Tenants in Common on mortgage?

[Planetzog]

My partner and I bought our house 9 years ago. My parents gave us, as a gift, around 100k for a deposit. I dealt with organising the mortgage, solicitor etc. The solicitor at the time advised me to list us as tenants in common rather than joint tenants, to protect the deposit for me in case my partner and I split up, although I can't now find any paperwork relating to this. I don't think my partner is even aware of this - can't remember really discussing it at the time, though we may have done.

Since then, my partner has earned far more than me and has paid most of the mortgage, although we share all our income and have a joint bank account. We are not married, and have three kids.

We are currently in the process of remortgaging, which I am organising. There is the opportunity to 'remove tenants in common restriction' through the lender's solicitor. I am keen to do this, as I've always felt vaguely guilty about the tenants in common thing. Is there any reason why I should keep it? Or is it better to remove it - then presumably we would be the more normal 'joint tenants/owners'?

I'd really appreciate your advice, thank you.

TIC would mean that you could each leave your share directly to your children rather than to each other. In the event one of you needed care then the local authority can only take your share into account and not the whole property (obviously much more relevant as you reach a certain age). Also if one of you died, the remaining partner could marry and potentially have more children / stepchildren . If the remaining partner then died themselves it would mean the new spouse inheriting the whole property rather than your existing children.
With TIC your existing children get your share, not the new family.

If you aren't married then you definitely need to sort out a will too!

As the PP has said, if you die first with JTs your partner will then own the whole of the property and can do what he wants with it. With TIC, you can decide who to leave it to in your will. Typically (though not mandatory), you may want to leave it to him for his life and then to the children - or to the children direct. At least you have the choice then. Equally so does your partner so could leave his share to someone else with TIC so it works both ways.

Personally I'd never own something as JTs.

Thanks so much Tumbled. Would his share be worked out as more though, as he's contributed so much more than me (it's a large mortgage)? Why don't more couples do TIC if it has advantages for the children? Is TIC often advised by solicitors to unmarried couples with kids?

Joint tenants is what used to be standard for married couples but things have moved on and I'd say that TIC is far more common now.

The default for tenants in common is 50/50 but it's up to you and your partner to agree a different percentage share if you both want to.

In our family we had Anne and Bob, they had one child Chris.
Anne died tragically and Bob inherited everything including the house. Bob then remarried, to Diane.
Diane already had 3 children to her ex.
Bob then died. Diane inherited everything from Bob and intends to leave it all to her 3 children.

Chris lost both his parents and got nothing at all in the way of inheritance.

So, most of my family made sure they were TIC, to try and stop similar situations occurring again.

My parents did TIC, my dad died. My mum lives in their property, if she needs to go into a care home then only 50% of the value can be looked at for funding purposes. I own the other 50%.
DHs parents were joint owners. His dad died, leaving MIL sole owner of her property, if she needs care then 100% of the property value can be taken (less £14k in England).

I'm not a legal person but just to give you example of why we've done this in our family.

Keep it if you are not married, and if you can pay some of your salary to the mortgage. Does his mortgage payments to date amount to the 100K you put in?

I'd speak to the solicitor (or a solicitor) to ask about the implication should you split up. It's far more complex if unmarried.

Thanks so much for your replies. Based on your advice, I will keep it as it is. His mortgage payments probably add up to more than 100k, but I've contributed as well because both our salaries have always gone into our joint account. Thanks again!