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Girlfriend moving in

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Hi there

I have my own house, on mortgage, but in my name.

My girlfriend is thinking about moving in and we have discussed her paying an amount towards mortgage, bills etc - we have looked at about £500 per month.

My question is - would this be seen as something I should declare on my tax form as an income?

Many thanks

mbk

Comments

  • Keep_pedalling
    Keep_pedalling Posts: 20,727 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Unless you are happy for her to have a financial interest in your house she should not be contributing to your mortgage costs.

    There are no tax implications on her paying her share of your joint living costs.
  • Socajam
    Socajam Posts: 1,238 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Please do a search on this forum before moving forward with this.
    You will find valuable information that will save you heartache later on.
  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    mbk2018 wrote: »
    Hi there

    I have my own house, on mortgage, but in my name.

    My girlfriend is thinking about moving in and we have discussed her paying an amount towards mortgage, bills etc - we have looked at about £500 per month.

    My question is - would this be seen as something I should declare on my tax form as an income?

    Many thanks

    mbk

    Its your mortgage , you should be paying it. If she's contributes towards the mortgage she gains a beneficial interest in the property

    Your GF should only be paying her share of increased costs because she's living there, the council tax, utilities and food etc
  • If she starts paying towards your mortgage then she can have a 50% claim on your house if she leaves in future
  • Primrose
    Primrose Posts: 10,701 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Definitely she shouldn,t be contributing towards the mortgage. And to play safe, exchange letters of agreement outlining exactly what her monthly payments are contributing to, ie council tax, utility bills, groceries and other general,living expenses.
    Plenty of couples have I stuck on this in the past in the event of relationship breakups. Learning from other people's' mistakes is a lot less painful than learning from your own.
    There,s always a chance to do things differently if you decide to make your relationship permanent .
  • cns06
    cns06 Posts: 299 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    There is space on a tax return for this however its not really for "girlfriends" its for lodgers which is where the OP may be confused. Its called the Rent A Room Scheme and the govt allow up to 7500 tax free income from RARS per tax year.

    So if she is moving in as a lodger and she will have her own room then perhaps this could apply.. but honestly as a GF probably not.

    But as others have said she should not be paying towards the mortgage. In fact I would go so far as to say she should not be paying anything at this stage.

    To say more, you need to tell us more - how long have you been together? Is this likely to last? Is she employed? What is your income split like?
  • Malthusian
    Malthusian Posts: 11,055 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Weird wrote: »
    mbk,
    Of course not. It's not a type of income at all. What a nonsense.

    It was a perfectly sensible question as if people are living in your property and paying you money it is often taxable income. It just isn't in this case. Chill out.
    If she starts paying towards your mortgage then she can have a 50% claim on your house if she leaves in future

    It would be a 50% claim only if she could show that she had paid 50% of the cost of acquiring the property from the beginning. I.e. if they bought the house together and split everything down the middle.

    As others have said, mbk should not be asking for a contribution to paying the mortgage unless he is happy for her to acquire a beneficial interest, and to have to buy her out or sell the property in the event of breakup.
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