selling half to other half

[James]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but will give it a go.
I have a mortgaged house in my name that is my main home, with about 1/3 left to go on the mortgage,
Next year, my other half is moving in, and I want to sell her half of the house. She will need a mortgage for all of her half, which will pay off what I owe on the house.
We're not married, have no kids, and bring different amounts of capital to the table, so we want to keep our finances somewhat separate.
Question is: how do we go about this and arrange mortgages, get her name on the title etc? Can it even be done?

[dspp]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but will give it a go.
I have a mortgaged house in my name that is my main home, with about 1/3 left to go on the mortgage,
Next year, my other half is moving in, and I want to sell her half of the house. She will need a mortgage for all of her half, which will pay off what I owe on the house.
We're not married, have no kids, and bring different amounts of capital to the table, so we want to keep our finances somewhat separate.
Question is: how do we go about this and arrange mortgages, get her name on the title etc? Can it even be done?

Moderator Message:
relocated to legal, dspp

[Loup321]

I'm not an expert, but no one else has replied yet.

If you want to keep your finances separate, you should own the house as tenants in common, each with a 50% share (you can, of course change this percentage). The alternative option is joint tenants, where you each own the whole house, but that is not keeping your finances separate, and would be messier to separate out should things not last. I believe, but someone may correct me, that only your names are held on the Land Registry, but that you are tenants in common and the relevant shares are held in a Deed of Trust, which should probably be drawn up by a solicitor.

With the mortgage, I believe that most mainstream lenders require the names on the mortgage to be the same as on the title, so your name would be on your other half's mortgage, which mean you are liable to pay if she can't / doesn't. She might be able to get a mortgage just on her half of the property if you went to a broker, but that's not something I know about.

It's good that you are having conversations about this, and I hope some of my interpretations are useful. Other more knowledgeable people might clarify some of my points.

LouP

[SteMiS]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but will give it a go.
I have a mortgaged house in my name that is my main home, with about 1/3 left to go on the mortgage,
Next year, my other half is moving in, and I want to sell her half of the house. She will need a mortgage for all of her half, which will pay off what I owe on the house.
We're not married, have no kids, and bring different amounts of capital to the table, so we want to keep our finances somewhat separate.
Question is: how do we go about this and arrange mortgages, get her name on the title etc? Can it even be done?

Speak to a mortgage broker and a solicitor?

[James]

Speak to a mortgage broker and a solicitor?

Yes, we shall, but I've always found the collective wisdom here is a good starting point to clarify the issues and find out what it is I don't know and need to know. That's what I like about this place.

[SteMiS]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but will give it a go.
I have a mortgaged house in my name that is my main home, with about 1/3 left to go on the mortgage,
Next year, my other half is moving in, and I want to sell her half of the house. She will need a mortgage for all of her half, which will pay off what I owe on the house.
We're not married, have no kids, and bring different amounts of capital to the table, so we want to keep our finances somewhat separate.
Question is: how do we go about this and arrange mortgages, get her name on the title etc? Can it even be done?

Speak to a mortgage broker and a solicitor?

Yes, we shall, but I've always found the collective wisdom here is a good starting point to clarify the issues and find out what it is I don't know and need to know. That's what I like about this place.

Sorry I wasn't being facetious. Some questions are a bit difficult for bulletin boards (unless there are specialist readers) and, to be honest, I've seen advice given that is just plainly wrong and would be misleading for anyone who took it.

I'm no property expert but anyway, since you've had no replies and I'm here...

I imagine it could be done but you'd have to decide if you were both going to be 'owners of a half share' or joint owners. In that respect I found the following - https://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/prop ... 28011.html

I imagine the decision would have consequences for the mortgage security and the willingness of the mortgagee to lend. I suspect a mortgage company wouldn't lend on a 'half share' because it would complicate the exercise of their security (hard to foreclose and sell a 'half share') but then you'd have to decide how you felt about their security extending over your interest. As long as you're happy with that then the question is whether the mortgage company would be happy with one name on the mortage. I'm not qualified to answer those questions so I'll revert to my original 'advice'.

[gryffron]

If you want to keep your finances (mostly) separate then Tenants In Common 50/50 is definitely the way to go.

Yes, you definitely need a solicitor(s) to handle the sale of your half to your other half.

Your mortgage provider will have to agree to the sale. But since they're getting their money back this is unlikely to be a problem.

She WILL be able to get a mortgage on half a property. It happens all the time with youngsters buying shared properties. BUT not full value. Not 100% of her 50% if you see what I mean. She'll need a deposit, and the mortgageable value will be reduced by being a shared property, so the deposit may need to be bigger than for a wholly owned property.

Although you probably don't want to think about it, it would also be worth creating a written agreement about what will happen if you split up. Will you buy her half back for example? At purchase or current market value? What happens if you can't afford it at that point? It can save a HUGE amount of grief later if you can agree this now.

Also, what do you want to happen if either of you dies? Make sure you update your will(s) to reflect the shared ownership. Doubly important if you have no kids.

Gryff

[Clitheroekid]

She WILL be able to get a mortgage on half a property. It happens all the time with youngsters buying shared properties.

Just for the avoidance of doubt you can't have separate mortgages on your respective shares in the house. The only way forward is for the house to be transferred into your joint names with a joint mortgage.

You can, of course, determine your respective interests in the house by entering into a Deed of Trust. This might also cover what proportion of the mortgage payments each of you would pay. But these are entirely private arrangements, and nothing to do with either the mortgage lender or the Land Registry.