Owning your own home

Has she bought somewhere before? Will her buying a bit of your place preclude her from various govt. schemes for FTBers?

It would also mean if she wanted to buy somewhere else whilst still owning a share in your place she’d trigger the punitive second home stamp duty?

I’d assume you’ve done your homework on this but there is a great deal to consider here and the upside is a bit shrug - it’s not something I’d do lightly.

It would preclude her from first-time buyer schemes, yeah. But hopefully we’ll stay together and live in this place. Upside is emotional but also financial. I can’t think why it’d make sense for her to continue living here and having cash savings while I have a mortgage.

there is a great deal to consider here and the upside is a bit shrug - it’s not something I’d do lightly.

This.

What you're proposing only seems to solve this one issue;

I’m sure she’d rather feel invested and more equal in the place.

Personal question I know, but would you be willing at some point to get married or enter into a civil partnership? If so wait until then.

Either way, my 2p is that it would be a lot simpler to draft a Declaration of Trust/ similar agreement governing the terms of her cash contribution and rights in the property.

Obviously it is best done properly by a solicitor, but if you've been co-habiting with her contributing to the property she may already have property rights, so a simple DIY written agreement listing the terms would give her a solid basis* for a claim if the worst happens.

It can also potentially be kept private between the two of you, giving you more flexibility.

*as well as making sure you both know where you stand.

Sends suit to the dry-cleaners and dusts up the party shoes

I can’t think why it’d make sense for her to continue living here and having cash savings while I have a mortgage.

It's a lot of risk to add for not very much benefit. Having cash savings depreciate won't kill you. Having a mortgage won't kill you - in fact it enables you to wisely invest spare cash on something that earns you more than the 2% you should be paying on it. But having a relationship fail when you both have a share in the same home can cause a lot of grief.

The cash savings problem can be dealt with easily - invest the cash somewhere. This could be a property whilst exploiting the FTBers schemes or it could be investment ISAs or even Pension contributions.

The mortgage is obviously harder to close off if you don't have the cash to pay it off - but most people don't want to pay their mortgage off because they are happy to pay the %2 or whatever so they can spend the money on other things or invest it elsewhere. It's so cheap it's almost free.

As above, some kind of alternate legal agreement might be the better way to go.

I’m a bit baffled by these responses. We’ve been together for 16 years.

I don’t see what the issue is.

The route we were going is a Deed of Trust. Solicitor says it’ll be straightforward and not expensive.

Upside is emotional but also financial. I can’t think why it’d make sense for her to continue living here and having cash savings while I have a mortgage.

Given how long you've been together, I'd probably rephrase the question as.
My partner and I have a house and a pot of money.
Should we pay off more of the mortgage, keep it in cash or invest it elsewhere.

I know that's somewhat ignoring the emotional side of being literally invested in the place but I guess the responses are more about the fact that having a lump of cash or easily accessible savings is very useful. Putting it into the house makes it much less flexible.

FYI Hillarys quoted £1700 for the same job but have a better-price-promise-thing, so £1200ish again. Only benefit is that they offer a 9 month 0% interest finance option which is good, but still expensive.

What are we going to do with that cash? We’re already on the whole pension/emergency savings thing.

Hillary's are a cess out of a company. I speak from bitter experience. I'd counsel you in the strongest terms not to use them.

No idea what you'd do with it.
You might put a deposit on a second place and take advantage of the FTB benefits that MsSparky could use.
Could decide on some building work on the house.
Could decide that one of you wants to drastically change careers and that a pot of money would be useful to enable you to do that.

I'm in a not the same but not completely different situation. I contracted for a few years and when I shut down the company I got a lump of cash that had been sitting there. Sadly nothing approaching life changing but I decided that it's better kept as cash rather than just paying down the mortgage. It's not that I have a specific purpose in mind for it yet, but the ability to use it for anything in future is more useful to me than just knowing I have x less to pay on the mortgage.
Especially given my mortgage is about 2% at the moment - I can always just save the money, get more than 2% on it and then put the money into the house again later if I want. But if it goes into the house then I can't get it back out without remortgaging.

I'm also definitely not qualified to offer any sort of advice apart from random ill informed internet musing

Boiler servicing - use a local company in my hood se23 or contact the boiler company's own service provider in this case Baxi.

I don’t see what the issue is.

I think the problem is key information is dotted around the thread, i.e. both wanting to move and sitting out Brexit, very long term relationship etc.

It makes a bit more sense if you understand that it’s a transitional move before buying together (?) and tactical i.e. sitting out Brexit

Persoanlly it isn’t what I’d do - I’d use the cash as leverage to get a pre-Brexit bargain from someone forced / desperate to sell before 29th March. Would be a fucking ball ache / effort to get that done now though.

Regardless of the obviousness of Brexit on the horizon sitting it out still looks like trying to time the market - which doesn’t end well in most cases.

how bad can a curtain installation go?

You've obviously never had a crumbling lintel :D

90% of it blow on Coke and Hookers, the rest just waste any way you feel fit.

That is speedy, especially as they are all using the same hardware...

@princeperch cheers, will avoid them!

I thought my plan was very neat and sensible. Bit blindsided by suggestions that it may not be the right thing to do. Mind you, I’m very debt-averse and cautious so I suppose this isn’t a one-plan-fits-all kind of thing.

Everyones different, not having a mortgage is always better than having one.

Yeah you could make more money investing but can you really be bothered? Hassle vs Profit.

I'm all for the simpler easy life... I'd forget the paperwork, get her to chuck the money in, shake hands on it (after spitting in palms) and keep my fingers crossed all goes well...

They mismeasured for the shutters, basically didnt give a toss, offered me an insulting discount which they thought would make up for it, and thought it was acceptable for me to wait a total of 6 months for them to be installed from start to finish. Never again.

Basically the first thing to do is work out the tax implications.

Need to consider what the value is she's taking on (including future mortgage payments), whether she already owns a property, is planning to buy a separate property, etc

That will give you an idea of what it's going to cost. Consider that (plus solicitors fees, etc) against mortgage rates, what return you can get on the cash.

If there's no sdlt, minimal fees, no need for the cash elsewhere, etc then it might be worth doing.

If it does come out costing money (compared to what else could be done with the cash) then you need to consider whether that cost is reasonable for the result of her having a stake in the property.

I’d move the currency into gold/non-UK based investment instrument, no way I’d want it in either GBP or UK property at this point in history.

You're not being selfish enough for this thread!

Only slightly joking.

Converting to an offset mortgage is a possible solution. You keep the pile of cash but it effectively reduces the mortgage, but you keep the flexibility if you suddenly need access to cash (you can stick the emergency funds in there too).

Otherwise it depends on what your aims are.

Do you want to be a capitalist monster and maximise the return on the money for the sake of money, lifestyle improvements or early retirement?
Do you want to simplify your life (i.e. pay off a chunk/all of the mortgage)?
etc...