To want some ownership of this property?

[Normalisavariantofcrazy]

MIL has 'kindly' allowed us to live in her house, which is unmortgaged, rent free.

I say 'kindly' as it's a shell of a house that had needed completely gutting and renovating to make it habitable including expensive jobs such as replacing the bathroom, floors throughout, installing central heating and replacing the whole fence for the large back garden with no financial help from MIL.

I've broached the subject with DH that as we've spent a not insignificant amount of money on the house that we approach his mum with the view to buying it off her. He's not adverse to the idea but feels his mum will be very against it.

I'm petrified that now the house is in a very good condition she's quids in and could well sell it from under us.

We have no tenancy agreement in place either.

What would, in your mind, be a good solution here?

It depends on how long you have lived there and what you've paid on doing the house up. Does dh have siblings which may be affected by you buying the house?

I think you have to be philosophical. Allowing someone to live rent free is a sort of financial help. I think you have paid rent in blood sweat and tears.

How much would it cost you if you had paid a landlord rent to live in a semi habitable piece of sh$t. In my area you would be paying £1000 a month for a nice house and £800 for an uninhabitable shithole with 3 rooms. Prehaps you should start saving like mad for a desposit for a mortgage while you are both rent and mortgage free.

I think you should and your dh should talk to your MIL about the possiblity of buying the house off her as you have made it your home. Maybe findout why your MIL is against selling the house to you.

3 years
No siblings
About £10k and rising

So that's cheaper than rent. You've done well. Stop being so grabby.

That works out as very cheap rent!

I know it's cheap, I'm not being 'grabby' at all, I'm concerned about the long term future because at the moment we have no security.

Have you spent more on the renovation than you would have paid in rent on a normal rented property? If not then at least you can tell yourself you haven't lost out exactly. Did you not all discuss this beforehand? Lots of work to do without anyone mentioning what would happen long term.

10K is about one year's rent. If you lived in the house for 3 years then you have still done well out of the deal. Or are you wanting to get a foot on the housing ladder before you are priced out by rising house prices.

Is your MIL experiencing financial hardship? Is there any reason that she is desperate for the money that she would sell from under you? Surely if she decided to sell the property then she would approach you first. Could you afford the market price for a similar house?

Are you there while you save for somewhere else? Or are you planning on living there forever?

My concern is we have no tenancy agreement, no rights of ownership, nothing to protect us if mil has a fit of pique or gets into financial dire straits and has to sell.

That works out at £280 rent per month for the last three years. I think you have had a pretty good deal...

But mil has also benefitted. Be interesting to know how much value the work has added to the property. Might be significantly more than £10k.

However, you are not entitled to recoup anything. If she wants to sell that's a bonus, if not you need to accept you knew the position going in. Sorry.

Why don't you buy your own place and then you'll have financial security? Yes you've paid out £10k but that was more than made up in 3 years of free rent.

Why are you doing up her house? If you're improving the house with a view to buying it then you should have discussed it with her before putting the money in.

If she wants to sell at some point I'd say that you thank her for her help and start to look for somewhere else to live with good grace. Or work out if you can afford to buy it at a fair market value. She's done you a huge favour, you've spent a lot less on it than you would have spent in rent, and in return you've put in the hours to improve the property. Sounds very fair. I don't think you should have any "rights of ownership".

I get where you're coming from. Could your DH persuade your mil that it might be to her advantage to have it properly down in writing?

Certainly you've done v well, 10k over 3 yrs is pretty cheap

I think you ought to seek advice about getting a tenancy agreement before broaching subject of purchasing with MIL.

I think you are being grabby. You have saved a fortune living there which in theory you should have banked to secure things for the future. What have you been doing with the extra cash? Pissing it up the wall?

Your DH should probably sit down and have a proper talk with her. Does she need the equity from the house for any reason, maybe she thinks it's going to your DH anyway so what's the point in selling it to you both. A discussion about what is going to happen to the house is necessary and maybe a plan in place for future inheritance tax concerns

I would say we've added over £10k of value to the property, well over that amount.

We've not been able to save due to the cost of the renovations but yes the house is within our bracket if we did get a mortgage.

Why don't you ask her?
She might say yes, probes solved,

You're in no worse a position to any other tenant.
You're home could be 'sold from under you' in theory, that's the case for anyone renting.
You've done well out of this deal, be glad about that.
You probably should ask for a formal rental agreement just so everyone knows where they stand. Though that would probably mean paying actual rent too so I doubt you'll want that...

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