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Original poster

Buying a new home under his sole name

54 replies

Queenxaos · 08/10/2017 10:35

My husband and I have been married for several years and have young children. We are buying a new home and he has decided he wants to do it in his sole name as it is easier for him to do the paperwork because he works in the city, near to our lawyers. I have not worked since we had the children and I have no problem with his plan. The deposit and mortgage will be paid by him as I have no savings. Does this mean I don't own our family home?

OP posts:
Badweekjustgotworse · 08/10/2017 13:12

We've done this to avoid the increased stamp duty on a second home as we're keeping my house on as a rental property, my house is my name and the new family home is in his. I had to sign a document with the bank on completion of the purchase waiving any claim I had on the property in the case of divorce to protect the banks interest. Saved us 6k in stamp duty.

AveEldon · 08/10/2017 13:19

Badweekjustgotworse - if you are married then you still have to pay the extra stamp duty

Phillipa12 · 08/10/2017 13:19

I am on a joint mortgage taken out last year just after my exh and i divorced, i have been a sahm for the last 6 years, our mortgage application was perfectly successful as a couple, and a divorced couple at that!

GreenTulips · 08/10/2017 13:19

Let me tell you about my friend

Husband owns the house in his sole name and has buggered off with OW and now has a child

His wife and existing 4 kids live in the home

She can not work due to disabled child - council won't help with council tax etc and can't rehouse her as she 'owns' the house

He refuses to pay maintenance or maintain the house - one room is unliveable due to damp

They council want to force the sale to pay for the outstanding tax payable

She can't force a sale as she doesn't own the property

Any payment will go to him as he's the registered 'owner'

So get a joint mortgage and get on the deeds - Don't leave yourself in this situation

AveEldon · 08/10/2017 13:20

Queenxaos - do you already own a home that you are selling or is this your first purchase together?
How will you know how much he's borrowing if you aren't part of the purchase?

Original poster
Queenxaos · 08/10/2017 13:36

This is our first purchase, ( both for him and me, we don't own any other properties in uk, but I do own overseas and have my safety net)

I'm in it every other way and I know all the other details, I filled the forms etc etc. How ever we ddnt try applying for joint mortgage as DH assumed it won't be successful.

I'm a bit confused now ddnt think this would be an issue

OP posts:
JoJoSM2 · 08/10/2017 13:43

A family with one stay-at-home parent is a common set up and banks lend to them without a problem.

Bluntness100 · 08/10/2017 13:43

I think you should both speak to the mortgage company together.

I’m uncomfortable with thr fact, it’s your first purchase, and your husbands story keeps changing, first it’s easier, then it would be unsuccessful.

Mortgages are done on affordability. He can’t lie and say you don’t exist if you’re married, the mortgage company will ask about you. They will look at his outgoings.

I’m sorryit seems your husband simoly wants to buy the house in his name and that’s it.

BarchesterFlowers · 08/10/2017 13:45

Queen - we obtained a joint mortgage (although not in the current mortgage regime (2009)) and bought in joint names when I wasn't earning anything, I retrained after I had DD and was a full time self funded student.

If it was me I would tell DH that you have got concerns, tell him why, ask him to arrange for you to speak to whoever it is he is dealing with.

glovesonstrings · 08/10/2017 13:53

This is interesting. I wonder what would happen in this hypothetical situation:-

Man buys and owns house in his name only. Marries and does not include wife on the deeds. They have children so wife is safe in the knowledge that the house would be taken into consideration if they divorce because it's the children's home. Children grow up and leave home. Man decides to divorce. Wife has never worked and the house is still solely in man's name. What would the settlement be for the wife in event of a divorce at this point?

mistermagpie · 08/10/2017 14:05

Even if you are not named jointly on the mortgage application I don’t think he can just pretend you don’t exist to avoid you being named as a dependent. You’re married, the lender will need to know about you whether he likes it or not.

Not all lenders class a spouse as a dependent, mine doesn’t (Halifax). They just got my husband to waive his rights to the property and then sort of ignored him. This is what you would need to do, and it’s as much paperwork as if you were named on the mortgage anyway, in terms of ‘signatures’, so his ‘it’s easier’ excuse makes no sense.

oooooohhhlalaaa · 08/10/2017 14:05

Seems v odd to me. Our mortgage is in joint names and I am SAHM. No problem for us and I don't have any earnings. Both our names are on deeds.

FactsAreNotMean · 08/10/2017 14:22

Halifax are my lender mistermagpie, and they drastically reduced our maximum borrowing with DH named. They know about him, he signed the appropriate forms to waive rights in the event of repossession but he's not a party to the mortgage.

FinallyDecidedOnUserName · 08/10/2017 14:25

Hmm my DH & I own 3 properties and my name is on all 3.

Very suspect.

ninjapants · 08/10/2017 14:31

gloves wife would be entitled to half the equity and retain the right to live in the marital home, exactly the same as the husband.

ninjapants · 08/10/2017 14:36

Our house is mortgaged in my name only, so the deeds are in my name only too. Couldn't get a mortgage with DH due to his poor credit rating and the mortgage lender obviously wouldn't allow his name on the deeds but not the mortgage.

I guess I'm up to no good Hmm

Is this a possible reason OP?

JungleExplorer · 08/10/2017 14:38

I have been a SAHM for 13 years. Not earned any money in that time.

In that time we have moved house twice. I am on the mortgage and the deeds for this house, and the last house and the house before that when I was working and my salary was taken into consideration.

I would want to be at any meeting regarding a mortgage solely in Dh's name to find out for myself what the implications are of not being on the mortgage or title deeds.

I would not rely on someone telling me it was because of X, Y, Z.

Get legal advice now before this sale goes through.

johnd2 · 08/10/2017 14:41

It does make a difference to how much you can borrow, how much stamp duty you pay if you're not married and the other one already owns property, and even eligibility for the mortgage if one isn't British or EU citizen.
In our case we were suggested to go with only me on the deeds and it would have saved plenty of money but we refused and chose only from the deals that let us both on. We were lucky in that we could afford that.
However we made sure we both understood and were happy with the situation. Having one person do all the finances is fine until something happens to them.

BarchesterFlowers · 08/10/2017 14:51

John, DH is not a British or even EU citizen. It has never made a jot of difference on our mortgages, three to date.

mistermagpie · 08/10/2017 14:52

Facts our situation is a bit different because I never tried to get a mortgage with DH on it, so I’m not sure how it would have affected our maximum borrowing. I do know that he isn’t classed as a dependent though.

I bought our house by myself because I used the help to buy scheme and under that scheme you are not allowed to own another property. DH did, so I bought ‘our’ house alone.

LittleMissCantbebothered · 08/10/2017 15:03

Make sure your name is on! If not, he could borrow against, remortgage for more money, sell, dispose of, or do anything with it, all without your knowledge or agreement.

You could see the equity depleted to nothing, and all of a sudden your 'marital asset' is worth nothing.

PragmaticWench · 08/10/2017 15:40

Whatever happens, you should be able to see the mortgage advisor and solicitor yourself rather than rely on your husband passing back information.

This could have huge implications for you, or it may not, but why would you risk not being informed properly?!

FactsAreNotMean · 08/10/2017 15:41

You basically have the same setup as me then mistermagpie- the only reason I know is because I'd run all of the figures through the online calculator (very accurately!) but there was a glitch on the calculator that meant that you couldn't list a second borrower but put the income as zero, so I just ran it in my name. When I then called them to do the full decision in principle the max lending was about 50K less - the advisor realised that was what had caused the issue and tried running with everything else identical but DH not being named and the figure changed to the expected number. This wasn't a credit rating issue either, it was the dependent issue mentioned above.

Seems crazy I agree, but it would have made the difference between us buying and not buying and as a result we did have both take advice on it and end up doing it in my name only.

ArcheryAnnie · 08/10/2017 16:20

Your husband won't be paying for the house alone - you will both be paying for it, with family money. The fact that you don't get a salary for the work you do to contribute towards your family life is irrelevant.

Don't agree to this, OP.

Ttbb · 08/10/2017 16:26

You will have an equitable interest. I wouldn't worry about it.

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