Splitting expenses when one partner has a house owned outright

[WoodchipNightmares]

We're in our early 30s, and DP and I would like to move in together. This would mean him moving into my home.

I am in the extraordinarily fortunate (but also sad) position that - due to my DM dying unexpectedly and leaving everything to me - I own my home outright. Obviously I have to pay out all the usual bills, repairs etc., but there's no mortgage.

DP is living in a rented flat, shared with a friend. He's not a particularly high earner (c. £20k/year) and getting on the housing ladder alone is something of a pipedream for him. I'm self employed and my income can fluctuate, but it's in the ballpark of £25-35k/year.

I'd expect bills to be split (50/50 or by earnings?) but I don't know what to do about the cost of housing itself. If he's there rent free is he a cocklodger? If I asked for rent would I be taking the piss? What if, in 10 years, the house needed something major doing to it like a new roof - should that be split?

No kids, and not planning them for health reasons, and neither of us is especially fussed about marriage.

My boyfriend moved into my mortage free flat

We split the bills and food (and i pay for anything like flat management charges/repairs)

He pays me nothing in rent etc. as a) i don't want him to have ANY claim on my flat and b) i'd be profiting off him. We agreed he;d just save the rent money he used to pay for a deposit when we bought together.

11 years later still in same flat. he's probably saved £60k. it hasn't cost me anything extra. Works for us.

[quote Pancakeorcrepe]@girlmom21 she will not be better off. They will be splitting the bills, but the bills will be almost double as there are two people living there. Hot water for showers, heating at times OP would normally not be home and not have it on, cooking bigger amounts of food, etc.[/quote]
That's not how bills work. They don't suddenly double when you have two people there instead of one.

yes my council tax went up 25%
Elec probably the same

food would double to be fair but others, i saved as the bills for me were a bit less.

Don't be stupid.

Get a tenancy agreement, charge him rent even it if's nominal. But I'd charge him slightly less than he is currentrly paying. Protect your interests now.

WTF should your good futune extend to him, you are not married and do not have children together. Save his rent every month, build yourself an ISA or savings pot. He would have to pay rent anywhere else

When my boyfriend moved into my flat I charged him remt, half was he was paying privately but we also had a contract (living together agreement from cab).
When we decided we were permanent we combined incomes which meant I gave him half my house. We have the same ‘spending money’ each month regardless of our difference in salary.
Our financial situations were completely different when we met and our earnings are massively different now.

Seek proper legal advise, imagine you live together for say 10 years and they contribute to decorating, new roof, boiler, etc there is a potential of them having a claim on the property, as already suggested get a tenancy agreement signed, even if you don’t take any rent it covers you and your asset

When DH moved in with me, I guess we knew we wanted to be together long term. I had the flat (did have a mortgage though). His idea was to open a joint bank account, all monies went into that (regardless of earnings), and everything was paid out of it, bills, mortgage, repairs (none luckily while we lived there together), and we'd have the balance shared between us. It's worked for us, never fallen out over money.

In my view you want a situation where you're no worse off than you would be on your own. So e.g. if you're losing a single person's council tax rebate, he should pay that. And then split living expenses proportional to earnings.

One key concept you MUST think about is that certain types of contribution from him could be seen as adding to the capital value of your house, which would in turn could give him a claim on it in the event of a breakup. Especially any improvements. Repairs might be less of an issue, but nevertheless be careful.

I take rent from my partner and never ask for a contribution towards house upkeep for this reason. He does pay half the bills tho inc food

I will be in a similar situation if I move DP in. Only difference is he is a higher earner and has his own home.

I would not have DP contributing to any home improvements/repairs. If I lived alone I'd be fully responsible for these, so would continue to see it as my responsibility. I also would not want him to have any cause for a claim in the future.

My expectations would be that all bills are split 50/50 and he helped with general maintenance/housekeeping I.e. helped cut the grass/gardening and general cleaning. Nothing that would add obvious value.

I would still be better off financially, but also have the security that it was 100% my home.

In your DP's situation, what he saved and spent his surplus funds on would be his choice. This could be holidays or towards a deposit if he found himself in a situation in the future where he needed to rent/buy.

I would look into how you can protect yourself from preventing him having a claim on the house. But I would ask him to pay half the rent he would elsewhere. That way he is getting a big discount and you are getting something as well. Without him there you could potentially get a lodger.

Obviously if you get married and have kids etc the situation will change but I feel for now this is the best purpose.

Best compromise I mean!

but you can't PROTECT YOURSELF and also charge them rent?

Plenty of legal cases on people who paid some rent and then made a claim on the house. they may have got 10-20% of the value, which may well be due to the sheer cost of legal cases and people settling,

Zero payments made and you eliminate risks of any claim (and don't let them put up an extension if they are a builder - unless paying full cost to them etc)

@burnoutbabe

but you can't PROTECT YOURSELF and also charge them rent?

Plenty of legal cases on people who paid some rent and then made a claim on the house. they may have got 10-20% of the value, which may well be due to the sheer cost of legal cases and people settling,

Zero payments made and you eliminate risks of any claim (and don't let them put up an extension if they are a builder - unless paying full cost to them etc)

It's 8 years ago now but my Aunt's boyfriend didn't pay rent or contribute financially much.

He managed to stake a claim by saying he'd took the responsibility of cleaning, diy, gardening, emotional support...even the dog was brought into it. And my Aunt's health problems.

She couldn't evict him and in the end had to sell up and give him a percentage towards a flat.

Well I've learned something today - I had (naively, it seems) assumed that by keeping the house in my name and not being married he'd have as many rights as a lodger in the event of a relationship breakdown.

More research needed by the sound of things!

He really would need to pay his fair share of the bills (50/50 or by income split) as that's the minimum I think is required to not count as a cocklodger!

[quote Pancakeorcrepe]@girlmom21 she will not be better off. They will be splitting the bills, but the bills will be almost double as there are two people living there. Hot water for showers, heating at times OP would normally not be home and not have it on, cooking bigger amounts of food, etc.[/quote]
Half the light when the light is on whether one or two people under it
Half the broad band
Half the tv license- these things don’t change with the number of occupants

Bills 50/50 and no I wouldn't charge him rent I find that mean personally

.and no I wouldn't charge him rent I find that mean personally

bet he's over the moon though - a dream come true!

Op I'd say your situation is significantly different to normal because this is your inheritance so you can protect it its not a usual situation

Half the light when the light is on whether one or two people under it
Half the broad band
Half the tv license- these things don’t change with the number of occupants

Some things go up with the number of people living there, others don't. Regardless, DP would be getting half the benefit of the broadband / TV licence / lights going on / council tax being paid / house being warm so it seems fair he should contribute to those accordingly.

@KatyN

When my boyfriend moved into my flat I charged him remt, half was he was paying privately but we also had a contract (living together agreement from cab). When we decided we were permanent we combined incomes which meant I gave him half my house. We have the same ‘spending money’ each month regardless of our difference in salary. Our financial situations were completely different when we met and our earnings are massively different now.

Why on earth did you give him half your house? What does being permanent mean?

I don't see why he should pay rent. It doesn't matter if he's saving because of it - so are you. It's irrelevant as you don't make any payments. So you're basically wanting to earn more from him or be some sort of landlord to him, when you don't need to.

There should be 50/50 contribution towards all bills and any house repairs or anything that you both need and use for the house.

@WoodchipNightmares why do you keep responding as though people are saying he shouldn't have to pay anything? Absolutely nobody has suggested that.

I don't think he should pay 'rent' as there's no mortgage but why don't you both pay say 50% of income into a joint savings account (or separate savings) and if you ever split, walk away with it, if you stay together - invest it

pls get a tenancy agreement and he pays some rent + half bills, otherwise you will feel resentful if it doesn't work out in 5 years time and he walks away with a large deposit to start a new life with someone else.