Buying a house when one of you has more money

[Tiba]

On managing house buying when one of you is better off than the other-

I had £50k and wanted to buy a house.
My boyfriend had no money, but we wanted to live together.
We live in the SE so my £50m together with my salary was not enough to get me into a shed let alone a flat or house.
However, my £50k plus my salary and DP's salary was enough to be lent a mortgage on a small house.
We therefore bought together and my £50k is in the house.
I don't expect DP to save up an additional £50k to make things even between us as there's not a lot left over at the end of the month and he earns slightly less than me.

Reading anther thread has made me question if this is normal.
But what would be the point in my keeping my money in a savings account for me only and continue renting with boyfriend because he can't contribute the same initially?

If it were me, on the house deeds rather than agreeing to a 50/50 split in ownership I'd be taking a greater percentage to reflect the fact that I had put in 50k more - so, if they house is worth 150k, you should get 2/3 (becaus who you've put up 50k and are paying another 50k as half the mortgage) and your partner then gets 1/3. You're both contributing equally to the mortgage but you are also keeping your lump sum investment

My DH's parents gave us £50k and we have just bought a house. I put nothing in, pay nothing towards the mortgage ( I'm on mat leave and only work part time anyway) and it's 50:50. We are a partnership so it's ours. Not part his part mine...

I've been in this position where I had more than DP, I bought our house with DP last year and as PP said we split the share of the house based on how much money we had put in and have it in the deeds, with the view that if anything happened and we split up then we'd pay off what we owe and then split the remaining using the percentages in the deeds.

General rule on MN is that "all money is joint/family money".

Yet on most threads referring to property, that seems to go out of the window.

What shylo said. Anything else is neither fair nor sensible.

You should own a greater percentage of the house.

It's reasonable to do so long as it is agreed that if you split the fraction of the house that was bought with your 50k (say 20% if it was a £250k property) is yours so if the house is worth £300k at that point that's £60k, then all remaining equity is split 50:50 so he doesn't unfairly benefit from your capital.

Of course if you are together forever and you eventually make mirror wills leaving all assets to each other then it doesn't make any difference whatsoever.

We had similar situation with unequal amounts put in as capital. Your solicitor can do a Document called a trust deed which stipulates how much you would each take out if you broke up and sold the property. Not very romantic, but we felt it safer to establish it at the outset.

My DH had a lot more money to put into our house when we bought it.

It worked out 25% his deposit, 50% his mortgage payment, 25% my mortgage payment. We had a trust agreement agreeing that 75/25 would be the profit split if we separated.

Now we are married all the money is DS's

Just own as tenants in common, not joint tenants. Your solicitor will be able to draw this up for you.

And what was your plan if you split up later on down the line? You just go 50:50 on whatever equity is there? Generous of you. What if he leaves you for another woman? Still want to gift him 25k?

I don't think you should get a certain percentage of the house, because if you live there together for twenty years and then split up it will be unfair on your dp because he will have been paying into the mortgage for all those years. Over time your contributions may even out, for example he might become the higher earner or you may take time out to study. If you can get it written into the deeds that the first 50 k belongs to you and anything else is split evenly, that would be fairer.

DP (now DH), owned a house when we first met. I went on the mortgage when we got married, but there was a legal addition protecting the deposit his parents gave him. Several years later with two kids and a house move under our belts, it no longer applies.

Tenants in common. You own what is equivalent to £50k and half the mortgage percentage value in the property.

So if mortgage is 200k you have a share equivalent to 150k and he has a share equivalent to 100k. If that makes sense. Solicitor will sort it.

Get a contract drawn up that's states, for instance if the house is £200k that you own 1/4 of the equity. (£50k) and the emailing 3/4 of the equity is split 50/50.

So if the house is sold for £400k and you split up, you get £100k and £150k and he gets £150k which represents your financial input into the house.

"General rule on MN is that "all money is joint/family money". Yet on most threads referring to property, that seems to go out of the window."

Yeah, doesn't it just?! The thread with the 24 year old OP being another recent case in point.

OP, as others have said it's always wise, if unromantic, for the person with the larger pot (whether they're male or female) to protect that money when going in to a house with a partner. It's unfortunate, but the majority of relationships don't last into double figures and we've pretty much all been through what happens on a break up. Particularly around money.

When did you last hear both sides in a divorce/split saying "oh yeah, the money division was completely fair and equitable, I don't feel hard done by at all"

Protect the deposit but, if he's going to do the majority of home improvements then try and reflect that in the agreement if you can.

My dp and I haven't had 'my money, your money' since we moved in together at 21, everything has been joint so, if at any point one of us had come into money it would always be shared. We've been pretty much all in from the get go so in our relationship yes, what you're doing would be totally normal. You say 'boyfriend', is this a marriage- type relationship or a ' let's have a trial run'?

You never know what the future holds.

Definitely have a tenants in common agreement drawn up by a solicitor. It will cost you but nothing like the share you may have to end up giving your dp should the future not work out.

As other posters have said you would need to work out what percentage you would each own, taking into account what he pays towards the mortgage as well as your hefty deposit and what you pay towards the mortgage.
Solicitor will advise .

Tablemirror has explained it well.

Seems sensible.
On marraige its all up for grabs regardless.
If my DC had, say 50k inheritance from gparents i would completely approve of it being used as a deposit. And of it being ringfenced in a relationship. Because 50k is money impossible for most to save.

It all sounds fine as long as you have protected your £50K
So upon a split you would take the £50K before the 50:50 split.
Is that in place?

We did similar. Moved in after 10 months. I put down the deposit but dh went on the mortgage. The solicitor drew up a agreement that I'd get the 20k back and then spilt the rest. Id imagine now that we are married that agreement is now null and void.

Before we got married my dp and I bought a place together and he paid the deposit but we were 50:50 on the mortgage and I contributed extensively to the renovations and extension on the property to increase its value. We agreed that if we broke up, he would take his deposit out plus interest, and we would split any other profits between us equally. Our solicitor created a formal document which we both signed happily. We knew we were investing in both our futures but ultimately neither of us could have afforded the property on our own and needed both salaries and savings. Fortunately it turned out to be a great investment and we ended up married! I would get something formal agreed so there is no confusion and you know where you stand.

I think that if really depends on whether you are acting on the assumption that you will stay together or not. If one or the other of you is considering the possibility of sliptting in the future I would suggest a written agreement whereby you get the first 50k from the sale then the rest is divide evenly.

I'm now approaching a divorce where I didn't get the trust thing described by @londonloves and may lose £50k I was given a few years ago. Please learn from my mistake, I didn't realise my husband would drive me to divorce after 5 years of home ownership!