Disparity in house deposit

[MyRealRoseDeer]

My partner & I are hoping to buy a flat this year. I have approx £50k while he has approx £17k saved. These savings are to go towards the deposit & closing costs. I managed to save, in part, because I lived with my parents for 18 months. Would it be reasonable to ask my partner to sign a legal agreement that, in the case of separation, we get our deposits back ( and split any equity 50/50). Any other suggestions on how to approach this? If we marry ( as planned) any agreement would be void. Thanks!

I did this but rather than ringfence a monetary value I specified my investment as a % of the house value at purchase so it the house increased in value I would get that increase in my investment back.

Will you both be paying the mortgage equally? It’s fine for you to ring fence your deposits but you may need to it a caveat in there for what happens if you are in negative equity when you sell.

I'd be more inclined to list your deposits as percentages of the purchase price. So if you sell in 10 or 20 years, you'd get back your percentage of the sale price as would he. Remaining equity would be split 50:50.

Hi. Yes this is possibly and fairly easy. I did it when my partner and I but bought our first house.

Very sensible to do so. There was a post in the last day or two from someone who didn't ringfence their deposit where both OP and partner were on the deeds of the property. Partner moved out after 2 months and stopped paying towards the mortgage. Partner is entitled to half the equity in the house despite not paying towards it.

As PP says, you can either ringfence the monetary value or the deposit as a percentage of the house value. But work out how to split the other costs, not just the deposit.

The plan is to pay the mortgage equally, but as I earn about 30% more than him (net) it would be more equitable to split the mortgage accordingly ( as we do with our rent).

When DS moved in with his girlfriend she paid the deposit on their flat and he insisted on a legal agreement that would give her a greater equity in the flat should they split up.Reader, she married him.

You will be asked by your solicitor how you wish to hold the property. You should say "tenants in common in unequal shares". You can then specifically say just how those shares are held. You can also ask a solicitor to prepare a declaration of trust but that might be overkill. This is all something the solicitors can deal with.

Here's the thread from a poster who didn't ringfence their deposit:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5285707-to-expect-my-ex-to-relinquish-his-share-in-my-property

Yeah that's what we did. Signed a declaration of trust to ring fence the deposit amounts and then all equity is 50:50 as we make the monthly payments equally. Quick and easy to do through the solicitors.

I asked how to protect my deposit and my solicitor said, "You don't really want that do you, you're married!". It caused huge problems when we divorced, I was enormously disadvantaged. Please ring fence!

You should also plan ahead for pregancy and child care.

As you are the higher earner it would make financial sense for him to reduce hours and his income over the long term to cover school runs etc.

And quite right too!

Entirely reasonable. If you’re also going to pay more of the mortgage I’d go with tenants in common in unequal shares as a pp mentioned. For example the deposit is around 75% you 25% him, not sure what your earning disparity is but if you’re happy to pay 75% of the mortgage you could stick with those shares. There are also other options like a deed of trust just for the deposit.

incidentally, if you’re not able to have an open and reasonable discussion about this where both of you are trying to be fair, please don’t move in with him!

Put in the same as him and keep your money