You'll need to decide on the best type of joint mortgage. You can own a property as either ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’.

The type of ownership affects what you can do with the property if your relationship with a joint owner breaks down, or if one owner dies.

It‘s really important to consider that if one of you defaults on the mortgage, you’re both responsible for any missed repayments.

Joint Tenancy

If you both want to hold an equal share of the property, regardless of who paid for what in the purchase, you can set up your mortgage as a joint tenancy. If either one of you dies, full ownership automatically passes to the other.

Tenancy in Common

Using a Tenancy in Common, you can split the percentages of ownership however you like. For example, if one of you has invested more cash into the property than the other, you can divide the ownership rights to reflect this. Your share of the property can be inherited by whoever you name as the beneficiary in your will.