my pal and his girlfriend are thinking of buying a house.he has a large deposit available for a downpayment.she has no savings.they would split the mortage 50/50 and bills.by way of example if the deposit was 100,000,and the mortage was 200,000 that would be 300,000 for the house value.if the relationship was to break up,what is the most equal way it could be divided. and should there be some sort of aggrement signed by both parties that would stand up legally.
co-habiting couple house purchase
- Thread starter hopalong
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niceoneted
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I hate to have to be pessimistic but if your friend is fronting the property with 100k and she is not coming up with anything I would be advising him to buy on his own. Have her move in and pay rent and half basic bills(as in utilities not maintenance of the place).
Alternatively have each visit their own solicitor separately to protect each others interests.
Alternatively have each visit their own solicitor separately to protect each others interests.
rosemartin
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this is a grey area, co habitees who are long term together have the same rights as married couples. although he may put up the cash, she may contribute with furnishing and general up keep of home. if the mortgage is in both names it is jointly owned no matter who stumped up cash. in my situation i pay 70% of mortgage because i earn more, but if things went wrong i would only be entitled to 50%.
Brendan Burgess
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Hopalong
They absolutely must sign an agreement before they buy. It doesn't matter how much they are in love.
There is a draft agreement here, but it's out of date.
Do a search of Askaboutmoney and you will find loads of examples of couples who have split up and have no agreement in place.
It can be done in a number of ways, but the simplest is as follows:
They buy the house equally, so they "contribute" €150k each. She owes €150k of the mortgage and he owes €50k of it. So she pays 75% of the mortgage payments.
Alternatively, he puts up €100k and they jointly borrow €200k between them. In that case, he owns 2/3rds of the house and she owns 1/3rd.
The big risk he faces is a fall in house prices. She can walk away and lose a lot less than he does. He might be forced to give her a particularly favourable deal.
Any agreement should factor in her paying as much as possible as soon as possible so that she has equity in the house to protect against price falls.
Brendan
They absolutely must sign an agreement before they buy. It doesn't matter how much they are in love.
There is a draft agreement here, but it's out of date.
Do a search of Askaboutmoney and you will find loads of examples of couples who have split up and have no agreement in place.
It can be done in a number of ways, but the simplest is as follows:
They buy the house equally, so they "contribute" €150k each. She owes €150k of the mortgage and he owes €50k of it. So she pays 75% of the mortgage payments.
Alternatively, he puts up €100k and they jointly borrow €200k between them. In that case, he owns 2/3rds of the house and she owns 1/3rd.
The big risk he faces is a fall in house prices. She can walk away and lose a lot less than he does. He might be forced to give her a particularly favourable deal.
Any agreement should factor in her paying as much as possible as soon as possible so that she has equity in the house to protect against price falls.
Brendan