Buying house with partner

[WhoevenamIinlife]

So I own my own home - I purchased it with sales from my old ex marital home to live with my 2 DD.

Few years later I meet new partner he moves in pays 50% of running costs. We have another baby. Partner on a salary of £35k so unable to save much. Has no savings before meeting me or own property.

We want to get a bigger place and partner wants to get on property ladder.

Issues arising - he is a contractor on £650 a day so income is huge but not a permanent contract. He has saved near £10k since December so I know he is able to save but nowhere near to match equity in my home already. I should have about £300 - £350k by the time we want to buy. He obviously cannot match that but does want 50/50 ownership and has suggested I put down the deposit and he will cover all mortgage payments forever... so at the end of the mortgage he would've paid off the same as I put in if not more.
My concerns - it's contracting not guaranteed and what If we decide to go our own ways. How can I protect my deposit, allow him to feel he's 50% owner but also get the bigger home we need for the children.

AIBU in feeling uncomfortable about his proposition? I trust him but I need to protect my assesses especially as I have been working hard over paying to have as much equity as I do.

No way would I agree to this

You can’t give him 50% ownership as he’s contributing nowhere near that! If you sign as joint tenants or tenants in common with 50:50 and you split you’ll lose half of your money

I’d only agree to buy if it’s tenants in common with unequal
shares -90/10 or similar and an agreement to review periodically with a view to changing that over time

do not cave in

you may trust him but so did EVERY single divorced or split couple. If you do joint tenants or 50:50 he could literally split with you a week later and would legally be entitled to that 50%!

Partner on a salary of £35k so unable to save much. Has no savings before meeting me or own property.

why?

How old are your daughters?
and Op… was there really any need to move him into their home?

I can’t believe this is someone you’re about to bring a life in to the world with

Do not buy a property with this man. Of course he wants to get on the property ladder, at your expense.

Absolutely no way should you consider this. Protect your money for your (and your DCs) future. He has no right to ask for 50% of your home

I wouldn't be buying wothnsomeone whi has shown that they save nothing until now and has decided they can suddenly save £10k in 2 months. I would want to see sustained, regular savings. Because if you do it his way and split up, you'll be the one moving out.

And where did the £10k in 2 months comes from? He says contracting, I'm hearing gambling.

Either way…. He wouldn’t be living in my children’s home!

They have a baby together!

Read the op

she moved him in before pregnant 🙄

Can you do it by percent as tenants in common with an annual review as his percentage rises?

So when buying the new house he puts in his 10K and you put in your £350k to buy a house at say £500k. So he's put in one fiftieth (or whatever it is, my math sucks) so he gets one fiftieth of it.

If it goes up in value he gets one fiftieth of the value. If he's covered a bigger part of the monthly mortgage repayments then his percentage of ownership rises on review.

I'd seriously be questioning how decent a guy is that wants you to sign over half your house to him before he's even paid a penny. WTF.

I think you're right to be concerned. I'd be more likely to buy a new house in my own name with a view to halving the monthly repayments, bills, everything. And if the value rises then he's entitled to his half of whatever it is. ie it's all in your name and relies on you 'doing the right thing' rather than him. A woman with kids has to protect her inheritance.

No way in hell I'd marry him as prenups are not legal in the U.K. and he'd potentially and immediately be entitled to half your house. Unless you had a really good lawyer.

Why isn't he already on the property ladder? Because whatever reason that is may still be relevant to his ability to pay in the future, leaving you having to do it...

Don’t do this. Maybe you could allow him to “buy in” for a share, eg 20% once he has saved enough. Maybe further in the future he could increase his share once he’s saved even more/made enough of the mortgage payments. You’d be extremely foolish to sign over 50% of your house now on the promise of future mortgage payments which are not guaranteed and would take a very long time to match your contribution/equity.

Absolutely No way you should agree to his idea. You’re uncomfortable because your dp is proposing to take financial advantage of you. If you really must help him get on the property ladder, do what @millymollymoomoo suggests, with ownership directly proportional to equity you each put in at the outset and agree to review ownership based on amounts paid in over time. This should be adjusted to ensure you both get proportional distribution of any equity gained during that time according to your investment at that time.

fwiw I agreed to a similar arrangement as your partner is suggesting with a partner years ago, for much smaller amounts. We split up a few months after he’d paid some savings in to even up investment. I’m still paying the mortgage on the amount I had to borrow to buy him out. We were together for 5 years. It cost me £100,000 because house prices had risen. He had put in £30k, including paying his half of the mortgage on a monthly basis.

You can’t ’allow him to feel 50% owner’ unless you’re prepared to gift him £175k (potentially much more more if your house rises in value), which it doesn’t sound like you are. And nor should you. Your work, your sacrifices over the years, your equity, not his.

Yes I agree I would want a clause to protect my deposit - we have a child together and we live together as a family unit. We need a bigger house but he wants to own too and has suggested we wait until he's saved enough but I would like to do it sooner rather than later as my DD need their own rooms etc. tenants in common with the percentage to represent deposit sounds ideal.

partner is a contractor - hence the rise in savings and £10k savings

You ring fence your deposit in an agreement signed by you both and approved by your solicitor before purchase.

we did something similar. I put down a 15% deposit, my DP put down 5. So the first 15% is mine, 5% is his and any equity above that we split equally. This also keeps the inheritance of each other’s assets fair for our respective children (both had children from previous relationships so our wills will be leaving money to different children and I didn’t want my DS to lose out on his share of the equity I had already built up and put towards the deposit. Neither did my DP).

FYI we paid all other costs equally (including the stamp duty which can be a lot, so his 10K won’t all be deposit).

Propose tenants in common.

You can split the percentage of a property depending who has contributed what.

So if you have a 100k house, and you put 50k down and the rest is shared, your % is 75% theirs is 25

Do not do anything else. You need to protect your 350k

It's easy to set up, your both owners, if one goes bankrupt, the other isn't responsible. Many benefits as u married people. Look into it.

Don't put 350k in and give him half. You'll be responsible for payments if he doesnt pay

"He obviously cannot match that but does want 50/50 ownership"

Read that again to yourself OP. Why is he calling the shots on this? Protect yourself and your children.

Protecting deposit by ring fencing the deposit amount isn’t enough protection because house prices generally rise

do as toomuchfaff says!
:
So if you have a 100k house, and you put 50k down and the rest is shared, your % is 75% theirs is 25

This is so useful thankyou. Can I ask who you went to to get the agreement written up.?

Solicitor who is doing the conveyancing will draw that up.

He’s moved in with you with no savings and no property - but has managed to save 10k in less than three months once he’s got a sniff of 50/50 on your 350k equity.

Not a fucking chance I’d become financially entwined with this grifter.

I was trying to come up with an example including the 350k but it's Sunday morning and the maths wasn't mathing 😆

OP, you need independent (not with your partner) legal advice, I would imagine from a firm specialising in both family law and conveyancing. DO NOT buy a property with this man without seeking advice to protect yourself and your children. He couldn't buy without you. Don't let him use you for his benefit, put your children's security first.