Brendan Burgess
Founder
- Messages
- 52,202
Askaboutmoney is full of stories of people who bought together and who have now split up. The problems are really difficult to resolve.
Don't buy a house together unless each of you has at least 10% of the purchase price
If prices fall the temptation for one to just walk away from the house and the mortgage is too strong. If they have a stake in the house, then they are less likely to be irresponsible.
Don't buy a house together if your attitudes to finance are very different
If you are an accountant who is careful with money and he is "in marketing" and living beyond his means, don't buy together. If there are problems you will not be able to walk away while there is very little downside for him.
Don't buy a house together if one already has heavy borrowings
You probably won't get a mortgage together anyway, but let's say he already has an investment property with very little equity in it or in negative equity.
Don't buy a house together if he has itchy feet
If you have your family and friends in Ireland but he would just as happily settle in Australia or America, don't buy together. If things go wrong, he will happily skip the country and leave you to sort out the mess.
Don't buy a house together unless you are both comfortable about talking about the implications of splitting up
If she thinks it's unromantic to plan for a split up, that is fine, but don't buy a house together.
You must do an agreement when you buy a house together
You will find a draft agreement here
This needs to be updated and should contain a very strong clause along the lines of : "If one party falls into the equivalent of 3 months' arrears, the other has a right to sell the house". This would protect against a joint owner going abroad and being uncontactable
Don't buy a house together unless each of you has at least 10% of the purchase price
If prices fall the temptation for one to just walk away from the house and the mortgage is too strong. If they have a stake in the house, then they are less likely to be irresponsible.
Don't buy a house together if your attitudes to finance are very different
If you are an accountant who is careful with money and he is "in marketing" and living beyond his means, don't buy together. If there are problems you will not be able to walk away while there is very little downside for him.
Don't buy a house together if one already has heavy borrowings
You probably won't get a mortgage together anyway, but let's say he already has an investment property with very little equity in it or in negative equity.
Don't buy a house together if he has itchy feet
If you have your family and friends in Ireland but he would just as happily settle in Australia or America, don't buy together. If things go wrong, he will happily skip the country and leave you to sort out the mess.
Don't buy a house together unless you are both comfortable about talking about the implications of splitting up
If she thinks it's unromantic to plan for a split up, that is fine, but don't buy a house together.
You must do an agreement when you buy a house together
You will find a draft agreement here
This needs to be updated and should contain a very strong clause along the lines of : "If one party falls into the equivalent of 3 months' arrears, the other has a right to sell the house". This would protect against a joint owner going abroad and being uncontactable