Purchasing house with a family member

[Isabella]

I am considering purchasing a house (50:50) with my sister and would like to get some opinions on the matter. I am 31 years old, and married with our own place for about 7 years now with 18 years left on the mortgage. My sister has asked me would I consider helping her with the purchase of her first home. She is 33 years old and single, and financially not in a position to purchase the property on her own and would need some assistance.

She has been offered first refusal on a 4 bed semi-D house for €220K which has been valued at €260K. She would prefer not to take in tenant's if the purchase goes through. I would like to help out, but I am a little unsure. Also at some stage in the near future my husband and I plan on building a home down the country and keep our current home. I would like to know if helping out my sister would effect our future plans and if purchasing with her is a good idea in principle or not?

 

[ClubMan]

This sort of query (family member, possibly already a home owner, helping another family member out to buy a place of their own) seems to be cropping up more and more over the past few months/years. If you browse back through the contents of this forum and the Mortgages and House Buying forum you will probably find some topics of interest/relevance. In general terms note that if your name are on the deeds (as opposed to simply providing financial assistance) then your sister will lose her first time buyer status by virtue of the fact that all parties involved are not FTBs. This will have a bearing on stamp duty and mortgage interest relief. You should carefully consider the tax implications (e.g. stamp duty, income tax, CGT) of your sister being an part owner occupier and you being a non part owner non occupier de facto investor. If in doubt get independent, professional advice.

 

[Isabella]

Thanks for that, I check any existing threads on the topic. Can you recommend anywhere for advice?