Co-ownership of a home needs a residential conveyancing solicitor's advice

With the high cost of buying a home, particularly in the Chichester and Bognor Regis area, young people may consider forms of co-ownership as a means of starting out on the housing ladder and in that situation it is important to instruct an experienced residential conveyancing solicitor such as those at George Ide LLP.

Obtaining mortgage funds to buy a house or flat, either freehold or leasehold, requires a cash deposit of a certain percentage of the cost of the property and then the lender has to be certain the monthly repayments will be affordable to the borrower. These two factors often put the dream of having a home of one's own out of reach of many individuals or couples.

However, up to four individuals can join together to buy a home if they obtain suitable finance between them and each can own a share of the property, depending on how much they contribute to the deposit or ongoing mortgage payments.

Parents or other relatives also can be co-owners but whether the owners are related or not, a legal agreement, known as a declaration of trust, will be needed to set out the rights and obligations of each of the co-owners before signing a contract to buy the house.

This is particularly important if one or more of the owners wishes to sell their share of the property, move out (if he is one of the residents) or dies.

The mortgage lender will have to be in agreement to the co-ownership arrangements at all stages and this should be detailed in the trust document as well as the consequences of one of the owners defaulting on a mortgage payment.

Due to the many legal and financial implications of entering into co-ownership of a house, detailed advice should be sought from a specialist lawyer before committing to the purchase.

At George Ide LLP, prospective home buyers will find a team of sympathetic, knowledgeable and efficient residential conveyancing solicitors and licensed conveyancers who can open the door to co-ownership.

To find out more about the residential conveyancing team please click on the solicitor profiles on this page. Alternatively you can email them directly. We will reply as soon as possible.