Joint or sole mortgage - only one earner atm.

[HeyMacWey]

Thinking about remortgaging to a 10 year fix as it looks like there are a few good deals out there. Neither dh nor I are risk takers with money so like knowing how much we're going to be paying each month.

Dh and I have always had joint morgages. I'm not currently working due to long term sickness - likely to be off for at least a year. Dh is in secure employment. House is in both names.

If we remortgage would it be best to just do it in dh's name? I wouldn't have thought that I'd have added any value to the application and I don't want to hinder it.

Mortgage is only small and for 10 years.

We've always stuck with a joint mortgage even though I stopped paying anything when I had children. I'm paying now, but a smaller % than Dh.

It meant that I was able to talk to them if needed. I could also arrange overpayments when I had some spare cash from a tax rebate etc.

I'd be surprised if having you on the mortgage would hinder the application in any way - even if it doesn't help. We got a small mortgage out recently, and our broker didn't bother putting my income on it (I'm SE, so my figures are more complicated than dh's) because we didn't need the extra income to justify the mortgage. However, it is still a joint mortgage.

I think you have to be on the mortgage if you both own the house.

I think if you're on long term sick it may affect the mortgage application (not an expert, but have heard of this happening to a colleague).

Our mortgage is in my name only (DH's age put him into pensionable age by the end of the term) but we have signed legal documents so that DH is recognised as contributing to the mortgage.

Thanks for the responses. So I could possibly put myself on but not disclose income. I am still employed but have been on ssp since August so my payslips wouldn't really show much.

That's a good point re being able to discuss the mortgage - I do all the finances so it'd be a pita to have to get dh to do it all the time.

I'm not going through a broker - was just going to apply online. I'm wondering if going through a broker might be better.

Depending on the way in which you hold the house (joint tenants or tenants in common) you might be required to be on the mortgage. If you are tenants in common you each own a fixed share of the house. If you are joint tenants you each share the whole house. Therefore if you are tenants in common you might find your mortgage restricted to a smaller sum reflecting the half ownership of your DH but in more general terms the bank needs to know that if you default on the mortgage it can repossess. It is more difficult for that to happen when there's another owner who wasn't responsible for the mortgage. Therefore both owners of the house have to be on the mortgage.

As a disclaimer I haven't bought a house in this way for many years and so things might have changed.

Thanks atticus - We're joint tenants