This is such an exciting time!

Buying your home together- now you’ve found your dream property you are already planning how it’s going to be furnished- your house warming party…..

We hate to be party poopers but if you are unmarried and buying a property jointly your legal rights are very different to those of a married couple or registered civil partners.

You need to take positive action now so that if in the future your relationship breaks down, both you and your partner will know where you stand in relation to your financial interest in your property.

We’re sure your thinking- "Our relationship is great, rock solid. We’ll never split up" We hope your right but our experience is that sometimes things don’t work out and the worst does happen. When you are going through that difficult time you don’t want to be disagreeing about who owns the house, who contributes what and who is entitled to what.

We strongly advise that you take some time to think about instructing us to draw up a Deed of Trust at the same time as we are dealing with the legal side of buying your property. This will cost you £100 plus VAT and a further £40.00 HMLR fee- not a great deal for peace of mind.

The Deed of Trust sets out each owner’s financial interest in the property and then should the relationship break down and the property has to be sold it also records each owners share of any sale of the proceeds.

Having this document in place will give each of you some certainty that all would not be lost should the worst happen. It also demonstrates your intentions and leaves far less room for arguments about who is entitled to what at a later date.

Buying your home together is a happy and exciting time but it is also the most expensive purchase you will generally make and you should both take time to agree what should happen should your relationship break down in the future.

A Deed of Trust is a simple way to give both of you peace of mind from the start in what we hope is your new life in your dream home!

Related Topics
Divorce Mediation Assets & Finance Separation & Children
Collaborative Law Pre-Nuptial Agreements
Buying A Home Together
Getting Married