Adding husband to title deeds of house

[thoroclock]

Brief backstory - When DH and I first met 15 yrs ago I had just brought the house we still live in. We are now married and have 2 DC. I have never put DH on the deeds as there was never a legal reason to (mortgage and remortgage were in my name) and it wasn't an important issue to us.

So now, we are in serious debt (for various reasons) and want to take money out of the house to pay it off. We are lucky enough to be mortgage free now.
I am not working due to looking after DC so cannot get a mortgage, DH cannot get a mortgage on a house that isn't in his name. We decided that it was time to put DH on the deeds so that we can get this mess sorted out. We looked into it, it looks pretty simple as no money is changing hands and it's just adding a name to the deeds, but I feel uneasy as we're not getting a solicitor involved. (Can't afford to use one.)

Has anyone else added a spouse to their house deeds and would you recommend getting legal advice?
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Would you not be better off negotiating with the creditors to reschedule the debts, rather than turning unsecured debt into secured debt, which could put your home at risk, unless you address the real problem which is living beyond your means? I would not do this.

Please get some proper debt advice first as per the previous poster so you understand your options before turning unsecured debt into secured debt advice. Try calling Stepchange on 0800 138 1111. Good luck.

I agree with pp, turning unsecured debt into secured debt is a bad idea unless there really aren’t any other options.

Visit the debt free wannabe part of the money saving expert website forum. The posters there are fantastic, very knowledgeable and helpful.

Also try giving step change a call, they are a debt charity and will talk you through the best options regarding your debt.

Whereabouts are you? England/Wales/Scotland/NI? In Scotland it is very different. Getting legal advice is always a sensible idea but as you are married it wont really make much difference.

guessmyusername perhaps you should explain what you mean, because it very much makes a difference, and being married doesn't enter into the equation.

If you don't have bad credit then do a google search for 'Barclays joint borrower sole proprietor'.

If you are in England (and are married as you say) I would be careful. As soon as it is in husband's ownereship or joint ownership his creditors can come after the house whereas now they can't even if he is bankrupted. Also as people say if you go for a secured loan you lose the house if you don't pay the mortgage.

Is there another route? That you go back to full time work despite the children and both share the childcare costs 50/50 and also take weekend jobs to get out of the financial mess rather than risking the children's home?

As there is no mortgage in terms of property transfer and assuming you are in England, if you do want it in joint names as "joint tenants" it shoudl not be that complex although even I a lawyer would not do it myself as I don't do property law. I presume it is some kind of transfer form, that you have to be careful you make it joint tenants (or tenants in common and if so your respective shares) and that you check to ensure you get back from the Land Registry the clear new registered title document showing you both.

If you get a new mortgage or your husband does (the lenders who offer joint owners with only one on the mortgage might be the way for you if some banks will not let you be on the mortgage) then you will have to have a solicitor for that as the bank insist on it so that solicitor as part of the same transaction could do that legal side - stage one transfer from your name to joint or husband's and then stage 2 the mortgage taken out.

If you put it entirely in your husband's name (not wise unless the debts are in your name and you might go bankrupt but even then the transfer might be set aside as designed to avoid creditors) then register at the Land Registry a spousal right of occupation in the home - there is a form for that otherwise he could sell the house without telling you and escape abroad and you never see the proceeds again.

Thank you all so much for your replies.

We are in England. We have looked at consolidating the debt into one loan (all currently on credit cards, roughly 60% my name and 40% in my husbands) but the repayments are still too large for us to realistically manage. We thought that a mortgage would be sensible as it would 'only' be borrowing about 6% of the value of the house and the repayments would be far more manageable, but I understand the risk of making an unsecured debt a secured debt, and so should really look at this again.
Ours credit ratings are currently very good (oh the irony) and so we want to avoid any action that would impact that.

Thank you again.