New house in DH name only?

[Housemove2]

NC as potentially outing. DH & I have been together 20yrs, married 10, and yes, we are in a very fortunate position. He owned 2 small properties when we met & we have lived in 1 since meeting. They've remained in his name only. We have no DC and have never had a shared bank account. He has always paid the mortgage, some food & house bills. I pay majority of food bills, water, electric and council tax of where we live.

We'd planned on buying a larger home, and as I'm a 1st time buyer, it was going to be in my name. Last year I was made redundant, had a complicated MC then developed a mild illness, and during that time, was unable to work & used a lot of the savings I'd planned for the deposit. Based on my current wage, I wouldn't qualify for the mortgage amount we'd planned, even with DH's deposit added in.

DH, however, has the collateral from his properties and on his wage, would qualify for a mortgage. Having the new house in both names means IF I could ever afford another house, I'd lose the 1st home buyer grant. BUT, I just feel that this would also be HIS home- despite me contributing in many other ways to it. We have no martial issues at all, but I really don't know where I'd stand IF things ever soured in the future and all the property is solely in his name?

I divorced 2.5 years ago, marital was in XHs name and I had to register MHR when I left him.

I did not qualify for and first time buyer 'perks' because I was entitled to a share of the marital home.

I'd strongly suggest you get a second legal opinion before going ahead (and don't do it, either way).

IME Matrimonial Homes Rights felt very precarious...no input was required from me of my solicitor when the marital home finally sold to say it was ok to proceed. I assume there's some automatic notification system to the Land Reg but I was very surprised.

You're married so you've lost the first time buyer gov option.

I own property, fiancé doesn't. We aren't so much as getting a joint bank account until he's bought a house in his name for precisely this reason.

It seems to depend on how you define having an “interest in a property”.

A first time buyer is defined as an individual or individuals who have never owned an interest in a residential property in the United Kingdom or anywhere else in the world and who intends to occupy the property as their main residence

He has always paid the mortgage, some food & house bills. I pay majority of food bills, water, electric and council tax of where we live

So you pay for him to build up assets in HIS name only?
You pay for the living costs whilst he just pays for the mortgage so he can justify keeping the property in his name only?

If you broke up tomorrow he can throw you out - despite you paying for all living costs and bills.

Sounds to me like he's making a proper mug out of you.

Thanks for the replies. Don't mean to drip feed, but to clarify, prior to my redundancy, I was the higher earner. It wasn't that DH didn't help out when I was ill. Water, electric etc are direct debit from my account, I had savings and got a small redundancy payout.

DH is paid in a foreign currency into an overseas account. We live in that country for several months of the year and whilst there, he pays for ALL food, expenses, bills etc. When there, any rental from our UK property goes to me.

As you can imagine, the tax is very complex, and this is the main reason we've never had a joint UK bank account.

I agree, legal advice is a good idea.

If you broke up tomorrow he can throw you out

That's not true in these circumstances. It would be true if they weren't married. This is the marital home and it's not a short marriage either, so the op has the right to stay. I would still advise her to register those rights with the land registry.

@knittingaddict

You can register your marital rights to the home with the land registry. That means that your husband can't sell the property or remortgage without you knowing about it. It's an HR1 form.

Even without this, the home is a marital asset and you will be entitled to 50%, at least on divorce. Might be more if there were children involved.

How would she be definitely entitled to 50%, she "may" be entitled to a share

The starting point is 50%.

The marriage is of medium duration - 10 years.

The relationship is long - 20 years.

The house is/was bought during the marriage and becomes the family home.

The op isn't getting divorced now. She is just asking what her rights are. The relationship and marriage will therefore be even longer than it is presently.

You're married so you've lost the first time buyer gov option

That doesn't appear to be the case, according the gov lifetime ISA website

lifetimeisa.campaign.gov.uk/

'If you’re buying a home with someone who has owned a property before they don’t count as a first-time buyer. But you can still put your own bonus towards the price of the home you’re buying together'

There are also stamp duty benefits to the property being in your name only, because FTBs pay less, and if your DH was on the purchase, he would pay the normal amount and more on top, because he will own more than one property.

Therefore, as there are significant advantages to this purchase being in your name alone, is there any way to transfer some of his money/assets to you to facilitate this? Eg he remortgages one of his properties to release money for a deposit?

Sorry I meant the house is/will be bought during the marriage.

I wasn't sure if house had been bought yet.

Seems a good idea to purchase the house in both your names for financial security if anything were to happen in the future.
FWIW DH and I don't have a joint account either but our properties are in our names as joint tenants not tenants in common (important distinction)

Joint names is better because if he dies it comes straight to you instead of going into his general estate, where it will be used to pay any personal debt he has. It is also generally much less complicated and faster to process after someone dies if your house is in joint names eg if you find you need to move quickly. Sorry to be morbid!

I mean not as tenants in common though!

You need to be jointly on the mortgage, it really is the only sensible way in my opinion.