Dd, boyfriend and flat purchase

It's expensive to buy on BTL mortgage, and she would need at least 25 % deposit, and she'd paid tax on rent and would not get principal home relief against CGT when/ if she sold it to buy somewhere together.

What would have happened if he didn't follow through on his part?

I think it’s fine at this stage, in fact wise, she moves in, pays nominal rent/ half bills and they can see how it works out, if all is good they get engaged, get married and then the flat can be transferred into joint names if they wish though legally it is a joint asset after marriage anyway.

My dh bought our house in his name, bit complicated, but I then paid off the mortgage and went on the deeds. like your dd i had input on what we bought, i had final say!

Could she carry on living with bf,but buy a place of her own,rent it out hopefully covering mortgage, then if they split up she's got a bolt hole, if they don't split up she's still got a property

lol @ everyone suggesting she buy a BTL

you need a much higher deposit for a BTL - usually at least 25%

interest rates on BTL mortgages are higher

it’s difficult to even be approved for a BTL mortgage unless you are already a homeowner

She won’t be able to use a LISA to buy one, so she’ll lose that 25% government bonus towards her deposit

she also won’t qualify for first time buyer’s stamp duty relief on it

crucially, once she has this BTL house she won’t then qualify for the LISA or FTB stamp duty relief if she then wants to buy a house to actually live in. It would just be throwing free money away.

Running a BTL is a massive headache, even if you pay £££ for an agency to help, you end up doing a lot yourself.

there’s a massive risk involved — she might have bad tenants who damage the house, or there might be fallow periods during which she’ll have to cover the rent herself

it’s very unlikely she’ll turn any sort of meaningful profit, and she’ll have to pay tax on what she does earn

just a dreadful idea all round. I suspect people are suggesting it because of the psychological safety of having some bricks and mortar that she could live in if the relationship ended, but she’d have to give the tenants four months notice that she’d want them to leave, and then it could potentially drag on for a year + after those four months. Also, you can’t ask them to leave at all during the first 12 months of their tenancy.

Any index-linked stocks and shares ISA would outperform property & comes with no hassle whatsoever

I'm with the "buy her own flat and rent it out" cohort.

Then they can both sell their properties to buy their forever home if/when they have kids and want a bigger space.

Does he have a mortgage on his home his parents ‘bought him’ ?
if not then surely she’ll be paying a nominal fee to cover bills and she will be in a great position to save for her own place or to buy into his place.

There's nothing you can do about the flat now as it seems to be a done deal. You could invest the money you would have given her for the deposit in stocks and shares so that she will have it if or when they decide to buy a place together. If she doesn't stay with him, it would be there for DD to buy a place of her own.

If the relationship works out they've got a great start in life. I think what I would do for her is set up some kind of savings/investment vehicle it might actually do better than property anyway in the short term and doesnt have the up front costs. If say in 5 years they were to split she'd have the cash to do whatever she wants with. Tying it up in property can be risky. Having cash gives you the flexibility.

Yeah, I do get why you'd want her to be on the property ladder. Id probably hang on to your money for her small deposit in case the worst happens and see this as money saving for her.
If she does marry him then this flat is great news and if she doesn't, theres a safety net that may have grown by then

I think you're reading too much into this. From what ive gathered, boyfriends family bought him a flat to live in, flat belongs to boyfriends family and not him directly. Your daughter gets to live in said flat for considerable reduced rent in a great location.

Your gripe is (and this is my assumption from readingnuour OP) that you wanted your daughter to have been given an opportunity to buy into this flat and get on the property ladder using a small deposit that you could contribute but the majority of the money to come from the boys family. For the sake of argument, 10% of the value of the flat. If i was the boyfriends family and have considerable wealth that i could buy it outright without your small deposit, why would i want to complicate finances, especially as your daughter is only a girlfriend. To be honest, even if they were married, that still doesnt mean anything as people divorce and split up all the time.

For your daughter to get on the property ladder, she doesnt have to buy in central London, she can buy anywhere else in the country and continue to pay her reduced rent in central london. Best of both worlds. The only snag is, without having a crystal ball, what if they were to split up, where would she live then? Hopefully, it all works out OK.

Tell her to put a lot of what she’s saving on rent into her pension.

What does you daughter think? There's nothing stopping you giving your daughter a deposit if she wants to buy somewhere as her own place and can afford to do so , but it sounds like she prefers to rent at this point in her life

It seems entirely possible that your daughter might prefer to buy a bigger place together when they are married. You can help with that if and when they do. Maybe she will need help matching his equity at that time.

If there is going to be a prenup eventually she should present hers to him first

Pre-nups aren't legally enforceable in the UK, but regardless she needs a good chat with a solicitor and financial advisor.

If she is being asked to sign a prenup, then unless that becomes null and void once they are married AND have children,
she would be spectacularly silly to have children with him.
Women take the hit with salary, career and pension, invariably once they have children.

No way would I be not having a huge conversation with her about this.

So many threads on MN, where once clever women were totally screwed by having children and 100% taking the financial hit.

Have that conversation before she marries him.
Spell it out to her.
This is not the time to be delicate.

I understand your concern but am wondering how old she is? For context, most women I know didn’t buy until they were early 30’s after at least 5 years of saving. There seems to be an expectation that young people need to urgently ‘get on the property ladder’ but its never been the case that buying under 30 is the norm. I think she is in a great position compared to many by the sounds of it. I would encourage her to crack on with saving up rather than rushing to buy then she is in a good position whatever happens in the next few years.

What would your opinion be if it was the other way around? Of course the assets would be 50/50 should they marry. It’s really upto your DD to decide, but no one lives anywhere for free. What is stopping her buying her own property that she could rent out if she doesn’t want to live there?

Not a good idea.

No, he's entitled to buy something on his own. Your daughter can do the same.

Sounds ideal. They dont need to be tangled in a joint purchase like that unmarried but if they marry id suggest she buy into the property and be added to deeds.no rush.

Also I wouldn’t necessarily prioritise a buy-to-let. Talk to a financial advisor but investments generally perform better than property these days and come with way less hassle