Dd, boyfriend and flat purchase

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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

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.