Creative financial solution needed for home improvement

lallansladdie

I've moved from the Netherlands to the UK, moving in with my girlfriend. She lives in a large mortgage-free house, but her father is the owner of it and will remain so until she inherits it. As no money has been invested in the house for years, it is crying out for a lot of DIY and I've calculated £10.000 is needed for it to become desirable again.

My girlfriend has debts and a poor credit rating, through no direct fault of her own. Due to illness, she has no salary either and would certainly not be able to afford any investment. Her father is a pensioner, also scraping by and unable to invest. In effect I am the only one with an income as such, but I have little credit rating as I've not been in the UK long enough yet (2 years here, a £100 pound overdraft is as good as it gets..). And so it seems we are stuck. Me investing a monthly chunk of salary would get us nowhere for years to come. If I'd get a £10k loan (at huge APR) and would invest in the house, if I'd split with my girlfriend I'd be paying for years without actually benefiting.

I have asked her father if he would mind getting a £10k loan out, as the house is in name, he stands to benefit most from any improvement, and has an excellent credit rating. I've told him I would then pay the monthly repayments upfront to him, as a sort of 'rent' while I live in thew house. If me and my girlfriend will stay together much longer, indeed he'd pay nothing towards it. There is of course still a risk though his daughter and I would split up, and he refuses the risk of having to pay the remainder of the loan.

I am out of ideas and desperate to improve the house, so it can be rented out and we could move. Has anyone got any creative solutions that might work?

skyrider007

If you are unsure about stability of your relationship and the house belongs to your gf's daddy then I wouldn't put any money on the house. You did the right thing asking her dad to take out the loan but he refused it so why would you bother?

Do you really need that £10,000 to improve the house by the way? I think there are lots of cheaper DIY alternatives out there. Do some Google Research and you'll find loads of info.

Good luck!

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Start here: http://www.doityourself.com/
Get equipments from Wilkinson or Woolworths etc.

[Deleted User]

Firstly, you have to realise that your girlfriend may not actually inherit the house at all. Do you know how much it's worth? Do you know the size of her father's total estate? If it's over the limit, the house may have to be sold to pay inheritance tax. Also, even if this is not the case, presumably you have no guarantee that he will necessarily leave it to his daughter? So, I would definitely agree that you should proceed with caution.

As for doing some DIY, there are loads of low cost ways of tarting up a house - you'd be amazed at the difference a coat of paint can make; small repairs; tidying the garden. If the kitchen is old fashioned, are the carcasses of the units themselves solid? If so, just replace the doors - much cheaper than getting a whole new kitchen. You could look for offcuts of vinyl flooring. Windows - fill in any holes in the woodwork, and paint. Make low-cost roman blinds with remnant material. If carpets are grotty, take up, and paint the floor boards (with specialist floor paint) and then put down some cheap rugs (eg. from IKEA or a local market, if you have one).

If you feel that this won't work and the house needs solid DIY such as a new bathroom, etc. what about talking to your girlfriend about you talking out the £10,000 loan on condition that the pair of you draw up a legal document (with a solicitor) where she promises to pay you back if you split up? Would that work?

Otherwise, you may just have to do what you can and then charge a low rent (because of its condition). Might be worth talking to a rental agent and get some advice?