Buying house with other half

The_Conductor

Once the girlfriend has supplied half the deposit and the repayments to the bank are being made by both parties (and can be documented), the girlfriend will be considered to be party to the purchase, have an interest in said property, and have exhausted her status as a first time buyer.

Legally the bank will not allow a sole mortgage if there is another party on the deeds of the property- which would mean the girlfriend would have to go down the legal route to assert any ownership of the property should they ever split. It would be a very good idea to have a document detailing her interest drawn up by a solicitor (they're doing them every day of the week- so they should be able to knock one off fairly handily)- but there-after if either party chose to ignore this document- it would be legal......

At present- were they to split- given a monthly fall of between 1 and 2% in property values, there would most probably be a negative equity situation- which would entail the boyfriend as the sole mortgagee and sole owner as per the title deeds, chasing her for half the negative equity.

There are lots of things to think about........

How Strange

Speaking from my own experience, OH bought an apartment when we first started going out. I moved in two years later and paid rent. A year later OH said he wanted to put me on the deeds of apartment so we could own it together.

We had to remortgage even though the term etc remained the same. The solicitor put my name on the deeds BUT I also had to go on the mortgage. These are two separate things. The deeds were changed in February but I was only added to the mortgage a couple of months ago. Once I was on the mortgage, the solicitor then informed the revenue commissioners that I was now a joint owner of the property. Now my first time buyers status has been used, AFAIK there is no stamp duty liability but I won't know for sure until the revenue confirm this.

The whole process took about a year and a half to complete but mainly due to incompetence of the bank which is a thread for another day.

AFAIK and based on the advice we got from solicitor and bank you can't have your name on the deeds without having your name on the mortgage as well. IMO, that constitutes fraud.

OP, think long and hard before buying a property in the way you're proposing. It's messy and complicated and if you do what we did and eventually put your OH on the deeds and mortgage you'll incur legal fees of €500-800.

The end result is you'll both lose your first time buyers status but you'll be a bit poorer too.

Kipperhell

carlylong wrote: »

This is not fraud or tax evasion. I was perfectly entitled to use my first time buyers status.

So you think I am expected to pay stamp duty even though i havent used my first time buyers? thats ridiculous!

AFAIK it doesn't become tax fraud until the 2nd person uses their FTBG. As up until that point there is no tax fraud. If the second person claims it but not being a FTB they are commit fraud. Pretty tricky to prove.

The main issue is the dangers of such an agreement in the event of a break up. I heard on the radio of some shocking stories. Some reached the end and did get their share but some did not get anything. Either way it is a big gamble. Still find it odd the way some people hate former partners under some circumstances I get it but just because of a break up is another story.