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I am buying a house because my credit is better than my girlfriend. How do we go about after the purchase if we share expenses and how do her rights get protected?

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    Are you saying that even though you're the only one obligated to make payments you want her to be legally entitled to proceeds of sale down the road?
    – Hart CO
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 2:05
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    What country and region are you in? The laws around this vary a lot between countries, and even within countries.
    – Mike Scott
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 5:28
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    Did the GF contribute to the downpayment? If not, I'd suggest simply treating it as you would any other roommate situation.
    – jamesqf
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 17:24

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how do her rights get protected?

There are two choices:

  1. You get married. Statutes and case law have created structures for the settlement of property between divorcing spouses. There's no such thing for girl friends.
  2. Write a contract (which is -- in essence -- a prenuptial agreement) which specifies things like:
    • how much each of you is contributing to the down payment, and therefore each of your initial ownership percentages.
    • how the equity portion of each mortgage payment is split. (I'd go with percentages of the purchase price and then use those percentages when you buy her out after you break up.
    • who pays for major repairs and how that impacts ownership percentages.

It's going to be a Big Fat Mess, and quite possibly end the relationship. (I read once that prenups are the #1 cause of weddings being cancelled, and I completely understand.) You two will learn a lot about each other when really thinking about the house.

But if you don't, then you'll be back here in a few years asking us how to split the house, and we'll close the question as Duplicate, and point to the dozen previous questions just like it (for houses and cars).

This is what happens when you don't have a contract:

Im trying to remove a name from a mortgage, the other party is requesting a payout of a large sum of money. They never paid a penny to the mortgage, upkeep. They never moved into the property. Im requesting they sign the paper work and put an end to it. Mediation is about to start, but im not sure if i can pull the pay me half of what i have paid already card, to stop it going to court?

Name is both mortgage and deeds. The other party is being abusive. Saying he is going to smash the house up because he owns the property.

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    This seems like an awfully confident answer given that you have no idea which country’s laws and mortgage regulations are applicable here.
    – Mike Scott
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 8:07
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    @MikeScott OP is buying the house, not the girlfriend, so what do mortgage regulations care about her? If there are any countries that protect the equity rights of room mates, I'd love to hear about them.
    – RonJohn
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 9:01
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    Scotland until 2006, for one. Where there was one, there may be others. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common-law_marriage#Scotland
    – Mike Scott
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 9:51
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    And mortgage regulations may care about the girlfriend, because while the mortgage may not be in her name, she is paying part of the repayments. That could give her rights in some jurisdictions.
    – Mike Scott
    Commented Jul 14, 2019 at 9:52
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    The issue is There's no such thing for girl friends. but there are such things in some places; and in such places point 2 may be moot as relevant case-law would apply.
    – quid
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 22:49

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