Single mortgage application in a couple

fjon

I am currently renting with my partner. We are not married and have two kids.
She is currently on maternity leave.
I want to apply for a mortgage, and a broker has advised that I would be much better off applying for a single mortgage rather than a joint one given the kids and maternity leave.

As we are not married, are there any issues with this?

When we do get married, is it easy enough to get her added to the deeds/ mortgage?

Liam D Ferguson

fjon wrote: »

As we are not married, are there any issues with this?

Yes. You will own the property outright and she won't. Could get very complicated if you split up or if one of you died. Talk to your solicitor before doing this.

fjon wrote: »

When we do get married, is it easy enough to get her added to the deeds/ mortgage?

It's possible to do, but it's not a matter of writing a letter. Your then wife would need to submit an application with full financial details to the lender and your solicitor would need to be involved again as it's a change of ownership.

fjon

Thanks Liam. I would intend to do up a will as soon as I own a property, but there is still a complication if we split up.
On looking into things a bit more, I believe adding a spouse to the deeds is relatively straight-forward, but adding her to a mortgage is not.
I am not sure if there is a huge benefit in that though?

Liam D Ferguson

fjon wrote: »

On looking into things a bit more, I believe adding a spouse to the deeds is relatively straight-forward, but adding her to a mortgage is not. I am not sure if there is a huge benefit in that though?

A lender won't allow another person to be added to the deeds of a house they have a charge over, unless that person is also party to the mortgage. So you can't do one without the other.

If you're married, then it's questionable whether or not you'd need to bother adding your wife to the deeds and mortgage.

SBarrett

Unless you have good earnings, your net disposable income will come under pressure when applying for a mortgage on your own. You will have to have sufficient disposable income for yourself and your kids. If you leave your partner off the application, they will ask if she is around.

People on maternity leave do get mortgages. They will look for confirmation on her past earnings before going on leave as well as her maternity pay now and when does she go back to work.

I cannot see any gain in leaving her off the application. I can see plenty of problems in the future if you want to get her on it.

fjon

SBarrett wrote: »

Unless you have good earnings, your net disposable income will come under pressure when applying for a mortgage on your own. You will have to have sufficient disposable income for yourself and your kids. If you leave your partner off the application, they will ask if she is around.

People on maternity leave do get mortgages. They will look for confirmation on her past earnings before going on leave as well as her maternity pay now and when does she go back to work.

I cannot see any gain in leaving her off the application. I can see plenty of problems in the future if you want to get her on it.

That's interesting - will the bank definitely ask if I have a partner if I am not married? Will they ask if I have kids?

Getting a joint mortgage at the moment is not feasible - we have applied through a bank and a broker and the amount we would get would just about get us a field in Roscommon, never mind anything in the area I want to live.
My partner is an IT consultant and is self employed. There is not a guaranteed job to go back to when maternity leave is over.
The broker suggested the single application as the only way I could get anywhere near the amount I wanted, but I just wanted a second opinion on this.
As for getting her on the mortgage, that may be hard, but if we get married and/ or have a will this wouldn't be too bad.

SBarrett

They ask if you have kids and any dependants on your application form. They also ask for 12 months of bank statements, which they will analyse. If you apply for a mortgage on your own and they see regular debits for €200 in Dunnes, they will know that you are not living on your own and buying shopping for others.