Adding wife to mortgage account

fyfe79

Hi folks,

I bought my house roughly 10 years ago with my own name solely on the mortgage. Since then I’ve married and had two kids. Due to overpayments on the mortgage, it’s due to be fully paid within the next 8 years (thank god for trackers!). Our plan then is to sell and move into a bigger property which would require another mortgage.

My question is – would it be a good idea now to add my wife’s name to the current mortgage? Basically we would like to maximise the amount we can get from the bank on a new mortgage in the next 5-8 years. We are both in full time employment. I’m wondering in terms of getting a bigger mortgage in the future, would the bank look on our history more favourably if they see two names on the old mortgage instead of one? Or would the opposite be true – would the bank think it was more impressive for one person to have paid off the old mortgage? Or do banks not care about these details when it comes to married couple? Would they just consider the old mortgage as ‘repaid in full’ and that’s that?

I’ve heard that banks also charge a fee to add someone to an existing mortgage. If true, would this indicate that they see adding names to a mortgage as a risk, therefore a negative?
If so, it’s maybe best to keep going as we are.

Cheers.

antoinolachtnai

I really think it would make absolutely no difference. I would keep going as you are.

If you wanted to do something helpful for the future purchase i would make sure your current home is as saleable as possible. Make sure the title is good and that there aren't any major repair problems with the house (but don't do any major work on the house if you don't intend to stay in it). You could also get the advice of an estate agent about maximising value even at this early stage.

fyfe79

Thanks for the reply. We weren't sure if it would make a difference but if not, we'll leave well enough alone.

As for the title deed, there is a 1000 year land-rental (960 years now, as the house is 40 years old) which made no difference to me when buying but I've a feeling it could turn off some prospective buyer. Some people are easily spooked when it comes to things like that, maybe. I recall my solicitor saying it would cost around €500 euro to buy it out. Maybe it's something to consider when we go to sell.

spaceHopper

More like 1000 but it's worth doing. One thing if you really want something bigger then why wait till it's paid off, you could sell it now and buy something bigger

fyfe79

We'll be saving fairly hard for the next few years, so selling now wouldn't really be an option at the minute. Also, to be honest I like the idea of having a clean slate and be mortgage free, for the ease of selling and then buying. Is it much of a bother transferring part of a mortgage? I kind of assumed it was a pain...