Buying a Home With a Partner: Joint Mortgages and Ownership

How a joint mortgage works

With a joint mortgage, two people (sometimes more) borrow together. Lenders usually look at:

• both incomes, which can increase how much you can borrow;
• both sets of outgoings and both credit histories, so one person's debts or missed payments can affect the application.

Each borrower is usually responsible for the whole debt, not just half. If one person stops paying, the lender can look to the other for the full payment. See how much can I borrow? for how lenders work out the figure.

Joint tenants or tenants in common?

The mortgage is the loan. Separately, you decide how you own the home itself, and you tell HM Land Registry when the property is registered.

| | Joint tenants | Tenants in common | |---|---|---| | Ownership | Equal rights to the whole property | Separate shares, which can be unequal | | On death | Passes automatically to the other owner | Your share passes under your will | | Common for | Couples who want everything to pass to each other | Unequal deposits, unmarried couples, second marriages, friends buying together |

You can change from one to the other later, for example after marriage or separation. GOV.UK says there is no fee to change.

If you are putting in different amounts

If one of you is contributing more of the deposit, tenants in common lets the shares reflect that. Many couples also have a solicitor draw up a written agreement, often called a declaration of trust, setting out who owns what and what happens if you separate or sell.

Unmarried couples

Unmarried partners do not automatically inherit from each other. Owning as joint tenants means the home passes to the survivor, but other assets, pensions and the rest of the estate may not. A will matters even more if you are not married or in a civil partnership.

Protecting the commitment

A joint mortgage usually relies on two incomes. If one stopped through illness or death, the other person would still owe the whole payment. That is why couples often look at life cover and income protection together. Mortgage protection explained compares the options, and a joint life policy usually pays out only once, on the first death.

Questions to settle before you buy

• Are you both comfortable being responsible for the whole mortgage?
• Joint tenants or tenants in common, and in what shares?
• Do you need a written agreement about the deposit and what happens if you separate?
• Have you both made or updated wills?
• How would the payment be met if one income stopped?