The pros and cons of joint home ownership

Buying a home is a huge undertaking. However, purchasing the property with a partner – whether for investment purposes or personal use – can be even trickier because you have two people who each puts in significant time, effort and money into their investment and may have differing opinions about certain aspects of it.

With many first-time home buyers struggling to get onto the property ladder, the obvious benefit is the sharing of expenses which makes the purchase more affordable. When applying for a home loan together, you will be able to secure a larger mortgage and split the financial responsibilities such as the deposit, initial costs and bond repayments.

Since the property will be registered in both your names either as equal undivided shares or a determined percentage, you will also divide the upkeep and maintenance, and the managing of tenants.

Like any relationship, it’s safe to assume that you won’t always get along when decisions must be made about the property. For example, your partner might feel the need to undertake renovations around the house, but you don’t. Or, you might have a problem with the tenant and want to evict them, but your partner wants to keep them. For this reason, it’s important to draft a co-ownership agreement when you purchase a property so that you know what your rights and limitations are in case your relationship turns sour.

Buying a house with a sibling or friend offers many benefits, not the least of which is having someone to help you carry the load that comes with owning a property. But partnerships can quickly go bad if you don’t carefully consider the possible results and plan how you’re going to deal with them.