owning part of freehold

[Realhousewivesofcroydon]

Hi, my situation is this: before marrying, my husband and I owned two flats separately. I sold mine, he still has his. The proceeds from my sale are in a savings account, as even with that as a hefty deposit we can't afford to purchase a house whilst I am on maternity leave. My husbands keen for my money to be 'working' for us and has the opportunity to purchase the freehold of his property. We're thinking of doing this using some of my savings. He has said I will jointly own the freehold whilst the mortgage will remain in his name. I'm wondering what benefit there would be for me in having half of the freehold but not being half of the home owner? His reasoning for not putting my name on the mortgage is it was his for many years before we got together and that its his 'pension' as he doesn't have any other. My feelings about that are probably better aired in AIBU or Relationships but for the moment I'd just like some advice on the implications of jointly owning the freehold only, so that I know what I'm dealing with. Grateful for any advice available, if you've got this far! THANKYOU

Not an expert but my understanding would be this: If you become a joint freeholder with your husband then you are both on the title deeds as proprietors of the freehold. Therefore you would be part owner. You can be Joint Tenants (50/50 share) or Tenants in Common if you prefer to own the property in unequal shares. Are there any other tenants or freeholders at the property, i.e. downstairs/upstairs flat? The mortgage company would be advised by your solicitor if you are to purchase part of the freehold and while you DH may continue to pay the mortgage, I think you'll find that you cannot go on the title deeds if you are not also on the mortgage.

Thank you - that's very interesting. The first floor is owned separately by a woman who is not interested in buying a share of the freehold, which frees it up to my oh. Thank you for your input - it's very useful to know.

You will have to appoint a solicitor in any case to purchase the freehold so it would be worth taking advice from them as to the requirements of the mortgage lender and land registry.

Alternatively, would you consider buying a property in your own name which you could rent out and earn income on, then at least you still have a valuable asset for your pension fund and your DH's pension fund would not be affected either?

Owning the freehold means you would struggle to realise your investment for years. If he owns the leasehold, which will have over 50 years to run (if he has a mortgage), he could still kick you out and you would be unable to do anything until the leasehold ran out. He could also force you to sell him the freehold in the future.