joint mortgage?

[tali122]

is it legal for me to use a consenting family member in a joint mortgage whose salary will increase the amount of mortgage amount lent? -if so are there any disadvantages?

[tigga]

If you cant keep up the payments for any reason, you will both be equally responsible i.e. CCJ's.

I dont see how it can be illegal though.

[Crockett]

I have a joint mortgage with my step father. It's only for convienience, I pay all the bills and mortgage etc. My mortgage was arranged by a Financial Adviser who actually suggested the arrangement to make getting the mortgage easier. I can't imagine how it would be illegal if both parties are consenting and agreeing with the terms and conditions of the mortgage. I would say only to do this if you completely trust the family member involved and would say to make sure you both make a will leaving the property to the other party etc.

As long as you are sure you can make the re-payments I'd say go for it, it's worked for me for years.

[dzug]

What Crockett describes seems perfectly legitimate to me - joint mortgage, jointly owned property. Who actually pays is between the parties concerned.

Over on Money and Finance a different question has been asked which is can there be a joint mortgage but single ownership. Some posters seem to think it's possible - but if it is I don't understand how.

Another disadvantage is that if the second family member runs into financial difficulties for some reason (a divorce let's say) he can potentially force a sale of the property to get his share. He might not actually want to himself but his ex-wife (whom he might not actually have met yet) could force it.