Want to buy a house. I have cash, but my partner doesn't

H

Hayley

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I'm a full time mother currently living abroad, and would like to move back to Ireland in 5 years. I get a maintenance payment which is not taxed and also don't have a pension (which worries me). My partner is employed in Ireland, we are not married and he does not seem interested in changing that. I have saved just over 120k which I would like to invest, ideally in a property as I am quite passionate about it and know I would be good a finding the right property and renovating it on a budget.
What are my options?
My partner could take out a mortgage and we would be able to afford a much better property, he could live in it for now and rent out rooms under the rent a room scheme and we could then live in it together when I return to Ireland. I worry however that this could leave me in a vulnerable position as all my money would be tied in property he would own half of. He has also not been very reliable in the past when it comes to finances.

I could also buy a property by myself, right out for cash. This would be a buy to let only as I can't afford to buy in an area I would like to live in. The rent would provide me with an income which would be taxable but since I have no other income my guess is this would be minimal? I could save this income and ad it to the 900€ I save every month with a view to save a deposit to buy another property with my partner when I return to Ireland.

Are there any other option I could look into? Use my money for two 60k deposits and buy a couple of properties with a buy to let mortgage? I am not an Irish citizen and read that makes it more difficult to get a BTL mortgage?

Thanks for any advice!
 
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You will not be able to get a mortgage as you have no income and you do not live here. You also don't have enough cash to buy a property, unless it's an apartment in a bad part of Dublin or a property in the middle of nowhere, neither of which would be smart purchases.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
You will not be able to get a mortgage as you have no income and you do not live here. You also don't have enough cash to buy a property, unless it's an apartment in a bad part of Dublin or a property in the middle of nowhere, neither of which would be smart purchases.
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So my only option is to buy with my partner if he got a mortgage for a better property? Or continue saving and hope prices go down over the next 5 years.
 
You have a child, (not your partners child?), he is not interested in getting married, He has also not been very reliable in the past when it comes to finances. I suggest that you do not get involved in an investment with this man. A family home would be different, there are legal protections around that, which would not apply to an investment.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
You will not be able to get a mortgage as you have no income and you do not live here. You also don't have enough cash to buy a property, unless it's an apartment in a bad part of Dublin or a property in the middle of nowhere, neither of which would be smart purchases.
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The OP didn't say whether she was moving to Dublin. As Healy-Rae said the country does not end at the Red Cow roundabout.

OP what part of the country are you looking to purchase? Do a search on Daft.ie, you are in a great position being a cash buyer. Be wary with your partner, follow your unstincts and keep everything in your own name.
 
Hayley said:
So my only option is to buy with my partner if he got a mortgage for a better property? Or continue saving and hope prices go down over the next 5 years.
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Neither is likely in my view. And I'd be surprised if your partner and you could get a joint mortgage (because you have no income and because he is, by your own admission, bad with his finances).

Moneybox is spot on - You didn't specifically mention Dublin, so my analysis could be flawed.
 
cremeegg said:
You have a child, (not your partners child?), he is not interested in getting married, He has also not been very reliable in the past when it comes to finances. I suggest that you do not get involved in an investment with this man. A family home would be different, there are legal protections around that, which would not apply to an investment.
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I have two children, one is his but he is not on the birth cert. So I guess it could be a family home. What legal protection would it have?
 
There is quite strong protection under Irish law for a family home. One partner cannot sell without the others permission for example, even if the one partner is the 100% owner.

Here is the full answer

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1976/act/27/enacted/en/html

or a commentary from the Citizens Information Bureau here

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ships/separation_and_divorce/family_home.html

I had thought that it was not necessary to be married to get the protection of this legislation, but it seems you do need to be married or in a civil partnership.

Perhaps some other poster knows more.
 
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moneybox said:
The OP didn't say whether she was moving to Dublin. As Healy-Rae said the country does not end at the Red Cow roundabout.

OP what part of the country are you looking to purchase? Do a search on Daft.ie, you are in a great position being a cash buyer. Be wary with your partner, follow your unstincts and keep everything in your own name.
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I was hoping to buy in Dublin. There are no decent properties for sale at the moment but there are very little properties for sale. This could change, all I need is for one good one to come up over the next couple of years. I'm also still due a bit more money and could borrow 20k from my family. This would bring up my budget a bit. I was also hoping someone will be looking for a cash buyer specifically and give me a deal. I'm also looking at auctions but again, there is very little happening on that front right now. if none of this works out I could still look into buying outside of Dublin but that would involve a lot of research as I don't know much about those areas. It would also need to be near a really good school which probably limits things even more. Either way, there is no time pressure so I can wait for a good opportunity to come up. + The longer I wait, the more money I have.
cremeegg said:
There is quite strong protection under Irish law for a family home. One partner cannot sell without the others permission for example, even if the one partner is the 100% owner.
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Even if he can't sell the house, if he doesn't keep up the payments I will lose my money and house or if I keep up the payments, he will own half the house I paid for. Not to mention the fact that I could get get stuck with him refusing to leave the house. None of this might happen but I got burnt in the past so don't like taking risks.
 
When you say a really good school, do you have an idea which school or schools may be in your plans?
 
Hayley said:
I worry however that this could leave me in a vulnerable position as all my money would be tied in property he would own half of. He has also not been very reliable in the past when it comes to finances.
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Just read a few of the threads in this forum to get a view of what might happen.

Irish law is very inefficient. There is simply no solution if you have a problem. If you split up, he might insist on staying in the house, and there really isn't anything you can do apart from insist on staying in the house as well.

Unfortunately, I don't think that you have any option here other than to rent.

Brendan
 
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