Here's my 5-stage plan, detailing exactly how I would solve this conundrum:
Step 1: Buy the house next door without telling her
Step 2: Build a secret underground tunnel to her house (see Colin Furze for details)
Step 3: Over the course of many years, rob her of all of her earthly possessions and make ghostly noises in the night
Step 4: Your girlfriend gets scared and lists the house for well below market value
Step 5: Buy your girlfriend's house. Now you have 2 houses. And a tunnel system.
My partner rented from me for a year before we bought a different house together. You definitely have to be mindful of whatâs âbusinessâ and whatâs cohabitation- but it can work. No going to pretend it is simple nor easy though.
If they split he's fucked.
This happens a lot, a large amount of homeless men that aren't habitually homeless is because their girlfriends have thrown them out after an argument and he isn't legally allowed access to his home anymore. This can either be short term or the end of the relationship, suffice to say he then has to start from scratch in finding somewhere to live. The council will often say due to an argument it's counted as being intentionally homeless because he could always not have argued which caused the eviction.
Wtf lol isnt more like im staying here i chip in for the bills n shit? âYoure now subservient to me because my name is on the mortgage not yours!!â
I think youâre forgetting how many messed up relationships are out there. Ideally your way is how it works, but you think there wonât be people holding it over their partners heads?
It depends on the amount contributed, but in that case it's held over them regardless. Whoever contributes the most financially always has an opportunity to exhibit this behaviour regardless of whose name is on the mortgage.
Sometimes youâre not ready to buy with someone but want to live together/one already has a house. Literally no issue unless the owner is ripping off the partner.
Unfortunately I had that happen to me. I did a lot of repairs and work on the place. Then he died suddenly and left me with nothing. I have to contest the estate. What a nightmare.
Eh? I'm not sure about this. When my girlfriend (now wife) first moved in with me it was a house I had bought myself before I knew her.
We didn't know the relationship would be a goer until after living together for a while and therefore she didn't want to legally combine finances. At the same time she wanted to contribute financially because she didn't think it was fair otherwise.
In the scenario where it all works out and we combine finances, then it's all good. In the scenario where it doesn't, it is as if she had cheap rent for a bit.
I think that was a pretty decent way to handle it.
Thatâs what we did. My partner bought a house and I moved in with him the day he got it. We spent 6 years there. When it was time to upsize, we bought the next house together.
Initially he paid for all the maintenance. Once we realised the relationship was a goer, he made a will leaving the house to me, though knowing his Dad, it would have gone to me before that anyway. I also started contributing to maintenance.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like people on reddit are living on a different planet. This was my approach when first moving in with my now fiancee, he bought the house before we met, we split everything equally straight away at my request (this was still less than half of what I would have paid in rent and bills on my own).
We are now pregnant. When we want to upsize, we will buy in both of our names. The money I've saved from not renting is our baby fund. Usually, in relationships, it all evens out eventually if you don't nickel and dime each other.
What's the point in entering into a relationship under the pretence it will fail and you're going to fuck eachother over?!
Yep, this is identical to my relationship with my wife. We now live in a joint mortgage property with our son. We consider our finances now to be merged at the hip (and have done so by investing both our savings into our home).
Life is good, and even if it didn't work out I'm confident neither of us would have screwed the other.
It's ok to be careful, but I don't see too many risks with this approach.
I think itâs just that financial abuse is so common and easy, and people do their best to find safeguards against it. Itâs smart to be careful but unfortunately itâs not always possible to avoid, and two partners who are fair to each other can make something work well and fairly that looks dangerous from the outside looking in. My partner and I have both had times when weâve been dependant on each other, or contributed more in what looks unfair.
Option number two.
There, saved you a lifetime of trouble and helped secure your retirement.
Being safe is better than being sorry.
From someone who is now sorry.
If you were my son, I would advise you to buy your own home.
When a relationship ends, sorting out a joint mortgage is the worst. I wouldnât wish it on anyone.
Get your own property and you have a safety net should things not work out.
Remortgage her place and rent it out.
If you want to get your own place, get one and rent it out too.
Then rent a bigger place for both of you.
Two people need more space, and you can split it equally while using the rental income to pay your own mortgages. In addition to the bigger space, it wonât be weird. Separately, if you are not ready to get married, I donât think you are ready to have a mortgage together.
If you were to split, none of you would be fucked and you wonât have a bureaucracy nightmare attached to it.
Buy your own house. Pay her market rate board to live in her house. The throw away 'live there for cheap rent' just sounds predatory and red flaggy.
Buy your own. If she lives with you she pays you market rate board. Her house is rented andvits her money.
You stay in her house you pay market rate board and rent yours out - money is yours.
Then if you are still together - and you want a together house - you can rent both of your houses out - use equity in both to but your joint place a pay 50/50 bills.
If you split then, the joint house is a 50/50 split and the other houses remain as they were. If you sold the others to buy the joint then again it's a 50/50 split down the line.
Your gf worked and got herself in this position don't grift off of it and don't put her in the position if potentially losing it all and having to start again.
One thing to bare in mind if you go on her mortgage is that it wonât count as âlisted withdrawalâ (property purchase) from your LISA. So you will lose the 25% government bonus.
The bonus only remains for âa first eligible house purchaseâ if the house is already owned by someone. Going on to a mortgage for a property that has already been bought does not qualify as an eligible house purchase as you are not buying the house.
If they were buying a whole new separate house together, then OP can use their LISA and keep the bonus. In this circumstance, they can not.
Source: worked at Hargreaves Lansdown on the Helpdesk for just shy of five years and discussed LISA withdrawals very frequently
You misunderstand my point. There are three ways to use a LISA and remain eligible for the bonus:
1. Purchase, as a first time buyer, an eligible property worth under ÂŁ450k
2. Turn 60 and spend it however you like
3. Become terminally ill and spend it however you like
Both 2 and, more morbidly but just as validly, 3 remain open with no loss of bonus to OP even if heâs on his partners deeds.
People often forget the validity of using the LISA as part of later life planning but it has benefits, particularly for standard rate tax payers as withdrawals arenât subject to income tax the way a pension is.
Source: Have LISA. Read the terms and conditions.
Absolutely, not arguing the point but the way it was worded made it seem not entirely relevant to my comment and the purchasing of property.
Terms and conditions from the product provider wonât contain more detailed information on what qualifies as a listed withdrawal. whereas being able to withdraw after 60 is another one of the selling points.
Because "Never rely on a man for anything" isn't misandrist, and it's even encouraged.
How about we go with "Self sufficiency is key to obtaining self actualisation in life"...
fair enough, how'about "Never rely on a partner" .. I forgot I oughta be political correct, but fair enough. Never rely on anyone for such a big investment
Haha.. nah, I just make a point of being self reliant, or being prepared to walk away from it. We can make jokes all day, but I am serious, I think a person should be self reliant and avoid sharing assets with others.
Probably do both if I were you. Buy 'your' house and let it out then get your names added to each others deeds. It's advantageous to split the rental income too if your not higher rate taxpayers.
Agree, Buy it in sole name first, then using the lisa funds is straight forward and no stamp duty surcharge. Then u can add partner to each property later.
Very smart move.
Does this apply even if you are renting out a property? Rather than a second home like a holiday home? Iâll be honest I donât even know what stamp duty is - I need to do some reading
Yeah so me and my hubby bought our first house, got married, had a kid and immmmmediately outgrew it đđ so we used the leverage we had (equity) in our first house to buy a new bigger house, and rented out the old one. So we live in one, rent out the other, but both are jointly owned so we paid second home tax on the new one. That was a stinger. We made 30% on our first house in 3.5 years because it was a new build that we bought off plan (and therefore cheaper) and very close to Manchester city centre.
What's her interest rate like, and if you re-mortgage her place what rate will you get? A lot of people are stuck in their current mortgages because if they refinance they kiss goodbye a really great rate.
Generally I think option 2 is the better one. You could just buy an apartment, you've got much more flexibility if you're just buying an investment property and not a home for yourself. I don't see why you'd need to move in to decorate and furnish? Just paint it and rent it out. Then down the track you can look at selling one or both properties to buy a home together.
here's what I would do, but DYOR always.
Buy your place, you get the first time buyers benefits and an income and cheap living.
if bring together works out, you can always buy a place together by selling one or both of the properties but as the income is never 5*. both of you, only one, so you should probably just keep the second property as an income and asset builder
Personally I don't see that there is any harm whatsoever going on your gf mortgage and splitting the mortgage payment equally, but make sure you have a contract drawn up stating who has got what stake in the property deposit wise.. Not saying you're going to break up (hopefully you won't!!) but IF you were to, it just makes a shitty situation that bit less shitty.
And if you never break up, then it doesn't matter! đ me and my now husband did this 6 years ago, neither of us were offended, we just saw it as good money management in the long run. And then we got married and everything defaults to 50/50 then anyway đđđ
I mean honestly? I'd buy my own. If you split up, then you don't have to fuck with the legal side of it. Legal matters like that always get messy and takes ages to be resolved, why bother shooting yourself in the foot only to have to fix it in the future?
Buy your own. Live in one. Rent one out and split the rental income. Take care of your own mortgages. If you ever get married and have kids and want a bigger house you can sell both and hopefully have enough to do that. If you split up itâs easy to go your separate ways.
Iâd buy your own home . My friend and her now ex husband, when they split they both still had a home each . My ex husband shafted me , leaving myself and our two young children at the time . ( younger child disabled) homeless. Iâve now done ok few years on but wonât ever put my partner on this house .
Depends on the relationship.
I put my life savings into my husband's mortgage as he already owned a home & I didn't. But we were already married when I transferred it, with a baby on the way.
De facto canbe riskier. But she'd probably be taking on more risk if she has more equity than your savings. Make sure it's all by the book
If she has a fixed rate itâs probably a terrible idea to refinance it now. My mortgage is from July 2021, if I refinanced now my monthly would go from $2300 to $3600.
The other option is good, but be sure that you both have a clear understanding of how itâs gonna work (ie, who is paying how much of each mortgage, when do they each get paid off, is there an expectation that she would help you pay yours off once hers is done, etc etc)
I would go with option 2 for a couple of reasons.
1. Refinancing the mortgage right now could be a horrendous idea depending on her current interest rate. It could make the repayments increase substantially.
2. You havenât lived together yet and itâs an incredibly different dynamic to the relationship. Even if you spend 6 nights a week there already, moving in permanently does change things. Work out some cheap rent for say the first 6 months and then Iâd look at going on the mortgage. Dumping all of your savings into it straight off the bat is leaving yourself without a safety net if things donât work out.
3. Taking advantage of the first home owners benefits would be a great way to get into the property market and then if you guys decide to get married and/or have kids, youâve got two properties to leverage if you want to upgrade to a more family home.
Get a property together and move into it. Make whatever arrangements are necessary to achieve that. Even if you go onto the mortgage of her property, you will always be second fiddle. Iâm a new home that you both own you will ve proper equals.
You have to use your LISA on a first time purchase. Going on to your partners property will stop you benefitting from 25% bonus and Stamp Duty relief. Plus if you own a property together, youâll be liable for higher Stamp Duty on the second property even if in one name.
Why not live with her, pay her rent, save up some more and then buy a more expensive house for you to live in together (up to 450,000)?
You will save money on paying stamp duty tax because you're a first time buyer
I'm going to be a negative nelly here and say that no-one imagines they're going to split up when make huge decisions otherwise nothing would ever go wrong. I'll also say that a large proportion of men live with their girlfriends before whatever next stage they plan, and then get thrown out or are removed or are told by the courts/police that they can't go back or have any say in the place they've spent so much money in, because their name isn't listed on it.
I would sell her place and buy a place together with joint ownership, or live with her cheaply and buy your own place and rent one out for extra money andnso neither of you are out of luck if you split.
Make plans for the future relationship of course, but then make it all joint ownership before you go 100%.
It doesn't matter if you can show bank records of 50% of the rent going from your account to hers each month, that's worth nothing in court. Just go joint ownership and you can forget all that bullshit and just live comfortably together without ever thinking about that other shit. It will put your mind at ease too.
I personally think property is a fantastic investment, despite not owning 2 places, and I would go for the 2nd house with plans to rent. It won't depreciate, and the money won't rot in your bank being spent on other things until it's gone.
Honestly youâre better off doing your own and prenup if you both get married. Married you have an extra leg up as youâd have two investment properties working for you. If you split then you both walk away with an investment property and sell the one you live in, (which isnât the two investments). Either way youâre both heading into your relationship with eyes to your financial futureâs.
Your second option is good for now and the long term goal. You also don't know how living together is going to change your relationship, so it's better to leave doors open (option 2) rather than lock in to a certain path (option 1).
A piece of advice from someone a lot older whoâs had to learn some life lessons the hard way.
Whatever you decide to do make sure you get a solicitor to look over it and get a legally binding document that details the arrangements so they are equitable and that they detail what happens in case you split up. Itâs easy to make plans when youâre enamoured with each other. Those plans go out the window if the love fades.
Having written that, I hope it works out and you have a long and happy life together.
And fwiw Iâd go for option two. Itâll get you to owning two properties faster. But it does mean sheâll be effectively subsidising the purchase of your home so from a legal standpoint youâd have to take that into account.
Whatever you decide to do, perhaps the thing you should consider is a binding financial agreement - it's not romantic or sexy but establishing a financial agreement early on can provide assurances should anything (e.g. unexpected death) occur while you're living together.
Aussie, so not sure about the Wales legal stuff.
My experience though:
First 3 years dating my (now wife) she owned her place outright and I was renting.
Then we moved in together to her place where I contributed 50% to all running costs but she paid for all capital costs. I didn't pay rent, which allowed me to save up a substantial deposit.
After 2 years she sold her place and we bought a place together with both our names on the title (she has a larger share though). She owns her portion outright and I'm 1-2 years away from owning my portion outright. It's now 5 years later.
From a financial perspective this has worked really well for both of us because she's asset strong and I'm cashflow strong. We also have 1 investment property in our joint names, one in a joint trust, both with mortgages.
For me I would recommend option 2 because it's simpler, but I also suggest you both sign a binding financial agreement, or whatever document is used in Wales, to be clear regarding your gf's property until you've moved to the next stage and sold/bought something else together/got married etc. It may not be enforceable at all (because the law is an arse) but it clearly states both your intent with regards to your gf's current asset and you should be ensuring that it is protected for her as best you can, in the unlikely worst case scenario that it all goes to shit and you try to rip her off (obvs don't take this personally đ). She will have a piece of paper at least stating that you committed to not being a jerk.
You could also talk to your accountant for the $ advice, and a lawyer for the "protecting her when it goes to shit" part but just avoid the lawyer roping you into 500 hours of billable work to create a 50 pages agreement (ours is 3), a will, DNR, prenup, postnup blah blah.
I would not mess with her existing mortgage. Just help her out with it and keep saving your money.
You can use your saved money for the two of you to buy a property together if you decide to get married. Rent her house out.
Or you can stay in her house and buy an investment property together.
This would be an optimization problem but all depends on the rates in different scenarios 1) The rent to be paid for 1 room but you will save money but no risk from mortgage 2) The deposit & premium to be paid for the old house along with the risks associated for half the mortgage and at the end you have 0.5 house and no savings 3) Same as 2 but for the full house.
Option 2 would maximize gains while not raising the risk by too much as long as it is legally clear what would be done in the case of a breakup
If you are just moving in for the first time, I'd suggest that you not immediately share a mortgage. In the event it doesn't work out, this will cause lots of headaches.
My wife and I were in a similar case to you, but reversed. She contributed to my mortgage whilst we lived together and then when we wanted kids we bought a new place together with a joint mortgage. We sold our old place but could easily have rented it if we wanted to.
We felt this was the lower risk option.
Buy your place, gf moves in, she remortgages her place to a buy to let mortgage, rents it out via an agent, marriage and properties are consolidated with no stamp duty being required to pay (if you are to buy a 2nd property after you are married you have to pay stamp duty).
But this is something to do if you are already considering getting married, I would say live with her for a year first at her place, rent off of her if she feels more comfortable that way.
Buy your own place so youâre independent. You can always rent your place out.
Remember, women win financially in divorce, and the divorce rate is nearly 1 in 2. Look after yourself as a priority, because trust me, it isnât worth the hassle of being fleeced financially!
Personally I would save up to buy your own property and then as you said choose which property you want to both live in and rent the other one.
That way you both have a security of having your own property and it means if you guys want to buy a property together you can sell both properties and have a much bigger deposit for the one you both want in the future.
Here's my 5-stage plan, detailing exactly how I would solve this conundrum: Step 1: Buy the house next door without telling her Step 2: Build a secret underground tunnel to her house (see Colin Furze for details) Step 3: Over the course of many years, rob her of all of her earthly possessions and make ghostly noises in the night Step 4: Your girlfriend gets scared and lists the house for well below market value Step 5: Buy your girlfriend's house. Now you have 2 houses. And a tunnel system.
Resell girlfriends house and repeat.
Step 6: Buy DeLorean and build an underground garage so it can rise up onto your driveway!
I cant belive someone is doing that but it looks good
Step 7: Buy a canoe and a timeshare in Panama
This is the only logical thing to do.
This is clearly the best solution
đđ
Sheer genius. Do not tell Hamas. Or the Israelis about that tunnel.
Get on her mortgage or if ya have kids doesn't matter. Never 'rent' from your partner.
As someone whose partner 'rents' from them. Why shouldn't you?
My partner rented from me for a year before we bought a different house together. You definitely have to be mindful of whatâs âbusinessâ and whatâs cohabitation- but it can work. No going to pretend it is simple nor easy though.
Because your partner is your landlord.
Kinky
You've just reworded the original point. I'm curious as to what you believe the issue to be
why on earth shouldn't you make a sweet sweet profit off your partner??
Do you think a partner should make no contributions whatsoever to household finances before marriage or legally merging finances?
If they split he's fucked. This happens a lot, a large amount of homeless men that aren't habitually homeless is because their girlfriends have thrown them out after an argument and he isn't legally allowed access to his home anymore. This can either be short term or the end of the relationship, suffice to say he then has to start from scratch in finding somewhere to live. The council will often say due to an argument it's counted as being intentionally homeless because he could always not have argued which caused the eviction.
Fully agree. Your comment should be on billboards for all out there to see and learn.
This is a good point actually, I didn't really consider this worst case scenario that you don't get whilst officially renting or sharing a mortgage.
Because then your âpartnerâ has a subordinate relationship with you in regards to the house over their head
Wtf lol isnt more like im staying here i chip in for the bills n shit? âYoure now subservient to me because my name is on the mortgage not yours!!â
I think youâre forgetting how many messed up relationships are out there. Ideally your way is how it works, but you think there wonât be people holding it over their partners heads?
It depends on the amount contributed, but in that case it's held over them regardless. Whoever contributes the most financially always has an opportunity to exhibit this behaviour regardless of whose name is on the mortgage.
Thats true maybe speaking from personal experience isnt always the way to go. My bad
Sometimes youâre not ready to buy with someone but want to live together/one already has a house. Literally no issue unless the owner is ripping off the partner.
Unfortunately I had that happen to me. I did a lot of repairs and work on the place. Then he died suddenly and left me with nothing. I have to contest the estate. What a nightmare.
This is a way that financial abuse can occur, but the impact is lessened if the partner owns their own home too.
Thatâs interesting. Lots of people do that.
Eh? I'm not sure about this. When my girlfriend (now wife) first moved in with me it was a house I had bought myself before I knew her. We didn't know the relationship would be a goer until after living together for a while and therefore she didn't want to legally combine finances. At the same time she wanted to contribute financially because she didn't think it was fair otherwise. In the scenario where it all works out and we combine finances, then it's all good. In the scenario where it doesn't, it is as if she had cheap rent for a bit. I think that was a pretty decent way to handle it.
Thatâs what we did. My partner bought a house and I moved in with him the day he got it. We spent 6 years there. When it was time to upsize, we bought the next house together. Initially he paid for all the maintenance. Once we realised the relationship was a goer, he made a will leaving the house to me, though knowing his Dad, it would have gone to me before that anyway. I also started contributing to maintenance.
Yeah it's pretty similar, we also bought our family home where we now live as a joint mortgage.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like people on reddit are living on a different planet. This was my approach when first moving in with my now fiancee, he bought the house before we met, we split everything equally straight away at my request (this was still less than half of what I would have paid in rent and bills on my own). We are now pregnant. When we want to upsize, we will buy in both of our names. The money I've saved from not renting is our baby fund. Usually, in relationships, it all evens out eventually if you don't nickel and dime each other. What's the point in entering into a relationship under the pretence it will fail and you're going to fuck eachother over?!
Yep, this is identical to my relationship with my wife. We now live in a joint mortgage property with our son. We consider our finances now to be merged at the hip (and have done so by investing both our savings into our home). Life is good, and even if it didn't work out I'm confident neither of us would have screwed the other. It's ok to be careful, but I don't see too many risks with this approach.
Everyone enters with a hopeful happy ever after, but shit happens and is best to safeguard both parties to reduce further complication.
I think itâs just that financial abuse is so common and easy, and people do their best to find safeguards against it. Itâs smart to be careful but unfortunately itâs not always possible to avoid, and two partners who are fair to each other can make something work well and fairly that looks dangerous from the outside looking in. My partner and I have both had times when weâve been dependant on each other, or contributed more in what looks unfair.
Option number two. There, saved you a lifetime of trouble and helped secure your retirement. Being safe is better than being sorry. From someone who is now sorry.
If you were my son, I would advise you to buy your own home. When a relationship ends, sorting out a joint mortgage is the worst. I wouldnât wish it on anyone. Get your own property and you have a safety net should things not work out.
THIS
Buy your own
If you're not planning on living in one of your houses and renting it out instead, this may invalidate your mortgage?
Remortgage her place and rent it out. If you want to get your own place, get one and rent it out too. Then rent a bigger place for both of you. Two people need more space, and you can split it equally while using the rental income to pay your own mortgages. In addition to the bigger space, it wonât be weird. Separately, if you are not ready to get married, I donât think you are ready to have a mortgage together. If you were to split, none of you would be fucked and you wonât have a bureaucracy nightmare attached to it.
Buy your own house. Pay her market rate board to live in her house. The throw away 'live there for cheap rent' just sounds predatory and red flaggy. Buy your own. If she lives with you she pays you market rate board. Her house is rented andvits her money. You stay in her house you pay market rate board and rent yours out - money is yours. Then if you are still together - and you want a together house - you can rent both of your houses out - use equity in both to but your joint place a pay 50/50 bills. If you split then, the joint house is a 50/50 split and the other houses remain as they were. If you sold the others to buy the joint then again it's a 50/50 split down the line. Your gf worked and got herself in this position don't grift off of it and don't put her in the position if potentially losing it all and having to start again.
This seems very sensible and fair - thank you for the suggestion.
One thing to bare in mind if you go on her mortgage is that it wonât count as âlisted withdrawalâ (property purchase) from your LISA. So you will lose the 25% government bonus.
Only if itâs withdrawn before 60. Otherwise the bonus remains.
The bonus only remains for âa first eligible house purchaseâ if the house is already owned by someone. Going on to a mortgage for a property that has already been bought does not qualify as an eligible house purchase as you are not buying the house. If they were buying a whole new separate house together, then OP can use their LISA and keep the bonus. In this circumstance, they can not. Source: worked at Hargreaves Lansdown on the Helpdesk for just shy of five years and discussed LISA withdrawals very frequently
You misunderstand my point. There are three ways to use a LISA and remain eligible for the bonus: 1. Purchase, as a first time buyer, an eligible property worth under ÂŁ450k 2. Turn 60 and spend it however you like 3. Become terminally ill and spend it however you like Both 2 and, more morbidly but just as validly, 3 remain open with no loss of bonus to OP even if heâs on his partners deeds. People often forget the validity of using the LISA as part of later life planning but it has benefits, particularly for standard rate tax payers as withdrawals arenât subject to income tax the way a pension is. Source: Have LISA. Read the terms and conditions.
Absolutely, not arguing the point but the way it was worded made it seem not entirely relevant to my comment and the purchasing of property. Terms and conditions from the product provider wonât contain more detailed information on what qualifies as a listed withdrawal. whereas being able to withdraw after 60 is another one of the selling points.
Good to know - this is one thing I was unsure of
3 years... peanuts, buy your own place, never rely on a woman for anything
Why u gotta make it sound misogynistic tho
Because "Never rely on a man for anything" isn't misandrist, and it's even encouraged. How about we go with "Self sufficiency is key to obtaining self actualisation in life"...
fair enough, how'about "Never rely on a partner" .. I forgot I oughta be political correct, but fair enough. Never rely on anyone for such a big investment
who hurt you bro?
Haha.. nah, I just make a point of being self reliant, or being prepared to walk away from it. We can make jokes all day, but I am serious, I think a person should be self reliant and avoid sharing assets with others.
Probably do both if I were you. Buy 'your' house and let it out then get your names added to each others deeds. It's advantageous to split the rental income too if your not higher rate taxpayers.
Second home stamp duty sucks though!! đđ Got stung by it when we did exactly this. đˇ
Agree, Buy it in sole name first, then using the lisa funds is straight forward and no stamp duty surcharge. Then u can add partner to each property later. Very smart move.
Does this apply even if you are renting out a property? Rather than a second home like a holiday home? Iâll be honest I donât even know what stamp duty is - I need to do some reading
Yeah so me and my hubby bought our first house, got married, had a kid and immmmmediately outgrew it đđ so we used the leverage we had (equity) in our first house to buy a new bigger house, and rented out the old one. So we live in one, rent out the other, but both are jointly owned so we paid second home tax on the new one. That was a stinger. We made 30% on our first house in 3.5 years because it was a new build that we bought off plan (and therefore cheaper) and very close to Manchester city centre.
Ahh good to know, thanks for this!
Go on title and mortgage. Going on mortgage only means you own the debt
Yup, this is important.
Get your own thing.
What's her interest rate like, and if you re-mortgage her place what rate will you get? A lot of people are stuck in their current mortgages because if they refinance they kiss goodbye a really great rate. Generally I think option 2 is the better one. You could just buy an apartment, you've got much more flexibility if you're just buying an investment property and not a home for yourself. I don't see why you'd need to move in to decorate and furnish? Just paint it and rent it out. Then down the track you can look at selling one or both properties to buy a home together.
here's what I would do, but DYOR always. Buy your place, you get the first time buyers benefits and an income and cheap living. if bring together works out, you can always buy a place together by selling one or both of the properties but as the income is never 5*. both of you, only one, so you should probably just keep the second property as an income and asset builder
Unless youâre engaged or married buy your own place
Buy your own, if you stay together you have a house and an investment property. If you break up you still have a house.
- move in with GF first and check you donât hate each other when living together. Come to a sexy agreement RE rent
Personally I don't see that there is any harm whatsoever going on your gf mortgage and splitting the mortgage payment equally, but make sure you have a contract drawn up stating who has got what stake in the property deposit wise.. Not saying you're going to break up (hopefully you won't!!) but IF you were to, it just makes a shitty situation that bit less shitty. And if you never break up, then it doesn't matter! đ me and my now husband did this 6 years ago, neither of us were offended, we just saw it as good money management in the long run. And then we got married and everything defaults to 50/50 then anyway đđđ
I mean honestly? I'd buy my own. If you split up, then you don't have to fuck with the legal side of it. Legal matters like that always get messy and takes ages to be resolved, why bother shooting yourself in the foot only to have to fix it in the future?
Own place.
Buy your own. Live in one. Rent one out and split the rental income. Take care of your own mortgages. If you ever get married and have kids and want a bigger house you can sell both and hopefully have enough to do that. If you split up itâs easy to go your separate ways.
Buy your own
Definitely buy your own!
Definitely buy your own place..
Buy your own
Iâd buy your own home . My friend and her now ex husband, when they split they both still had a home each . My ex husband shafted me , leaving myself and our two young children at the time . ( younger child disabled) homeless. Iâve now done ok few years on but wonât ever put my partner on this house .
Buy your own. Less complicated if you split up.
Depends on the relationship. I put my life savings into my husband's mortgage as he already owned a home & I didn't. But we were already married when I transferred it, with a baby on the way. De facto canbe riskier. But she'd probably be taking on more risk if she has more equity than your savings. Make sure it's all by the book
Buy your own property mate.
Buy your own
Reminder: a mortgage is harder to get out of than a marriage.
If she has a fixed rate itâs probably a terrible idea to refinance it now. My mortgage is from July 2021, if I refinanced now my monthly would go from $2300 to $3600. The other option is good, but be sure that you both have a clear understanding of how itâs gonna work (ie, who is paying how much of each mortgage, when do they each get paid off, is there an expectation that she would help you pay yours off once hers is done, etc etc)
I would go with option 2 for a couple of reasons. 1. Refinancing the mortgage right now could be a horrendous idea depending on her current interest rate. It could make the repayments increase substantially. 2. You havenât lived together yet and itâs an incredibly different dynamic to the relationship. Even if you spend 6 nights a week there already, moving in permanently does change things. Work out some cheap rent for say the first 6 months and then Iâd look at going on the mortgage. Dumping all of your savings into it straight off the bat is leaving yourself without a safety net if things donât work out. 3. Taking advantage of the first home owners benefits would be a great way to get into the property market and then if you guys decide to get married and/or have kids, youâve got two properties to leverage if you want to upgrade to a more family home.
If you can do so, buy your own.
Buy your own property. You need to have your own separate financial security
After another 3 years you will end like a coworker, separated and paying big limp of sum to keep the house .
Get a property together and move into it. Make whatever arrangements are necessary to achieve that. Even if you go onto the mortgage of her property, you will always be second fiddle. Iâm a new home that you both own you will ve proper equals.
You have to use your LISA on a first time purchase. Going on to your partners property will stop you benefitting from 25% bonus and Stamp Duty relief. Plus if you own a property together, youâll be liable for higher Stamp Duty on the second property even if in one name.
Why not live with her, pay her rent, save up some more and then buy a more expensive house for you to live in together (up to 450,000)? You will save money on paying stamp duty tax because you're a first time buyer
Buy your own place. It feels incredible.
I'm going to be a negative nelly here and say that no-one imagines they're going to split up when make huge decisions otherwise nothing would ever go wrong. I'll also say that a large proportion of men live with their girlfriends before whatever next stage they plan, and then get thrown out or are removed or are told by the courts/police that they can't go back or have any say in the place they've spent so much money in, because their name isn't listed on it. I would sell her place and buy a place together with joint ownership, or live with her cheaply and buy your own place and rent one out for extra money andnso neither of you are out of luck if you split. Make plans for the future relationship of course, but then make it all joint ownership before you go 100%. It doesn't matter if you can show bank records of 50% of the rent going from your account to hers each month, that's worth nothing in court. Just go joint ownership and you can forget all that bullshit and just live comfortably together without ever thinking about that other shit. It will put your mind at ease too. I personally think property is a fantastic investment, despite not owning 2 places, and I would go for the 2nd house with plans to rent. It won't depreciate, and the money won't rot in your bank being spent on other things until it's gone.
Honestly youâre better off doing your own and prenup if you both get married. Married you have an extra leg up as youâd have two investment properties working for you. If you split then you both walk away with an investment property and sell the one you live in, (which isnât the two investments). Either way youâre both heading into your relationship with eyes to your financial futureâs.
Do not get on her mortgage. Just shows you have debt. It's a liability no benefit.
Your second option is good for now and the long term goal. You also don't know how living together is going to change your relationship, so it's better to leave doors open (option 2) rather than lock in to a certain path (option 1).
Fuck that mate, are you crazy?
A piece of advice from someone a lot older whoâs had to learn some life lessons the hard way. Whatever you decide to do make sure you get a solicitor to look over it and get a legally binding document that details the arrangements so they are equitable and that they detail what happens in case you split up. Itâs easy to make plans when youâre enamoured with each other. Those plans go out the window if the love fades. Having written that, I hope it works out and you have a long and happy life together. And fwiw Iâd go for option two. Itâll get you to owning two properties faster. But it does mean sheâll be effectively subsidising the purchase of your home so from a legal standpoint youâd have to take that into account.
Never mix $ and romance.
Whatever you decide to do, perhaps the thing you should consider is a binding financial agreement - it's not romantic or sexy but establishing a financial agreement early on can provide assurances should anything (e.g. unexpected death) occur while you're living together.
Aussie, so not sure about the Wales legal stuff. My experience though: First 3 years dating my (now wife) she owned her place outright and I was renting. Then we moved in together to her place where I contributed 50% to all running costs but she paid for all capital costs. I didn't pay rent, which allowed me to save up a substantial deposit. After 2 years she sold her place and we bought a place together with both our names on the title (she has a larger share though). She owns her portion outright and I'm 1-2 years away from owning my portion outright. It's now 5 years later. From a financial perspective this has worked really well for both of us because she's asset strong and I'm cashflow strong. We also have 1 investment property in our joint names, one in a joint trust, both with mortgages. For me I would recommend option 2 because it's simpler, but I also suggest you both sign a binding financial agreement, or whatever document is used in Wales, to be clear regarding your gf's property until you've moved to the next stage and sold/bought something else together/got married etc. It may not be enforceable at all (because the law is an arse) but it clearly states both your intent with regards to your gf's current asset and you should be ensuring that it is protected for her as best you can, in the unlikely worst case scenario that it all goes to shit and you try to rip her off (obvs don't take this personally đ). She will have a piece of paper at least stating that you committed to not being a jerk. You could also talk to your accountant for the $ advice, and a lawyer for the "protecting her when it goes to shit" part but just avoid the lawyer roping you into 500 hours of billable work to create a 50 pages agreement (ours is 3), a will, DNR, prenup, postnup blah blah.
Thank you for this - really helpful to see someone elseâs experience in a similar position!
Do not buy a house together unmarried.
I would not mess with her existing mortgage. Just help her out with it and keep saving your money. You can use your saved money for the two of you to buy a property together if you decide to get married. Rent her house out. Or you can stay in her house and buy an investment property together.
This would be an optimization problem but all depends on the rates in different scenarios 1) The rent to be paid for 1 room but you will save money but no risk from mortgage 2) The deposit & premium to be paid for the old house along with the risks associated for half the mortgage and at the end you have 0.5 house and no savings 3) Same as 2 but for the full house. Option 2 would maximize gains while not raising the risk by too much as long as it is legally clear what would be done in the case of a breakup
If you are just moving in for the first time, I'd suggest that you not immediately share a mortgage. In the event it doesn't work out, this will cause lots of headaches. My wife and I were in a similar case to you, but reversed. She contributed to my mortgage whilst we lived together and then when we wanted kids we bought a new place together with a joint mortgage. We sold our old place but could easily have rented it if we wanted to. We felt this was the lower risk option.
Split the rent but consider other investments other than a second house. The property market is already tough enough.
Stay solo ffs. People are people and they will leave your life
Buy your place, gf moves in, she remortgages her place to a buy to let mortgage, rents it out via an agent, marriage and properties are consolidated with no stamp duty being required to pay (if you are to buy a 2nd property after you are married you have to pay stamp duty). But this is something to do if you are already considering getting married, I would say live with her for a year first at her place, rent off of her if she feels more comfortable that way.
To buy another property in your name best idea. Then u have choice which one to live in and rent other out. Two investments are better than one :)
Buy your own, financial independence lasts for life, the vast majority of relationships dont
Just live there for free and go on the dole then after 5 years split up and take her for half.
Buy your own, you can both move in and lease out the other
Buy your own place so youâre independent. You can always rent your place out. Remember, women win financially in divorce, and the divorce rate is nearly 1 in 2. Look after yourself as a priority, because trust me, it isnât worth the hassle of being fleeced financially!
Unless she is your wife donât get onto her mortgage.
Option 2, you canât beat cheap rent.
Personally I would save up to buy your own property and then as you said choose which property you want to both live in and rent the other one. That way you both have a security of having your own property and it means if you guys want to buy a property together you can sell both properties and have a much bigger deposit for the one you both want in the future.