Living in a house - not on the mortgage

[Meeeeeeep]

I need to know how to financially protect myself in this situation.

Next year I'll possibly be in this situation. I don't have the best credit history and am worried that a joint mortgage application would be turned down based on my credit history. My boyfriend already has a mortgage so I'm thinking it may be the best option for him to get the mortgage as a single applicant and obviously myself and DD will live there on the basis that it is jointly owned.

What do i do to protect myself? Would it be a separate legal agreement to say that in the event of separation x% is what I would legally be entitled to? I won't be matching the deposit he will be putting down but I will contribute something.

It's all very confusing.

You need proper legal and financial advice. Separate from your DP so they are acting for you.

The mortgage company will want to know if anyone else will be living there, is contributing or may entitled to a share of the house.

This will all affect what they offer him.

He can't get a mortgage for 75% of the property value if he says you own 50%. The bank would be giving him more that they could get back if he defaulted.

What ami says....I think once you have DC it's the most sensible option. Otherwise what would you be doing at the moment to get secure accomodation?

Do you currently have secure rental?

You can get a deed of trust drawn up to protect your share. It's a legal document that specifies the actual ownership and how sale proceeds are to be split if the situation is different from what appears on the title deeds to the property. You should get some advice from a solicitor (you could use the same solicitor that handles the property purchase for you)

I bought a house and DH moved in with me ( not DH at that time) the mortgage company gave me a form that I had to get him to sign when I renewed the mortgage asking if anyone over the age of 18 lived with me, it basically stated they had no claim on the property even though he lived with me. This will probably be the case when he gets a new mortgage, you need your own legal advice if you are contributing financially but won't be on the deeds.

To be clearer - your partner could instruct the solicitor he is using for the purchase to draw up a deed of trust. If you want independent advice you would need to see someone else. If he doesn't want to get married or have a deed of trust then I would be concerned.

Neither of us are fussed for getting married. Me more than him probably.

His parents only got married very recently so it isn't something that he views as important for a successful relationship and I have been married and been through a divorce and still suffering financially from that period of my life.

DDs father is my ex husband not my partner. At the moment I am renting and the lease is in my name.

I won't move unless myself and my daughter a protected financially. Even though my partner will be paying the majority of the deposit he would have it as 100% joint ownership it's only my credit history that would hinder this so I know whatever we had to do to make sure I was legally protected he would agree to.

To be clear, I wouldn't ever want to take more than I'd put in but I do feel I need to have something so that in the event things didn't work out, I wouldn't be back to square one again.

By the way in my OP when I said on the basis it is jointly owned I meant that we will live as if it was jointly owned even if technically it's not.

The problem won't be what your DP will agree too. It's that the mortgage lender probably won't be happy with you having a claim on the house if you aren't named on the mortgage. You will need legal advice, separate to your DP.

Yeah I will do that when the time ccomes. My credit rating is improving slowly but surely and my historic debts will all be cleared by this time next year so maybe delaying by a year or so would be the best option for us.

Thanks for your help.

Surely-slowly

The easiest thing for you to do would be to get married (as marriage is a legal contract). Costs less than £500 for a quick registry office do. No need to invite anyone or have a fancy do, etc.

Or get some good independent legal advice (but this will probably cost you more!)

Or both get a mortgage together (when your credit history is better) as tenants in common where you each have a percentage share of the property. You would also need a deed of trust detailing what would happen if you split up, who could force a sale, etc.

Nip down to the registry office to get hitched, don't need to invite anyone or have a party or spend any other money, pay the £110, since neither of you are fussed, it just gives you legal protection. You can hold a wedding party in future if desired or you want to celebrate marriage as more than a legal formality.

Can people in the UK get married twice? It's not unusual in the USA, the 2nd+ times are just celebratory. In Latin America it's quite common too, one legal formality & a completely separate Church service & bang up party.

I have been in this exact position!

I had to go to a separate solicitor and sign the form mentioned above- it declares you have no legal right over the house. It felt quite scary signing it, the solicitor said "I must advise you not to sign this". But that is all a formality really. It is required by the mortgage company in case they have to repossess.

5 years later my credit rating was clear, we remortgaged with me on the mortgage and deeds.

Remember, your credit rating won't improve just because you pay things off-it takes 6 years for any negative markers to fall off.

If I were you I would repost this on the mortgage forum on money saving expert. There are brokers there who will give advice.

For me, I took the risk of living in my house without any legal rights over it, despite having paid part of the deposit and paying half of the mortgage payments. I wanted us to live together and make a home and of course I trusted my partner.

It is the banks who make these rules, because they are protecting themselves, there is no sentimentality or indeed reason behind it!

We bought our house relatively recently - last year - and had a similar issue. DH couldn't go on the mortgage as he was self employed, only one year's books, and naming him with him having no income reduced the amount we could borrow dramatically. Without him being on the mortgage, he could not be named on the deeds - the bank wouldn't allow it. As far as I know this is now the case with all banks although it may be Scotland specific. It's also a relatively recent change i.e. they used to let you be on deeds not mortgage.

I also discussed with the solicitor whether it would be possible to do some sort of trust deed. The deposit was coming from MIL who wasn't too happy about DH not being named on the property. Solicitor said that because he was acting for both me and the mortgage provider in the purchase (fairly normal) then he couldn't do that as he'd be going against their best wishes.

In the end, we bought with the house just in my name. This worked for us as a) we're married and b) as it's the matrimonial home and we're in Scotland, DH was protected adequately by that.

Oh yes, he had to sign the "no rights" form too - but that only kicks in when repossession becomes an issue, doesn't remove his matrimonial rights.

Can he do it without your small contribution to the deposit? If so, he'd be better off doing it alone. I'd not let a boyfriend contribute a small amount on my home as they wanted a stake in it should things go wrong. I'd want to know my house is safe.

The alternatives are getting married or going 50/50 on the entire thing when the time is right for both of you to do that.

If you get married at the local registry office it might cost more than £110, it did for us anyway.

I read that the fees were £34 per person + a £44 fee on the day. How do the fees break down if I read wrong? Does one expect to give a tip to the registrar on the day, too?

I can't remember the breakdown but the fees went up earlier this year, we paid £250 for the whole ceremony.

I think this is saying £35 per person + £46 for the ceremony + £4 for the certificate if done on the day. But you can pay more for specific rooms in the building (maybe a room fee is compulsory?)

Also says you must fill in the forms minimum 28 days in advance, so I was wrong about a nip down quick job.

We paid £46 for the notice, £200 for the ceremony at the Registry Office and £4 for the certificate. I've just asked my wife for the breakdown

Well definitely not getting married. By not fussed I meant don't want to.

I think the best thing to do is delay it. And to the poster who said they wouldn't want a partner contributing a small amount. Our earnings are hugely different. We will never contribute the same money. Luckily that's not an issue for us.