It's ours not mine - or is it?

Your relative needs to be aware of the capital gains tax position in relation to gifting property.
This would be the relative's tax liability and is separate to any potential inheritance tax if the relative dies within 7 years and the gift becomes a failed PET (potentially exempt transfer).

I would not be happy if I gave a house to a relative and she then gave half to a partner. He could leave you a week later and take half the value of the house!

This this this
I'd say the same to an unmarried man.
You've got your own dc. Keep it in the family.
Keep it in your name. If you were married then you'd also have a right over his pension. As it is you share your assets with him but not him with you.

Keep your assets and he keeps his. Seems the fairest way. He will save on rent so if he wanted to invest n some security for his own future he could do so easily.

The other option is to get married but I'd think very hard how you are going to support yourself if you ever split if he gets half your house.

Personally if I were in the situation id ask relative to gift it to your children with you and partner having a lifetime tenancy.

It should be in the name of both of you given that without your partner's contribution you would have not been able to get this gift.
You are being extremely selfish.

I would put it in your own name tbh.

If your going to do it I’d definitely calculate what you both paid all together (maybe by yourself) and see if it’s less than 50% and go for that

Honestly I would not do 50:50, my partner and I have paid much more in rent then our landlord paid for the property we are in (partner keeps putting off buying as has wanted to move location for years) but the landlord would never gift us the property - he offered to sell it once. You have to also think about this as security for your children, your relative would not be gifting your partner or his kids a house, this is for you and your children. If you split up you would be back to square one and I doubt your relative will buy you another property. Rent is unfortunately just dead money! Were you told your rent would effectively be eventually be put towards buying the house (hire purchase) as that would make a difference if you both never actually saw it as rent.

Things like buying windows, repairs etc are different, I would take those into account and draw up a percentage of ownership based on that (like 25%). At the end of the day it is a gift to you, if he wants more security he could marry you!

You could both start saving the money that you were spending on rent and get a mortgage for a small second property that is a rental in both your names for added security.

Well, in your shoes I would make sure I own the house by myself. If anything happens it should make things legally easier. In his shoes, I would make sure you are both on the deeds.

Do you expect to be together forever? If so either get married or leave it to them in your will, if you love your dp and wouldn’t see them on the streets.

Sorry, of course I meant in the event of predeceasing him!

If this hypothetical woman had been a sahm and sacrificed her future financial security to bring up their joint children, then yes.
But I doubt that op's partner is in this position.

OP the house is gifted to YOU. Keep it that way.

I would advise either male or female, not to put it into joint names if it is given just to you. It is a gift from the family member. If they want to give it to both of you then that is what they need to do.

The rent etc already paid is a red herring. you could be kicked out tomorrow and have none of the benefit of that. DP was a bit daft to invest money into doing up the property, unless it was agreed when you moved in, that it was effectively a joint purchase and you would pay rent until you could afford to get a mortgage and buy it from family member, that would be a different story.

If you want to treat it as if you bought it jointly instead of renting, then ask your relative to gift it to both of you jointly. Make sure that you each own your half so that you can will it to who you want.

If you own it solely, then you can't ask DP to pay for any house expenses other than utilities/council tax and food. You would have to pay for buildings insurance, all repairs etc yourself. I wouldn't pay a penny into a house that somebody else owned.

It makes no difference to your DP whether the house is in your name or joint names, as long as you stay together and continue cohabiting. If one of you dies or you split up, it will very much matter. He is BU but you should make a plan for predeceasing him.

edited as posted without finishing last sentence and again due to autobastard

I would get legal/tax advice as others have advisedv and then if you would like to be married put that on the table as it might help you to decide.

You wouldn't have this dilemma if you were married. There's many reason why making a social and legal commitment to each other is important.

No, only if OP dies within 7 years of making the gift. Then inheritance tax would come into play, if the value of her estate is over the threshold.

Of course it's not simple or the poster wouldn't be asking and it wouldn't generate 100 replies.

If two people are in a long-term relationship and want that long-term relationship to continue they won't do things like insist on rent paid being 50:50 but then when suddenly there is good fortune keeping it all to themselves. Clearly the two of them would have bought a house together a long time ago if it weren't for the bad credit history in which case it would already be in joint names and this wouldn't have arisen.

If I was the partner told "thanks for your 10 years' rent but obviously the house is now mine" I'd be reassessing whether a person with that attitude is someone I really want to be with. What's the next bombshell I should expect otherwise?

I'm going to go against the majority. You've been together for years, and sharing expenses for years. You seem to get along fine, no break up on the horizon. I'd go 50-50.

If you were Married it would be joint but you aren’t.

I think you need to get further advice. I would imagine that your relative might have to pay capital gains tax on the sale and I think you should be picking that up. Then if they die within so long is there inheritance tax or deprivation of assets if they need care? You may very well need to get some sort of mortgage anyway.

If you rented a different house and then the relative gave you this house then how would you feel? Personally I would not be putting him on the deeds just yet but I would potentially give him some money for the refurbishment or discuss marriage. If you do put him on the deeds I would get advice on how best to do it as if you die first you won’t want your half to go to him and your dc to miss out completely

So he was unable to buy due to your poor credit?

You have jointly invested in improvements to the property.

And you assumed from the outset that the ownership of the property would eventually transfer to you?

Morally, I think you owe him a fair share of the property, personally.

I really wouldn't be making it a 50/50 thing when you are not married. If you were married, I'd say go for it in terms of putting it in both your names, but the reality is that you never know what is going to happen. Why are you going to reward your partner with half a house when he refuses to marry you? In practical terms, if you ever did split (no matter how unlikely it may seem right now), you are going to massively resentful that you gave away half a house you would likely have to move out of because how would you afford to buy your partner out? Just don't do it. If he wants to get married, it can be a joint asset. If he doesn't want to, he still gets to live there - rent free if you like, which is a HUGE gift in itself - but the house remains your property. Just don't complicate your life with this. Living rent free for potentially decades in your house is adequate compensation for the work and money he has contributed to the property over the years, he does not need to be co-owner.

He’s been held back by this relationship. Had he been with someone with less financial trouble he would probably have bought somewhere on his own rather than rented for this long. As I said, it’s a moral thing. If I were the partner I’d probably reconsider things.

Imagine if the sexes were reversed. OP is a woman living with a man whose credit history means they can’t get a mortgage so are forced to rent but there’s some vague hint that it might be given to them (and OP naively thinks it would be given to them both). OP contributes her own money to doing the property up as well. Then boom, the house is given only to her financially precarious partner who doesn’t want to share it. I think the consensus would be that OP has been treated badly here. I don’t see why it’s different because he’s a man.

Sorry if this has been said already, but aren't there big tax repercussions when gifting a property, especially to a non relative. (Your dp?) Would it make more sense financially to keep it your name?

I assume you were paying market or below market rent, in which case you should put it in your name only. It is a gift to you. The fact that you've paid rent over the years means nothing really as there's no promise of a free house at the end of it and there wouldn't be if you weren't related. I wouldn't charge him rent going forward since the house is free - i think that is enough of a bonus for your partner if unmarried.

If your partner isn’t getting half ownership, you will have to take on all ownership related bills (like insurance), and costs of maintenance and upgrades. It’s not fair to expect them to pay half a new kitchen or roof repair.

You should also look at wills to make sure they aren’t left homeless if you pre-decease them.