Should I split equity in house I own solely?

[AquaSwan]

This ended up being long- sorry!

Partner and I have been together 14 years, met at uni. I have always saved and been good with money, he always hasn’t.

Three years ago I reached a stage where I had enough savings for a deposit on a house, we were renting which was going to be similar price to the mortgage. Partner had a couple of grand saving which he put towards solicitors fees etc, but house was solely in my name, mainly due to his poor credit score. His family also ended up giving him £5k which went towards furniture etc. Deposit was £12k.

We both pay the mortgage, and since having our daughter I now pay proportionately less as I’m now part time. We both earn the same full time equivalent.
I told him that I was happy to pay the deposit (as I wanted to buy) but we agreed that he would save and contribute more towards our next house.

So, three years later we are now looking to move to a bigger property, and will need to have a joint mortgage to afford this. I find out my partner has not saved, and has some debt I didn’t know about (completely unnecessarily as we earn a fine amount for our outgoings). I have also paid for other things eg. our car family upfront and let him pay me back over a long period, losing me money in interest. I have continued saving and it looks like I am going to have to cover all the fees, removals etc (around 10k) and he will pay me back again.

So, considering all of this I brought up writing up a deed of trust going into the new house. I am still nervous being linked to him financially and it doesn’t seem fair that I should split all the equity from a house not in his name that I’ve put effort in saving for etc, I was thinking about taking off his mortgage contributions plus the couple of grand he put towards fees.

He was not happy about this and feels he should get half the equity, less my deposit as we have both been paying the mortgage.

All of this is hypothetical seen as as long as we stay together it will all just go towards the house, but it’s a ‘just in case’ as don’t want to put myself in a vulnerable situation or lose out, especially now we have a daughter.

Do you think this is fair? Am I being unreasonable? Really unsure so posting for the first time!

We have a joint pot for household outgoings, but not savings. That is a good idea going forward, and allows us both to be accountable. Thank you to those who suggested.

Others will advise better on the split, but you should also consider his parents’ £5k contribution, it was a choice to spend it on furniture but it was part of the capital sum you had available to put down as a deposit so should be taken account of in the same way.

My gut feeling is that he’s earned his share of the equity in your current house through paying the mortgage.

How you go forward I don’t know. I would have very little confidence in someone who had failed to stick to a financial plan we had agreed on, and also I would be asking why on earth I didn’t know until now.

He is absolutely right. He was paying the mortgage on the property for three years and he should benefit from splitting the equity minus your original contribution. His savings are irrelevant and your lager contribution can be accounted for in the next house equity split.

You are partners rather than married fortunately for you. Split the existing equity according to contribution I.e. you get a part that wholly represents your original deposit including any increase in value, then you get half each of the rest.

How do you generally share money and what are your plans for the future re: marriage?

If you pool your money, consider this a genuinely life long partnership and intend to get married I'd be more inclined to just half the equity even though you put up more of the initial contribution. There isn't really a huge disparity in what you have both contributed including fees/furniture etc.

If you don't intend to marry and you aren't sure about the future you need to protect your assets as best you can.

We had a Deed of Trust drawn up when purchasing my current house (20 years ago now!). The circumstances were different - my DP and I had both sold properties but had released different amounts of equity - I think I had 60k and she had 120k. So the Deed stated that, in the event of a sale, we would each walk away with x percentage of the sales proceeds but that was on a scale so by the end of year 10 (it was a 15 year mortgage) we would both get 50%. I had young children at the time so it also said that in the event of a breakup I would have the right to remain in the house until the youngest was 18. If I could pay the mortgage of course!
Given the huge difference in our equity, this seemed the right thing to do at the time, and I had no issue with it at all.

There really isn’t that much of a difference in your initial outlay if you consider his 5k towards furniture which I presume you used. It’s now 14 years later and he’s paying the mortgage while you work part time bringing up your child. You are splitting hairs.

If he had a poor credit score to start with and now has additional debt are you sure he will actually help you on a mortgage application? I would test this out first, it may well be a moot point.

I also wouldn't link myself to someone who had hidden debt from me.

Do you actually need a bigger house, or do you just want one? If you can cope where you are for a bit can you say you will buy somewhere together by he needs to clear the debt, save x amount of money and take steps to improve his credit score?

Typo-my deposit contribution was 16k not 12

You own the house solely as he had a poor credit score before. Since then he's secretly accrued debts.

Do you want to be financially linked to him? He doesn't sound very responsible.

Have you even checked if you could get a mortgage together?

So you put in £16k and he put in £7k. Your contribution was approximately 2.28 x his. You used £2k for legal fees etc and £5k for furniture, leaving £16k to be shared between you as above.

To be strictly fair, that equity, whatever it is now, belongs to both of you in the proportion you put in.

So without his contribution of 7 or8k how would you have paid for the fees and furniture? Would you have had to buy a cheaper house?

16K you
7K him
10K you (now)
He's paid >mortgage but you have facilitated his job by providing childcare.
Both of you needed for joint mortgage.
Loss of interest on car repayments and loss of interest on the 5K he will be paying you back.
You ought to have 10K ringfenced just for you then split the profit 50/50 as the original difference between you is 9K.
Add on an extra grand for interest on the 5K lump sum "lent" that is being repaid slowly and from the car pending how much that outlay was.
Mortgage payments on his part balance out you being a SAHM (are you getting pension from claiming child allowance, even if you aren't receiving it?).
Going forward, % of his salary goes into your savings account or a joint one that cannot be touched.
Unless your relationship is teetering/over, in which case you need to stay put until you can go back to work full-time then you'd need to pay him back the £2K/ the mortgage payments and give him all the furniture. If you are married though and he has proof of paying it and it was not an amicable split, I'd expect he'd fight you on it.

This is how I would see it too. Did you discuss finances before having a child?

This.

You bought the house as a couple even if technically on paper. You have built a life together not just had him move in.

But I would absolutely lose my shit over the secret debt.

That is a bigger problem than 50/50 on the house.