but we do have a plan for if we break up. I know that I'm the one more at risk but hope the tenants in common approach covers this off. 

I'm mainly looking for tips/experiences about logistics/how to do things step by step rather than around the relationship but of course its an important thing to clear up. We know we want to move to a new house which feels ours but it seems like there are lots of steps and options.

At one point we were thinking of putting mine for sale at the same time but I doubt we'd be a very tempting prospect as a buyer with two homes to sell at once.

mlz1413

Just a few thoughts... 

Your partner has a better mortgage,  so if you moved in with them you could port that when you buy together.  It sounds like the selling of both houses will be reasonable quick so no need to live in the 'better' one.

Or rent out partners house until out of the penalty period, mortgage company agreement needed.

Or you could put both on the market at the same time.

Lastly you don't have to remortgage during this process, you could go onto the variable rate and not be in a fixed period that probably also carries a penalty. 

I would go and see some properties together so you know your end goal.  Having a defined price bracket and area will help you make decisions for now. (Well it's helped me!)

Albermarle

We may as well hang on and he can put his equity/deposit in savings while staying here.

Just in case neither of you is up to speed about savings, FSCS protection. ISA's, tax  etc. You could have a look here .
Savings & investments — MoneySavingExpert Forum
and here.
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