First Time Buyers

[geranium66]

Daughter and her boyfriend are looking to buy a house together.
They are not planning to get married for a couple of years.
What legal things should be in place to protect both of them regarding the house, should their relationship break down.
Currently he earns more than my daughter and has a slightly greater deposit.
I’d really appreciate any advice that I could give them.

Not a solicitor- they should of course check all this out with their own legal advisor. But I would say they should buy the house as tenants in common with a deed of trust setting out how the ownership is divided - this means they each own a defined share of the house. They can divide it either so that they each own a percentage reflecting their contribution - so if for instance he is providing a 20% deposit and she is providing a 10% deposit with the remaining 70% being a mortgage, he will own 55% of the house and she will own 45% (their initial % plus half of the 70% remainder).

Or they could set out that when the house is sold, first any mortgage is settled, then they each get their deposit back, then any remaining equity is divided 50:50, or they could do more uneven shares if the boyfriend will be contributing more to the mortgage so could go for more of a 60:40 divide or whatever seems fair to them.

They should both make wills and let the other know what they are putting in about their share of the house - left to the other person or to parents, siblings. a charity etc. As they are not married intestacy laws mean their share of the house would automatically pass to parents if they were to die without a will. They might want to consider life insurance if not covered by death in service benefits from work as in the (very unlikely!) event of the death of the other they would probably have to sell the house unless the remaining partner can afford the mortgage alone. If they are covered by death in service benefits make sure they nominate their partner (or whoever they are leaving the house to) to ensure the mortgage can be settled.

If they wanted to be super clear/cautious, they could also write and sign a cohabitation agreement setting out matters like their intentions in case of a split e.g. whether the house should be sold or whether ideally one would buy out the other, ownership and division of any furniture or sentimental/valuable items etc. Such a document would not be legally binding of course but it can help just to set things out in case of a later dispute...

Thank you Maxelly that's really helpful.