how much do i owe

BB - What you reckon we should invest in - property (maybe Bulgaria??)??
Joking aside, I think you're getting a little technical, when a couple buy together they don't make arranngements like that (or do they?). In my case I pay the mortgage, she pays the esb and cable (damn, I've just realised she's milking me).
Anyway, I think we're all in general agreement that a payout in the region of 10-15K is generous and justifiable. The fact of the matter is the gains are very small after stamp duty (which must be included) is taken into account.

bearishbull: It's all well and good saying they might be splitting it 50:50, but in the scenario you describe she would be paying higher mortgage repayments to compensate for putting in less money up front. That wasn't the case. And given that they were planning to get married I would assume the issue of who owned what percentage would be redundant.

Anyway, here's my calculations (I think 12-15k is too much!!!)

The value of the house at the start should include stamp duty and any other costs and refurbishments that went into it. What you've mentioned (there may be furniture and solicitors fees to factor in too?)
490+37+4.9+2 = 533.9
of which you own: mortgage/2 +
and she owns:

The best thing would obviously be if you guys can sort something out between you amicable. But if that's not possible, you really need to get legal advice. The whole issue of property ownership where one person's name is on the deed (and is thus legally the owner) but another has made some contributions is very complicated and led to a lot of caselaw in the past.

This isnt by any means legal advice but the courts have said in Ireland in the past that a person making direct mortgage payments or contributions to the deposit is presumed to be entitled to the repayment of those amounts (this is a presumption based on the fact the court assumes no-one is giving money away for nothing in return). Obviously if you could show evidence your fiancee had no intention to share in the property, that would be a different situation but I dont see that really applying to you, based on the facts you've described.

As regards other payments (bills, etc), the courts have sometimes said that the person is entitled to repayment of those contributions as well (if they think that that person's payment of them allowed the other person to pay the mortgage).

Its much easier for someone whose name isnt on the deed to get money they provided repaid than it is for them to claim an entitlement to a share in the property (and thus in any increase in value of it).

But, as you can see, the law is complicated here so I would really recommend that (if it comes to it), you get proper advice.

bearishbull: It's all well and good saying they might be splitting it 50:50, but in the scenario you describe she would be paying higher mortgage repayments to compensate for putting in less money up front. That wasn't the case. And given that they were planning to get married I would assume the issue of who owned what percentage would be redundant.

Anyway, here's my calculations (I think 12-15k is too much!!!)

The value of the house at the start should include stamp duty and any other costs and refurbishments that went into it. What you've mentioned (there may be furniture and solicitors fees to factor in too?)
490+37+4.9+2 = 533.9

You pay 800 and she pays 600 towards mortgage, so you own 207k and she owns 155k of it.

So overall:
You : 207 + 165 + 4.9 = 376.9
She : 155 + 2 = 157

So you own 70.6% and she owns 29.4%.

if it's worth 550 now and you payed in total 533.9, that's a net profit of 16.1k of which she should get 29.4% - i.e. €4,734 by my calculations! So round it up to 5 or 6 and everyone's a winner. (I'm sure I've made some mistake there, but I gotta get back to work now! )

Seems alot fairer for 4 or 5 mortgage repayments too!

(P.S. Sorry for the partially finished post before)

after re-reading the original post, djkat is the only one on the deeds and unless the girlfriend was told she was gonna be 50% owner her contributions to mortgage could be seen as rent considering she paid zero up front and paid less of mortgage,maybe she's not entitled to anything? even if she isnt entitled to anything i m sure you want to give her something.if she starts demanding more than you think she deserves contact a solicitor for expert opinion.

Glenbhoy said:

Joking aside, I think you're getting a little technical, when a couple buy together they don't make arranngements like that (or do they?). In my case I pay the mortgage, she pays the esb and cable (damn, I've just realised she's milking me).

Click to expand...

Personally I think anyone who buys a house with someone else should always draw up a co-ownership agreement, especially when everything isn't 50/50. We all buy with our partners in the belief that we will live happily ever after but it doesn't always work out like that. Its better to trash out an agreement in the beginning when everyone is calm and rational than try and sort it out when you have the emotions of a relationship split thrown into the mix. We signed ours on the day we signed for the house and it didn't cost us any extra. Its become invalid now as we have since married.

Kiddo, agree completely - our arrangement whilst still ongoing was only for a few months of 'living in sin' before we got ourselves sorted out with the full licences etc.