joint mortgage with a friend - anyone done it?

Take advice from your own name. Don't do it, this sort of stuff with a friend, no matter how well you think you know them, will not work out. No matter how mature you think you both are, money kills friendships. It's a fact.
 
I'm not sure I'd do it with a friend, unless I'd known them for decades.

I am however currently in the process of buying a place with my sister, 50/50. I won't be living there so won't pay council tax, bills etc but we will also have a couple of lodgers.

It's not difficult to set up, and I'd advise using a free advisor for the mortgage stage as I've found one incredibly useful. Trust me if you want a recommendation :)

I've done a lot of research re insurance, stamp duty, receiving rent before paying tax, life insurance etc etc so I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea than when I started, but I'd be confident to do it again :)
 
Depends how good your friendship is, I've known a guy 25 years and I'd get a Mortgage with him. Not many other people I would though.
 
I'd be very careful with it, like have exit criteria laid out in advance

all sorts of contingencies... like agree to own the house for X years - say 4 years and not sell before then, then at that point maybe agree to another fixed period of not selling or just go into a situation whereby if either party chooses to sell then the other either has to agree or has X months to buy him out. then again you'll also need other contingencies like one person losing their job or a requirement that you both take out insurance for the initial fixed period where you've agreed not to sell up

probably need other agreements re: one party moving out but retaining their share and renting a room out - does the rent from their room go towards their mortgage contribution only with them keeping the profits or does the profit get split in some way along with the rent from the third tenant

things like moving girlfriends in etc.. would need to be agreed in advance, and they'd probably have to sign something to state they have no claim on the property

basically get a solicitor to advise on the major legal hurdles and also come to some arrangement in advance on the stuff that might not be covered in a contract

it could be doable and could be sensible as a short term move to save on rent (so long as you stay there for a few years as there are initial costs in the form of stamp duty and legal fees before the mortgage vs rent thing starts working in your favour)... but you need to eb sure that you both agree on certain things and that you're both sensible/not going to get some attachment to the place so that you feel as though you're being 'forced to sell your own home/so unfair' if one party decides to call it quits at some point
 
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Yep, did this years ago with a friend, we split the house price three ways, his parents threw in a third as a deposit and we had a lodger to cover their part, we had the rest as mortgage 50/50, six years later we sold up and went our separate ways. I was 21 when we bought the place and I walked away with a decent chunk of money which was enough for a deposit on my own place, it wasn't all plain sailing and living with lodgers and messy noisy housemates was at times trying but I'd absolutely do it again if I needed to.
 
Meh. Worst case scenario: you have to sell the house because chum falls through on his or her share of payment. No different to getting a joint mortgage with girlfriend/boyfriend or wife/husband, frankly.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Worst case scenario: you have to sell the house because chum falls through on his or her share of payment.
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This is basically the only scenario. Sooner or later one of you is going to want to move on when it's not convenient for the other.

Lots of needless paperwork involved I'd argue but hey, if you both want on the property ladder that badly I'd say go for it.

Have you lived with each other before? Maybe try a six month rental to begin with? You might find you enjoy being little spoon.
 
Even with the above, OP even says they just want to "get on the ladder." Sounds like the desired outcome is to co-own for just a few years at most, then sell up and use equity for deposit on a house each. I don't see any problem with this plan. As I've already said, I suspect the worst that could happen is you have to sell the house earlier than you intended.
 
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