Buying a house in joint names

130Banos wrote on Sun Oct 22, 2023 7:00pm:

I have owned a house in Torrevieja for 18 years but now want to move and buy another jointly with my live in partner Sue ( not Civil partner). Is that permitted and if not  as she is paying for half ,do I revise my wills to cover if I die.

Sues007 wrote on Mon Oct 23, 2023 12:34am:

Yes, I think I can answer this..... Yes you can buy a house together if your not married.  Be better if you marry first and then buy a house😂👍

I was in the same situation as you with a partner (Nigel) and here's my story.....

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We bought this house in 2007 and it was in both names.  50% his and 50% mine.  We didn't make any Spanish wills but had English wills.

We got married in 2009 and could not change the mortgage to a joint one because too many Brits where leaving and handing their keys back to the banks.  The mortgage just stayed the same 50/50.

Unfortunately, Nigel passed away in 2015 and it became an absolute nightmare (not trying to put you off) but it was.

We had insurance, so Nigel's half was paid off and I was left to pay my half.  

Then the problems all started because Nigel had no Spanish Will.  Please make sure you both have Spanish wills for your assets here then you won't have much of a nightmare.  The Spanish law is (I think). The assets go to the children. Long story cut short.... Luckily for me, his children didn't want his half of the house and because I was married in 2009, I was allowed to have his ½ of the house.  It was a long process but eventually I got the house and it's all mine now.

Lastly, if you buy the house, make sure it's in both names and both have Spanish and English Wills.

Hope this helps you and good luck 👍

Sue 😘

130Banos wrote on Mon Oct 23, 2023 4:35am:

Thank you Sues007. We do not want to get married though probably will enter into a civil partnership in uk. The property we are jointly buying has no mortgage. Currently I have a Spanish and uk will and we will both take out new wills in Spain and UK. Eventually it is our intention to apply for a...

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... Golden Visa as we both have UK properties to sell. That I think may be also a joint problem as we are not married because in that case as I understand it she can become a dependant but not jointly own the 500k euros investments ???      Thank you for responding. Enjoy your life in the sun.

Roger