Girlfriend wishes to contribute to my mortgage

[OpenToSuggestions]

Hey all.
I have a house that is mortgaged. I have significant equity in it, with 180-190k being a solid estimate.

My girlfriend moved in with me in 2022. Upon doing so we both signed a form that we created together saying that per month she will pay half the bills, £100 towards general repairs and upkeep, but £0 towards upgrades and £0 towards the mortgage. It explicitly stated that she will have no claim over the property in any form.

The relationship is going well, and she wishes to put £45k into the mortgage plus start contributing each month.

We are both of the opinion is that we need another cohabitation agreement, but this time it should be performed with a Solicitor.

Our plans are to encircle the equity that we both currently have, then agree some form of split going forward with future equity.
Neither of us are interested in getting married.

I wondered if there was anything I could be missing here with our intent on getting a cohabitation agreement from a Solicitor?

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

The mortgage and the house will remain in my name. She'd be paying into the mortgage account.
It will be written into the agreement that if it doesn't work out then I buy her out the house and she leaves.
We are not interested in getting married. I find that it quite an old fashioned view, even if it does change things legally.
I'm mid 30s and she is mid 20s. Neither of us want children and feel very strongly about it.
We've lived together 18m and been together nearly 3 years.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

Do you know what her motivation is for doing this?

She wants to invest in something meaningful together for the future.
I have always overpaid the mortgage hard, and she wants to join me on that commitment.
We both agree that the sooner this mortgage is gone (15y -> 5y), the sooner we are freer to stockpile cash to move into our forever home.

I have asked and she says no pics sorry.

It's a little difficult splitting the silly comments from the serious ones .

The £45k came through this week as inheritance. It is something we've discussed extensively over the last 6m.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

She wants to put £45k into the mortgage, which you'll buy her out of if you break up. What's the actual point?

The intent is not to break up - It is purely a contingency plan so that if it does happen, neither of us get screwed. Both of us have some serious money here. That's the entire point of visiting a Solicitor up front.
The point is that we want to invest in a property together, as the debt free couple is the couple who wins long term.

If it was your own money, would you just throw 45k into your mortgage rather than doing something else with it? (like buy a BTL place and become an OcUK style charity landlord, or a normal landlord who makes money)

She considered a BTL but the way it is taxed isn't worth the hassle. Plus all the other potential nonsense like not being able to evict etc.
If it was my money I would definitely put it all into my mortgage. I overpaid £20k myself this year from some of my own inheritance on top of my regular overpayments.

is she going to break up with you if you said no?
if yes - you dodged a bullet
if no - well, why would you want her to have a share in your home then?

She would not break up with me if I said no.
I want her to share my home because we see a future together.
Neither of us have any debt apart from the mortgage I have.

Nobody has answered the OP question, which was beyond a cohabitation agreement from a Solicitor to cover literally all of the aforementioned concerns people have raised, am I missing something.

Given house prices are falling she should look to invest it elsewhere.

House prices are falling because of 6% rates. The monthly payments would be the same as pre-drop on a lower rate.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

If you've already dumped £20k in and are routinely overpaying, probably worth checking another £45k won't trip you over some overpayment limit clauses.

It's not what I'd be looking to do with a massive lump of cash, especially if the mortgage is a low fixed rate and frankly it makes even less sense for her imo but if that's what you're both set on doing, I think you're probably 'covered' with the plans you're drawing up.

I do get hit by overpayment fees currently, but these are small in comparison to what I would save long term.
Thanks for your response .

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

What's the difference between having £45k sat in a high interest savings account and a Mortgage?

Not a great deal to be honest. 1.2% at best.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

so will the agreement be something that the solicitor writes? if you split you both get your money back so to speak
how will it work exactly?
i'm in a similar situation. i want to invest savings in a house with someone but if it goes sour i want my portion back.
(i also don't believe in marriage. it changes nothing apart from on paper. people seem to just do it from peer pressure more than anything that i can see)

Likely agree the £ as a % ownership in the house as a line in the sand, then agree how the house would be split going forward once the contributions began.