Buying property with friends

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I'm hoping to find some other MNetters who have bought property with friends to discuss the practicalities of doing this.

I have NC as I'll share this thread with the others involved and for obvious reasons I'd rather not be revealing my usual MN name to them...

Buying together would be:
A couple
A single friend
Me (I'm a single parent) and DD(3)

We have known each other for years, already spend a lot of time together, and different combinations of us have worked together and lived together before, so we feel reasonably confident that we can make this work.

I have two things I'd like to get advice on:

Finances

I am assuming we should approach a mortgage broker but I am also wondering if there are people who can advise on how to make the purchase work fairly and ensure that everyone's money is as safe as possible.

My biggest concern is that if any one of the group wants to leave, they need to be able to do so and to take any money with them that they have put in. This is where it will become complicated, I fear!

I am in a position to put down a large deposit on the house as I've been fortunate that the value of my house has gone up since I bought it. I am very aware of my need to protect this money as I have a responsibility to DD and myself to ensure that if we move out I would still be in a position to buy separately and stay on the property ladder.

The others have smaller (but still decent) amounts to put towards the deposit. All in all our deposit could be 30% of the property value.

How to find a property when the requirements are a bit unusual

We are looking for either three smaller properties on the same plot where we could each have our own space plus designate some rooms as communal areas, or for a large house whose layout allows us all some of our own space: minimum 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, large kitchen, 2 reception rooms, outbuildings to make into offices and a decent sized garden/plot of land. A big house is something we can search for on RightMove and the like, but the former (three separate properties) is harder to find. Are there agents that specialise in this sort of property hunt?

Use Primelocation.com, the search engine is much better. I would search 'flexible accommodation', 'annex', 'outbuildings', 'holiday let' etc. Are you searching in a particular area? If it were me, I'd suggest each individual buy their own house to let out and then rent somewhere else altogether, much easier to give up a rental than unpick shares in a house sale. That way if things didn't work out, you'd stand more chance of remaining friends.

I bought with a friend years ago, my first property. It was all fine and easy, the only issue that arose was when we decided to sell and that was because she wanted to sell up a bit earlier than me, but it all worked out.
Good luck.

You all seem in very different stages of life so I personally think it wouldnt work
If you were 4 singles then maybe
Seems too complicated and what happens if someone wants to move out in a year?
The couple might have a kid
The single might want to move in with a new partner

Friends of mine did this. They all own different shares of the house, it's a very complex set up and they could only get a mortgage through a second tier lender. There is also a legal agreement stating that house has to be owned for a minimum of five years before any of them can sell up, either to each other or the house going on the market.

Thanks for the responses so far. The Primelocation recommendation is really useful - thank you!

Alexa - anyone could want to move out for any reason, that's why we're considering ways to make this feasible. Its not just about relationships/children; one of us could be offered an unmissable job in another location or something like that.

@CMMum88 - this is really useful. Thanks. Do you think there's any chance one of your friends might be willing to have a chat with us about it if no one on MN crops up with direct/recent experience of this?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster

Maybe post on the property forum of money saving expert. There are lots of brokers on there.