Found out I’m not on a house deeds..

[KindOpalBear]

When we bought the house, our twins were just 4 weeks old and I wasn’t well enough to look into paperwork. I’ve put in £70k my life savings, my partner same £70k and his mother helped us and borrowed us £500k (she basically remortgaged her house to help us). We are paying her loan and our mortgage every month and have been for the last 5 years we’ve been here. Today during an argument my husband shouted that I’m not on the deeds of the house. That shocked me. I’ve paid for title registry on gov.uk and it says the registered owner is him alone, no mention of me. He says that I’m definitely on the deeds but he would need to ask the lawyer to send him documents proving that which will cost £200. Am I being fooled? My heart sunk and I’m just In shock. I feel like him and his mum did this together. Is anyone here who knows legal stuff and can confirm it title registry shows just one person that means I’m not on the deeds?

If you’ve been paying half of everything you don’t need to worry.
I've just been though this and I’m not married. I paid the whole deposit on the house, only me on the mortgage (was MY house and my partner had his own property). He suddenly decided he owned half as he paid 50% of the bills. Had he been paying towards the mortgage I would have been screwed. £6k in solicitor fees later and we now have a deed of trust. But if you are married and paid all of that towards the property you don’t need to worry.
however, it’s shady of your partner to do that to you and I would definitely get your affairs in order now you know.

What an absolute bastard. You need to get a lawyer rather than rely on advice from here.

A male colleague of mine told me quite openly how his mum was helping him to buy a house and how they were keeping it secret from his wife (they have two kids together) so that she would not get any of it in a divorce.

Bastards.

Yes. See a divorce lawyer. Complete the forms for altering the deeds. There are effectively 2 loans on this house. If the mortgage company knew that, they might not have lent in the first place. It’s vital op has a paper trail for her money. A solicitor will need this. Easy to read up advice on what is required in these scenarios. The good news, if any, is that this property was bought after marriage. If before marriage, it’s difficult to argue a share for op. After marriage, and partially with her money, that’s different. Plus it’s about needs and housing for op and dc.

As you and your husband are married, you are one financial entity as you are married. It is the matrimonial home. If you were to divorce , judge would regard your house as a joint asset, even though it's in his name.
If you weren't married it would be regarded as his property.

If you didn’t so go anything on purchase then you aren’t on the deeds. Although you can check via Land Registry for £7 where you can download your Title Register so your husband is full of sh*t saying it’s £200. File and interest and then get him to get it sorted ASAP on official.

I’d get an appointment with a solicitor about the house. It does make me wonder what else he’s hiding.
For me, this would be separation worthy. How dare he.

I did, but it costed me more than £20k in
legal fees plus what I had to pay him to buy him out.

I don’t think it’s true to say it doesn’t matter because you’re married.

If you separate it definitely will matter - and if someone has pulled a stunt like that on me I wouldn’t being staying with them... If you can prove you’ve contributed to paying the mortgage and the deposit you might be entitled to something but you will have significantly less rights / claim than he does.

I own our house with a small mortgage and my husband isn’t on the deeds, but he has also signed something at the request of the mortgage company to say he has no claim on the house. Assume if he hadn’t signed that he could have a claim, but it wouldn’t be very strong.

I'd second this. My DH is from an EU country where the children automatically inherit. Our houses are in his name only.

I also suspect that, given your relatively small input (70k versus 570k) it didn't occur to them to put your name on deeds. Their mindset culturally will be about protecting the children's inheritance and keeping the money within the blood family.

Have a conversation when you're both calm. Try at the very least to get your 70k contribution ringfenced and proportionalised and get your interest registered.

How awful you must feel. A real kick in the guts. Why would he do that? Does he have a will, which gets "his" house if he dies
One thing is for sure this is not fair

Lawyer up & don't discuss it with him until you've had solid advice & taken appropriate action.
Ask Women's Aid if they can recommend a legal firm - the Regulator for solicitors seems to be MIA these days & there's some shady chancers out there so make sure you go to someone competent.

Statistically speaking, husbands tend to predecease wives so what would happen to the property were that to happen is also an issue.

They are both financially dependent on the MIL, IMO they were not in a position to "buy" a house.

Pulled a stunt like getting 500k off his Mum so you could have a house?

I would see a solicitor before you put in for divorce papers. I couldn’t stay with a man who lied about something so important, what else is he hiding? I also wouldn’t be paying another penny towards the loan to his mother.

Ask him for the bank building society your mortgage is in and ask.him for mortgage number then go into the branch and ask to speak to manager, you will also need passport driving licence and a bill with your address on it, then they can confirm if mortgage is in.one name or joint and also you can see at the start how much money was used to buy the house ie how much was put down and how much the mortgage was originally, your husband must have had something drawn up which means if you seperate his mums money either goes back to her or him and not you, it is confusing that you put down £650000 but still have a mortgage, thats one big house

Gii and see a Solicitor pronto. And get yourself out on the deed asap.

Also do you have a Will?

If not get one asao and make sure you get all your entitled to

I think what your husband has down is deplorable

His mother and him are just a pair of low life snakes

Feel sorry for you. This must be very hurtful.

A hug and Good Luck

😻

i understand how upset you are about this. My Aunty discovered when she was 85 years old that her name wasn’t on the deeds of the house. She and my Uncle purchased the house back in the 60’s and the solicitor was old school and just my uncle signed the deed, even though my aunty was there. She said she just assumed it was in both names (first and only house ever purchased). They had (have) a son who was around 5 at the time and by then was 55ish.
My uncle hadn’t realised as back in the day it was normal practice. Sadly my uncle died with a couple of years of her discovering this and the house became hers from his will. But she was terribly upset by this at the time.
I’ve often thought about this complication and wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t been lucky enough to have such a strong long lasting marriage. I hope you sort this to your satisfaction.

Sorry what? Are you asking if I pulled a stunt like op’s husband? No I saved for a deposit and bought myself a property before I was married.

You need to seek independent advice asap and not rely on your husband. Can you prove you gave the money? It does seem like something him and his mum have thought through. Do not just think you get 50% because you’re married.
and what worries me is that ur DH shouted out this fact during an argument. Do you have any friends and family to support you? Good luck.

Yes agreed, but also her day to day spending. If she hasn’t got access to money month over month as he’s the earner, where is that money going and can she access it? Anyone that does something as significant as this cannot be trusted.

It sounds like your husband did this deliberately or he's at least known all along that you're not in the deeds. That would concern me.

Register your home rights with HM Land Registry so the house cannot be sold or remortgaged without you being notified.

If you're not an equal partner he can pay his mums fucking mortgage himself

The Land Registry document is the official deeds to the house so I think if your name isn’t on them then you aren’t on the deeds but you say you have a mortgage and I don’t think you can be have a mortgage and not be registered in the deeds which would make me think you aren’t on the mortgage either or the solicitor that dealt with everything has made a massive mistake. I think you need to do some more digging and investigating here. Hope you get is resolved.

I think those advising that OP's marriage conveys 50% ownership to her are being a bit blasé. If his name alone is on the deeds, there is nothing to stop him selling the house or leaving it to someone else in his will. OP would probably win if she sued him or his estate in either of those events, but it's an expensive faff and enforcement might not be straightforward. Even joint ownership isn't completely clear-cut - difference between joint tenants and tenants in common.