In This Guide
Apply for a mortgage
Buying at auction
Buying in Scotland
Conveyancing
Find and view
Negotiate
Plan your purchase
Success and failure
Surveys and valuations
To buy or not to buy
1. It begs the question
2. The financial arguments
3. Economic factors
4. Stay where you are!
5. With your partner
6. With your friends
To buy or not to buy
With your partner
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Deciding to live together can make or break a relationship. Buying a property jointly is an even bigger step, so it's important you are sure you are doing the right thing before you commit yourself. Partly for this reason, it is becoming more and more common for couples to live together before they buy together. There's only one way to find out if you are suited to living with your partner, and that is to try it. You may be the most well suited couple on the planet, but it doesn't mean that you can stand living together.
While buying a home within a marriage is fairly straightforward,
an increasing number of couples are buying property outside of
wedlock. Though it doesn't have quite the same legal status as
a marriage, it does resemble quite a significant commitment and
is not a decision that should be undertaken lightly. Unlike some
newlyweds that find themselves living together for the first time
in a home they now own, most unmarried couples that buy a house
together will have lived together first. Even so, the dynamic
of the relationship could change when you become homeowners, so
don't expect everything to stay exactly the same.
Most of the time, when a couple buys a property, they enter into a joint mortgage and become the joint tenants of the property. This means that you both own the whole property equally and are both responsible for any liabilities against it. You share the bills, split the mortgage and divide the spoils when you sell.
Unless you make an agreement that specifies otherwise, the share of one partner will pass to the other in the event that they die. Similarly, if one of you pays the entire deposit, or a greater share of the mortgage repayments, you will still own an equal share of the property unless you make a written and witnessed agreement that states otherwise. Drawing up this sort of agreement may seem like the last thing on your mind when everything is rosy, but you will probably wish you had if you do end up splitting up.
Don't forget that you are both jointly and separately liable for the debt on the property. The failure of one partner to meet credit card payments when registered at the property could affect the other. If one of you moves out and stops contributing to the mortgage, the other will somehow still have to keep up the payments or risk the wrath of the lender. In the case of credit, a problem shared is a problem doubled.
If one of you already owns a home, there may be no chance to test
the waters of your relationship by renting and it may not be possible
to 'try before you buy'. Moving in and contributing to your partner's
mortgage works fine for many people. Be aware though, that is
you are not named on the title deeds of the property, your rights
over the property are seriously affected. It will be difficult
for you to get any money back if you split up, regardless of how
long you contributed to the mortgage for. You may be able to get
some sort of settlement through the courts if you split up, but
a court is by no means likely to rule in your favour. Resolve
this by having a cohabitation agreement that specifies what happens
to any money you have contributed if you do part company.
Buying a house together doesn't need to end in disaster. It should be fun, a chance to share something really special. It could be the first step on a long, long road with many a winding turn. But needless to say, this is not always the case.
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