House ownership in relationships

[Duckling771]

Not at the stage of the relationship where we're looking to move in together and combine finances, but maybe next year
But out of curiosity wonder what others do in similar situations
I own my house, he owns his, both have mortgages, but in effect we could combine finances and be mortgage free in our early 30s if we wanted to
Neither has children to consider

1. Would you rent one house, move into the other.

1. Sell one and pay off one mortgage and split house by amount paid by each
2. Sell both, buy another
3. Something else?

Just to add I'm not the marrying type, have more money in equity, similarly paid jobs. I know people think you should marry for financial stability but when you have the higher level of assets it actually creates instability for you

Interested in what other people do in these situations
I'm thinking maybe option 3 and ring fence a percentage each based on total contributed from each house sale

1 or 3.

By doing 1, should it all go ‘wrong’ you’ll each still have a place to move to. You’ve also got an investment.

Whereas if you went for 3, then bought an investment property, you’d have a significant amount of stamp duty to pay.

However, if you did both live happily ever after, 3 would mean you wouldn’t haven’t the hassle of being a landlord and would be in a larger more suitable property…

You could do 1 initially, and if all is going well in a few years sell the lived-in house, get a joint mortgage and get a larger/joint property for going forwards.

The thing putting me off option 1 is switching low interest rate normal mortgage to an expensive BTL mortgage, tax payments on rental income/possible damage from tenants and can't kick a tenant out instantly if you need to move back and all your money being tied up in the house
I thought if we went for option 3 and we're mortgage free, I could build up some decent savings if I put aside what I previously paid on mortgage if anything went wrong one could move into rented while the other one bought them out of the house

I would go 3. Continue building equity/savings on both side. Both still gaining.

But legally tied up very, very tightly.

I wouldn't bloody well move in in the first place!! Keep it simple. Stay the night. Keep your own place.

@something2say we do stay the night at each others house regularly, but at some point in the future it would be nice to be under 1 roof

When the time feels right I would go for option 3 personally. Sell both & buy a new one equally owned. So it doesn't feel like "your house" or "his house". Plus it should be nicer than either of the current houses if you combine finances.

@Twiglets1 If we equally owned the new house it would worry me as I probably have 3x the amount of equity in my house currently. But he would benefit with being mortgage free, being able to save £700+ a month in mortgage payments plus sharing bills, I think the only way to equally own is by putting same amount of deposit in, but that feels like craziness, because we'd be paying 6% mortgage rate and I would have 10s of thousands sitting in a savings account

You posted the same thing a month ago, were the answers no good?
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/relationships/4816803-house-ownership-in-a-relationship

@johnd2 not saying they were no good, just wanted more opinions and thought the property board may have actually been a better choice for posting

Fair enough I was just thinking I was seeing the same thing again!

Why can't you own the new house as tenants in common in unequal shares (Say 65% and 35% him), depending on the amount you both have available?
You will both then be mortgage free.
If you sell in future you either get your % back of the sold price or you agree to take you initial deposit amounts back and you share any gain 50:50

We rented out my old house, and have done for the last 10 years.

The current diluge of shit on landlords however is making us think twice about selling it since its no longer worth the hassle.

I would do option 3, but if you have more funds do a % ownership. E.g. you own 75%, he owns 25%. He benefits from being able to save and you are both mortgage free. At a later date he could buy the additional 25% from you and you could transfer the equity. There would be solicitors fees, but it would be a drop in the ocean in comparison to the mortgage outlay with the current rates. Not too much to pay to protect your assets if it were to go wrong, I speak from experience.

I'd do option 3 and buy the property as as tenants in common in unequal shares based on the amounts you each contribute. Make sure you have wills as you don't automatically inherit if not married, and consider a Declaration of Trust.

You can buy a house with someone but own different percentage depending on how much money you both put in. So for example one person could own 70% of the equity the other 30%.

A solicitor would be able to advise you how to legally protect yourself if you put in a higher amount.

Ooh Poirots on the case 🕵️‍♀️