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?

All the more reason to believe the £500,000 “loan” and KindOpalBear’s
£70,000 weren’t’ declared to the mortgage company plus the fact that KindOpalBear hasn’t signed anything means that if KindOpalBear
Started divorced proceedings today and had assets frozen so no transfers could take place the total equity in the house would be split and without any paperwork stating that the £500,000 “loan” his mother
gave to her DS was used to buy the marital home, the loan would be considered a private arrangement between mother and son to be repaid by ds alone and not out of total marital assets

There is a distinction between you registering your right to occupy the house, and your rights of ownership in the house. Best advice would be to go see a solicitor and get professional advice - many do an initial free consultation, or go to Citizens Advice Bureau.

There is no common law in marriage or cohabiting. You are either married or not. You might build a life with a partner, kids, home etc but if your name is not on the paperwork you will not be entitled to anything. His property will go to his next of kin. So many women are convinced my men that they have ‘common law’ status but it does not exist. Get married to protect you and your children. Never mind a big fancy day, registry office so you are LEGALLY COVERED!!!!

any mortgage has to match the deeds so either there’s no mortgage or it’s in his sole name
lots of couples let one buyer take the lead and if you haven’t bought a house before you don’t understand the process so wouldn’t know what to expect. Sounds like op was going through a tough time so might not remember signing anything anyway. Even if she isn’t on a mortgage, as an adult over 17, she would need to sign a “consent to mortgage form” which prevents squatters rights.
to be added if there’s a mortgage you’d need to do a transfer of equity application and pay the legal and mortgage fees
to be added if there’s no mortgage there will just be legal fees

You need to register your interest (however it is you are required to do that in your country).

If he really wanted to he could sell the house and give the money to his mother.

He has (stupidly) tried to defraud you.

You need to see a family law lawyer immediately.

In my country there are defacto property laws covered by the Family Law Act. They cover property but they don’t cover superannuation so men don’t marry their girlfriends and then they sink all of their money into their superannuation fund. When they break up they become sole traders or register a company and pay themselves only a tiny amount so they can reduce their child support obligations.

Some people also put their family home into a self managed super fund (I know a lady who did this). There are tax minimisation aspects to this. But it can also be a protection measure for defacto property laws.

I think it’s disgusting that the OP’s husband has attempted to defraud her.

Well Mick jagger did it to Jerry Hall
she thought that the Hindu wedding they had in Bali was a legal wedding when in fact it was just a ceremony

when they divorced she definitely didn’t get as much as she would have done if she was actually married it was declared null and void

You need to speak to a solicitor. Now that you know this if you sit in it and do nothing - it’s going to cause issue later. Mumsnet is not a good source of legal advice - you need a sit down conversation with a solicitor.

Not UK, but a friend of ours has just increased the mortgage on the jointly bought property that’s solely in her name and he didn’t know.

it’s become a nasty separation. We’ve advised him to put a caveat on the property until it’s sorted as he has a financial interest.

Yeah, she lent them money. Which she's said "they" are paying back. I.e. his mum did not gift him £500k.

The paper trail of funding leads to the husband"s Mum to the tune of 500k, not sure how this is going to play out TBH, the OP and partner should have rented and saved more.

You need to speak to a solicitor URGENTLY. sometimes you can get legal advice for half an hour free. Do not talk to your husband about this anymore untill you speak to a solicitor. You have your young children to think about too. Something is not right here. Get things sorted legally. Then time to actually sit down & decide if you really wish to stay with a man who has done this to you his wife & the mother of at least two of his children. If you had not had an argument you might not have even found out. He could be hiding other things too. Been in two abuse I've marriages. Things can be very difficult. Sort out the legal stuff re the house. Then sit & think very carefully as you have your very young children to think about to. Maybe marriage guidance? Or maybe some time apart. He seems to be well on with his mother, so perhaps he could stay with her for a few weeks. Giving you both time to work out, what is best to do. The solicitor may even be able to give you advice. Your husband has betrayed your trust at the very least. Hope things work out for you.

This seems like an incredibly expensive house but as you are married, you own 50% of all joint assets. This would be only a problem if you weren’t, which I initially assumed as you said partner not husband. It’ll be expensive to add you to the mortgage mid/term, I personally wouldn’t bother, but it’s up to you.

It’s a matrimonial asset, you are entitled to half of it. Same as anything else.

He sounds shifty and I would find it difficult to trust him after this. You get 30 mins free advice from a solicitor. I would suggest calling them to explain your situation and finding out your rights properly before talking to him about anything. Because yes half is yours in the event of a divorce but I don’t know if as the sole person on the deeds if he would have the right to sign it over to her before it got to that point. I hope that makes sense. I’m sure some legally educated people on here will pop up if they haven’t already - I haven’t read all of the comments. But you need to look at how you need to protect yourself here. Sending hugs 🫂

Agree. There's a lot of people making terrible over-simplifications on here.

@KindOpalBear you need to see a solicitor

He lived there for 18 months before I moved in.

We have lived in the house together for 16 years now (married for 13 of them).

In that case I would say there's a good chance that the court would say that the house has been matrimonialised, and forms part of the marrtal pot to be divided.

This isn’t correct.
There are other types of joint mortgages, for example, a joint borrower sole proprietor mortgage. In this instance, two people are named on the mortgage, but only one is named on the property deeds (giving them sole ownership)

This isn’t true that a mortgage has to match the deeds. I have a joint mortgage with my daughter but I’m not on the deeds. Sole Proprietor Joint Borrower.

So son and mother on the mortgage, son on the deeds?

No, in this case, it’s the son only on the mortgage and the deeds. I’m assuming he only qualified for the mortgage by not being truthful about the 500k loaned by his mum.

Wonder how much the house cost if 500k was only part of it? An internet thread isn"t the place to get advice on this though, the OP needs legal advice ASAP and then a frank chat with the husband.

DH did this to our house. When I found out I insisted my name would be added. At the time we had to go to Croydon to do it in person but hopefully there are better ways now.

I was furious with him - even though you should still be ok if you're married. It was just the principle of it. It infuriates me still even though it was resolved 10 years ago.

Hope op has had advice, and lots of it here,
Hopefully now resolved