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Domestic Partnership re Mortgage Application

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  • 10-07-2014 10:48am
    #1
    jme2010
    Registered Users Posts: 974 ✭✭✭


    Hey Guys,

    What contributes as a 'domestic partnership', and will that afford some rights similar to a 'civil partnership' (In Ireland)?

    Myself and my partner (male+female, both Irish) have lived together for 8 years. We don't have any joint accounts etc.

    I am applying for a single mortgage, because she only has contract work at the moment. She wants to pay the deposit and contribute some of the cost off the house. (She has 18K from an old insurance claim).

    The problem is with the bank. They will not let her contribute ANY money or they will treat it as a joint application, which lowers the loan amount substantially.

    By law, she can 'gift' me, around 10K tax-free and I can use that as I like. But it would be so much easier if she could give me the whole 18K. If we were married, there would be no problem. So that is where the 'domestic partnership' comes in. Almost discrimination haha maybe not.

    Any advice would be great. Thanks for reading.


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    #2
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    She can't add a deposit to the house, because then that gives her a material interest in the property and she becomes a joint owner with you & the bank.

    Hence why she can't pay the deposit and you take the loan. There's no reason why you can't make a joint application. Although she has no regular income, her overall income for the last two years will be taken into account and at the very least you shouldn't be offered less because it's a joint application, provided that she doesn't earn so little as to be classed as a dependent on you.

    Are you using online calculators to figure out that a joint application will yield a smaller loan?


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    #3
    Toots
    Administrators, Business & Finance Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,920 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Toots


    OP, I've moved this to the Banking & Insurance & Pensions forum. It's probably the most appropriate forum for your thread.


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    #4
    jme2010
    Registered Users Posts: 974 ✭✭✭jme2010


    Thanks for the response guys.

    I think we are going to hold off on a mortgage for at least 6 months.

    Still be nice to know if we have a 'domestic partnership' in the eyes of the law.


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    #5
    phormium
    Registered Users Posts: 3,340 ✭✭✭phormium


    I am open to correction but as far as I know there is no such thing as a 'domestic partnership' in the eyes of the law. The bank has it's own guidelines on whether or not they will lend to a single applicant who is clearly part of a couple which is evidenced by your partner wanting to buy into the house.

    It's not discrimination, it's simple underwriting guidelines from the bank's point of view.


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    #6
    Oral Surgeon
    Registered Users Posts: 3,240 ✭✭✭Oral Surgeon


    Can you not gift about 30k tax-free??
    jme2010 wrote: »
    Hey Guys,

    What contributes as a 'domestic partnership', and will that afford some rights similar to a 'civil partnership' (In Ireland)?

    Myself and my partner (male+female, both Irish) have lived together for 8 years. We don't have any joint accounts etc.

    I am applying for a single mortgage, because she only has contract work at the moment. She wants to pay the deposit and contribute some of the cost off the house. (She has 18K from an old insurance claim).

    The problem is with the bank. They will not let her contribute ANY money or they will treat it as a joint application, which lowers the loan amount substantially.

    By law, she can 'gift' me, around 10K tax-free and I can use that as I like. But it would be so much easier if she could give me the whole 18K. If we were married, there would be no problem. So that is where the 'domestic partnership' comes in. Almost discrimination haha maybe not.

    Any advice would be great. Thanks for reading.


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    #7
    Gatica
    Registered Users Posts: 3,300 ✭✭✭Gatica


    The term I've most most commonly come across in Ireland is common law spouse. However on further reading it seems it's not defined in Irish law.
    According to these interesting articles (dating a few years now):
    http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/livein-partners-have-rights-new-court-ruling-says-26304026.html
    http://www.mcsolicitors.ie/cohabitation-agreements-civil-partnerships
    http://www.mlb.ie/info_cohabitants_and_the_law.htm

    cohabitation is really only of consideration when you want redress from a partner you've lived with and the relationship had ended, and I suppose where children are involved. Otherwise, there's nothing there by the looks of it to define a couple's non-married long-term relationship for any other purposes, so the bank can have their own definition and rules regarding couples. If you want the same rights as married couples, then you'll need to get married, at least that's how it looks for now.


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