It's ours not mine - or is it?

[ohthiscouldgetmessy]

Help. This is more for advise than AIBU really. I have rented a house from a family member with my partner for many years, we have probably paid around 50% the current value of the house in rent. We have also spent money on a few bits that needed doing.

Now, here is the tricky bit. I am being gifted the house because we have paid so much in rent and what we have done to it. What we have done, we have done together and will have added value to the house. So essentially what we have paid in rent would have covered the initial purchase price of the property when we moved in. (Due to bad financial decisions by one party we were unable to get a joint mortgage so just continued renting).

Partner is under impression the house will be ours. It is only going to be put into my name as its my family member who owns it. Should I put the house into both our names as we have paid the same into it or would you be looking at the rental paid, expenses paid, take that away from current value and work out percentage? Or just keep it 50/50.

I think 50/50 but want other opinions.

If you were Married it would be joint but you aren’t.

I think you need to get further advice. I would imagine that your relative might have to pay capital gains tax on the sale and I think you should be picking that up. Then if they die within so long is there inheritance tax or deprivation of assets if they need care? You may very well need to get some sort of mortgage anyway.

If you rented a different house and then the relative gave you this house then how would you feel? Personally I would not be putting him on the deeds just yet but I would potentially give him some money for the refurbishment or discuss marriage. If you do put him on the deeds I would get advice on how best to do it as if you die first you won’t want your half to go to him and your dc to miss out completely

I'm going to go against the majority. You've been together for years, and sharing expenses for years. You seem to get along fine, no break up on the horizon. I'd go 50-50.

Of course it's not simple or the poster wouldn't be asking and it wouldn't generate 100 replies.

If two people are in a long-term relationship and want that long-term relationship to continue they won't do things like insist on rent paid being 50:50 but then when suddenly there is good fortune keeping it all to themselves. Clearly the two of them would have bought a house together a long time ago if it weren't for the bad credit history in which case it would already be in joint names and this wouldn't have arisen.

If I was the partner told "thanks for your 10 years' rent but obviously the house is now mine" I'd be reassessing whether a person with that attitude is someone I really want to be with. What's the next bombshell I should expect otherwise?

No, only if OP dies within 7 years of making the gift. Then inheritance tax would come into play, if the value of her estate is over the threshold.

I would get legal/tax advice as others have advisedv and then if you would like to be married put that on the table as it might help you to decide.

You wouldn't have this dilemma if you were married. There's many reason why making a social and legal commitment to each other is important.

It makes no difference to your DP whether the house is in your name or joint names, as long as you stay together and continue cohabiting. If one of you dies or you split up, it will very much matter. He is BU but you should make a plan for predeceasing him.

edited as posted without finishing last sentence and again due to autobastard

I would advise either male or female, not to put it into joint names if it is given just to you. It is a gift from the family member. If they want to give it to both of you then that is what they need to do.

The rent etc already paid is a red herring. you could be kicked out tomorrow and have none of the benefit of that. DP was a bit daft to invest money into doing up the property, unless it was agreed when you moved in, that it was effectively a joint purchase and you would pay rent until you could afford to get a mortgage and buy it from family member, that would be a different story.

If you want to treat it as if you bought it jointly instead of renting, then ask your relative to gift it to both of you jointly. Make sure that you each own your half so that you can will it to who you want.

If you own it solely, then you can't ask DP to pay for any house expenses other than utilities/council tax and food. You would have to pay for buildings insurance, all repairs etc yourself. I wouldn't pay a penny into a house that somebody else owned.

If this hypothetical woman had been a sahm and sacrificed her future financial security to bring up their joint children, then yes.
But I doubt that op's partner is in this position.

OP the house is gifted to YOU. Keep it that way.

Sorry, of course I meant in the event of predeceasing him!

Do you expect to be together forever? If so either get married or leave it to them in your will, if you love your dp and wouldn’t see them on the streets.

Well, in your shoes I would make sure I own the house by myself. If anything happens it should make things legally easier. In his shoes, I would make sure you are both on the deeds.

Honestly I would not do 50:50, my partner and I have paid much more in rent then our landlord paid for the property we are in (partner keeps putting off buying as has wanted to move location for years) but the landlord would never gift us the property - he offered to sell it once. You have to also think about this as security for your children, your relative would not be gifting your partner or his kids a house, this is for you and your children. If you split up you would be back to square one and I doubt your relative will buy you another property. Rent is unfortunately just dead money! Were you told your rent would effectively be eventually be put towards buying the house (hire purchase) as that would make a difference if you both never actually saw it as rent.

Things like buying windows, repairs etc are different, I would take those into account and draw up a percentage of ownership based on that (like 25%). At the end of the day it is a gift to you, if he wants more security he could marry you!

You could both start saving the money that you were spending on rent and get a mortgage for a small second property that is a rental in both your names for added security.

If your going to do it I’d definitely calculate what you both paid all together (maybe by yourself) and see if it’s less than 50% and go for that

I would put it in your own name tbh.

It should be in the name of both of you given that without your partner's contribution you would have not been able to get this gift.
You are being extremely selfish.

Personally if I were in the situation id ask relative to gift it to your children with you and partner having a lifetime tenancy.

This this this
I'd say the same to an unmarried man.
You've got your own dc. Keep it in the family.
Keep it in your name. If you were married then you'd also have a right over his pension. As it is you share your assets with him but not him with you.

Keep your assets and he keeps his. Seems the fairest way. He will save on rent so if he wanted to invest n some security for his own future he could do so easily.

The other option is to get married but I'd think very hard how you are going to support yourself if you ever split if he gets half your house.

I would not be happy if I gave a house to a relative and she then gave half to a partner. He could leave you a week later and take half the value of the house!

Your relative needs to be aware of the capital gains tax position in relation to gifting property.
This would be the relative's tax liability and is separate to any potential inheritance tax if the relative dies within 7 years and the gift becomes a failed PET (potentially exempt transfer).

He's been an absolute mug contributing to someone else's new windows

Of course you keep it in your name. Why would you split it and lose money if/when you split up? I'd also be worried as you say that one party (I assume your partner?) had debts - he could do that again and take out money against your house. Please look after you and don't give money away!

Spot on

I’d do neither of your options. I would mortgage to the value of work he personally contributed to the work done to improve the house and return that to him to use as a deposit on his own buy to let (so he has an asset of his own). The rent is irrelevant as that’s what you paid for the roof over your heads, and is quite literally how renting works.

I would not give him a share when you’re unmarried, as this just makes things more complicated if you do split.

I wouldn’t expect rent from him going forwards, but would expect a contribution to the bills and a clear understanding, in writing, that there is no intention for him to build a share of equity in the house while living there. Then you both know where you stand.

You don’t have shared children and he doesn’t want to offer you the legal protections of marriage, so can’t expect you to do this for him either. Keep it in your name.

Separate the money paid to date from the property.

1. You have both benefited from paying rent at below market value.
2. Your relative is giving you a property.

If you chose to give half of it to your partner then that is up to you, but there’s certainly no need to. If you aren’t married, I wouldn’t. Your partner will presumably benefit from not paying any rent. If this outcome is unsatisfactory, ask yourselves why you aren’t married. It suggests a choice not to blend finances or create financial obligations towards each other.

Even after 14 years together. Not able to buy due to her partners bad credit. Jointly paying for home improvements. You’d still tell her she should not get a share?

I do not believe you would say that on here. Even if you thought it. You’d get lynched