Purchasing Property from Partner

shie6523

Hi,

I’ll try and keep this brief but specific and also straight to the point.

I was living with my ex-girlfriend up until October of last year. As it was her house, I was contributing towards the mortgage, bills, council tax etc.

We separated in October and I was fully aware that she was unable to live in the property on her own as she simply could not afford it (she is carrying a lot of previous debt and I don’t know why she bought it in the first place knowing she couldn’t afford it on her own).

My ex is struggling to pay the mortgage (late and missed payments) and has offered to sell me the property at the price she paid for it. The mortgage company has sent warning letters regarding mortgage arrears and she’s struggling to cope.

We have since got back together and she feels that if I buy the house off her, any profit/equity made could pay off her debts and the house would be in my name.

I have given this proposal some serious condition. Her house is really nice and represents excellent value for money. I believe I also have the added insurance that if things go pear shaped with her again, I could ask her to move out as the house would now belong to me.

My question is where do I start in terms of what the processes are when buying property from a partner without using an estate agent etc?

Also what do you guys think?

Any comments would be most appreciated.

Darren.

Badger_Lady

You don't need to use an estate agent anyway - you just need a conveyencing solicitor each. Your partner may well use the one she bought with, and you will need to find your own too - ask around and get some quotes.

If you're buying with a mortgage, get that sorted out ASAP by visiting a whole-of-market broker, then once you know you have the finances available instruct your solicitor.

They'll pretty much take it from there, sort out the transfer of money etc. It wn't be that different from any normal sale, and you will still have to pay all the other fees associated with property purchase / sale.

dekh

Either you are a first time buyer in which case pick a mortgage. I'd also look in the Sunday papers as you won't have to pay brokers fees if you pick one of those mortgages. You'd be the purchaser she'd be the seller. Two separate solicitors.

Or you could go for a Transfer of equity.

You could by half the house off her. You might want to go for tennants in common rather than joint tennancey. You pay her an agreed amount for an agreed percentage for instance - half the value of the house for 50% of it. That means you would both own 50% and your own will decides what happens to your share. It's more like a business arrangement so easier if you split up but you may lose some automatice inheritance rights. (Joint tennants get the whole title to the house if the other tennant dies.)

I'm busy doing a quote system for a solicitors if you tell me the value I'd love to test it out on real numbers

PS I'm not a solicitor so I might well be wrong on the technical details.

jimc_2

This thread raises a very interesting HIP question. If your partner offered the property to you, is this 'marketing' therefore triggering a HIP? A very tight reading of the regulations and the OFT comments would lead to the answer that you need a HIP.

On the other hand, if you asked her if she wanted to sell then you've found the very rare 'exemption' required by the regulations. No 'marketing' by her means no HIP and you could save £3-400.

teabelly

You would also need indemnity insurance against her going bankrupt for up to 4 years after you purchase the property. If it happens you can be asked to pay the difference between the market value and the price you paid. This could happen regardless of whether you were still together or not. Get an independent valuation to see what the difference is before you do anything else.

She also needs to contact her lender to tell them that she is selling to you and to hold fire before they start repossession proceedings if she has been missing payments. Some lenders are pretty quick at snatching the house back at the first whiff of trouble. With missed payments she won't be mortgage worthy for a while so if you do split up she may have to stick to rented (and even then she might be refused due to poor credit score).