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Original poster

Title Deeds why can't I be on them?

36 replies

FusionChefGeoff · 14/09/2017 13:59

As I have recently (last year) started my own consultancy business, our mortgage for our new property is just in DH name as the lenders won't take my income into account until I have 2 years trading history.

Solicitor is telling me that I can't be on the deeds??? She's got stuff wrong in the past and this just sounds odd. Surely if DH wants to 'gift' me 50% of the property then that's up to him??

We are planning to remortgage in 2 yrs so could sort it out then as I will be going back on the mortgage but grateful for any advice here.

Does it have any implications if the worst happened to him in the 2 years and I wasn't on the deeds?

OP posts:
wowfudge · 14/09/2017 14:27

It'll be to do with the mortgage provider and their interest in the property. Can the solicitor advise you how best to protect your interest if you are not on the title deeds, e.g. deed of trust between you and your husband - not that I am sure you can have one between a married couple Confused. That wasn't very helpful of me.

dementiawidow · 14/09/2017 17:14

Yes it does have massive implications. This exactly happened to me. My husband died. The house was willed to me, but I wasn't on the deeds (self-employed, like you). The mortgage company called in the loan as soon as he died. I tried everything to prevent it, but couldn't, even though I could easily pay the mortgage (and had been all during my husband's illness). It also means the house cannot pass to you by "survivorship" in the will and you have to get probate (whereas you would not if you were a joint owner). The whole thing has been a nightmare. You should do anything you can to avoid it... get a part-time job so you can be on the mortgage. I am so angry about the situation I found myself in and really want to counsel you against it if humanly possible.

dementiawidow · 14/09/2017 17:15

Oh, and your solicitor is correct BTW.

Ecureuil · 14/09/2017 17:17

We've just got a mortgage. I'm named on the mortgage and the title deeds despite being a SAHM with no income. They just put me down as a 0% contributor.

PurpleDaisies · 14/09/2017 17:18

I was on the deeds for our first house despite not being a financial contributor.

MrEBear · 14/09/2017 17:20

You can be on the deeds but the mortgage calculated on DH income

pigletpie29 · 14/09/2017 17:21

You can't be on the deeds and not on the mortgage - the mortgage company needs to protect its interest.

You can very much be on the mortgage and the deeds with no income or no proof of income. Did you speak to the mortgage company yourself about this?

inchyrablue · 14/09/2017 17:22

I've been on the deeds of all 6 of our houses, despite only having an income for 4 of them. It was a complete non-issue. I think you need to speak to your solicitor again, or find a solicitor on here to help!

5rivers7hills · 14/09/2017 17:33

Like others say - you can be on the mortgage and on the deeds with zero income - but you can't be on the deeds if you're not on the mortgage.

Bananmanfan · 14/09/2017 17:37

It is definitely possible to be on the deeds when your income is not taken into account. I had a temp job when we bought our house so our mortgage was on dh's income only.

StatisticallyChallenged · 14/09/2017 18:37

You can be on the mortgage and deeds and have zero income taken in to account - but the impact of this is often to reduce the amount which can be borrowed. This was the case for us; as soon as we added self employed DH with no income, the amount we could borrow dropped by about 40K - he was essentially treated as a dependent.

So for us, that wasn't possible and DH couldn't be on the mortgage, which also meant he couldn't be on the deeds.

Nessalina · 14/09/2017 19:25

As others have said, she's quite right. You must be named on the mortgage to be named on the deeds. If you think about it, if this wasn't the case, and you were on the deeds but not on the mortgage and your DH died, then the house ownership would pass to you, but not the mortgage which would leave the debt unpaid. It's not about your DH gifting part to you, he can't gift you what is mortgaged, so you have to be on the mortgage to be on the deeds.
However If you're named on the mortgage as a joint party, but don't have an income you can declare, then the mtg provider will see you as a dependent, and assume part of your DHs wages go to you, which reduces the amount they feel he can afford to borrow. It's worth speaking to the mortgage provider and seeing if you could still borrow what you needed to with you named on it, because if you can, it's definitely the better route to go down. If you can't and it has to be just in DHs name to get what you need, take a short deal (2yrs) and when it comes up you will have enough accounts to be reassessed and added on then.

MiniCooperLover · 14/09/2017 20:47

I'm on the deeds of our home, but not the mortgage as I was a SAHM when we fixed 5 years ago. I'm absolutely on the deeds as we bought together 13 years ago.

Ecureuil · 14/09/2017 20:57

You can be on the mortgage as a SAHM, if you wish.

user1487194234 · 14/09/2017 21:00

You cannot normally be on the deeds unless you are on the mortgage
More and more lenders are making it difficult for SAHP s to go on the mortgage by lending less in these circumstances
Not so bad if you are married but very difficult if you are not
And as a matter of principle totally unacceptable

MonkeyDontTalk · 14/09/2017 21:17

I have been a SAHM for over a decade, I am always on the mortgage and the deeds. We have moved house twice in this time.

Potentially it could reduce the amount the mortgage company offer but that is why we always went through a financial adviser for the mortgage (also complicated by the fact that Dh is self employed.)

This is because of the implications if Dh died like Dementia's Dh, I am very sorry for what you went through Dementia Flowers hopefully it will prevent this happening to anyone else.

Ecureuil · 14/09/2017 21:24

We were looking to borrow quite a lot less than the maximum we could potentially have borrowed so it didn't make any difference to our numbers luckily.

Laaadyofthehousespeaking · 14/09/2017 21:33

FlowersDementiawidow so sorry you had to go through that. I, like many others assumed that if you were married it didn't matter about being on the deeds. I was left off our last houses deeds (on the advice of our solicitor) as at the time (don't think it's valid now) you got a few thousand pounds off the stamp duty for first time buyers, if I would've gone on it, as I already had a place, it would've cost us money we didn't have! But I assumed it would be fine, that if the worst happened it would still be our family home due to paying bills, a will and marriage! OP get on the deeds & mortgage quick sharp
And thank you for highlighting a situation many of us find ourselves in!

user1487194234 · 14/09/2017 22:05

Normally advice would be to get life insurance to pay off the mortgage if the owner dies
Lenders have really changed their position on this recently so people s experiences of what happened in years gone by doesn't really count
To be fair lenders will allow SAHP s to go on the mortgage but will often lend less
Young couples are under pressure to borrow as much as possible

AveEldon · 14/09/2017 22:12

Why are you continuing to use a solicitor who has got stuff wrong in the past?

Original poster
FusionChefGeoff · 15/09/2017 15:20

Ok wow - we have used a mortgage broker who never told us any of this - just accepted that DH only on mortgage as my income couldn't count.

We've just had our 2nd mortgage offer confirmed (1st chain collapsed) so it is quite late in the process to effectively start again and put me on the application. Potentially, this could downgrade our offer and put the purchase at risk.

However, it sounds like we might have to. Or just take a risk that nothing will happen in next 2 yrs (we have full life insurance which would cover mortgage).

What would you do?

OP posts:
Original poster
FusionChefGeoff · 15/09/2017 15:22

Oh and we're sticking with them because a) we had lots of work already done on conveyancing before 1st chain collapsed which would have cost ££ to do again and b) they seem to have pulled their finger out

OP posts:
Ecureuil · 15/09/2017 15:24

Lenders have really changed their position on this recently so people s experiences of what happened in years gone by doesn't really count

My experience is from the past 3 months! I was put on the mortgage as a SAHM and it didn't reduce the amount we could borrow.

Nessalina · 15/09/2017 16:15

I think it can also depend on the lender. For example we've gone with NatWest for our mortgage because they don't consider childcare costs as an outgoing (presumably because they are a temporary expense per-school), whereas a lot of lenders do. It meant they could lend us over £40k more than some lenders! I'd guess that some lenders don't discriminate against SAHP because they could conceivably gain an income we're it necessary?

Nessalina · 15/09/2017 16:20

*were it necessary

I guess in your situation I'd probably leave things as they are and rebroke the mortgage when the deal is up, adding you on then. In the meantime, perhaps drawing up wills and definitely taking out a life insurance policy that would clear the mortgage should the worst happen to your DH would give you peace of mind.

In a way it won't make much difference right now if you were on it or not, because let's say you were on it as a non-contributor, and your DH dies 6 months from now, then they would assess you as an individual wanting to continue on with it alone. You wouldn't pass their affordability, and you'd have to sell up to repay it. So really, having life insurance to clear the balance is THE most important thing.