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If you have a small income, you can seek a mortgage that only corresponds to this income. This can often prevent you from mortgaging a home or property with a higher value.
A Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor (JBSP) mortgage offers you a way out of this. With this type of mortgage, multiple individuals can borrow the same property or asset while only one individual legally owns it. The other individuals are known as joint borrowers.
If you are considering mortgaging a house under a JBSP mortgage, our Joint Borrower Sole Proprietor solicitors can help you. Here at the London-based Adam Bernard’s law firm, our Independent Legal Advice solicitors also help you with finalizing and securing a JBSP mortgage.
A JBSP mortgage is an effective solution in a variety of scenarios.
Consider this example. You are the parent of a child seeking to own a home. Your child doesn’t have sufficient income to qualify for the mortgage. You can agree to be jointly on the mortgage of your child’s house.
This allows your child to own the house. You and your child can jointly make the mortgage payments. Being a joint borrower, you effectively remove the hurdle of low income ceiling that barred your child from getting the mortgage offer.
The same applies if you are a friend trying to help another friend who can’t afford a mortgage on their own.
If you are unsure whether or not you should jointly be on the mortgage of a relative, friend, or partner, our joint borrower sole proprietor solicitors can help. With the guidance of our commercial property solicitors, you can make an informed choice and make sure your interests are protected.
A declaration of no-beneficial interest is typically required when you are applying for a JBSP mortgage. This is a kind of a deed of trust that clarifies several complicated issues pertaining to the mortgage. A declaration may cover the following questions:
You can also confirm in the deed that the non-legal owner of the mortgage will have no beneficial interest in the property. This means that the non-legal partner will not be able to receive any money if the property is sold in the future, or if it is rented out.
It is highly recommended that a declaration of no-beneficial interest is signed by the non-legal owner when entering into a JBSP mortgage. Failure to do so may cause Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to consider the non-legal owner as one of the beneficiaries. This can lead to higher stamp duty rates.
Our joint borrower sole proprietor solicitors can help you draft the declaration. Our commercial conveyancing solicitors can also ensure that the declaration protects the interests of both the legal and non-legal owners of the mortgage.
When entering into a JBSP mortgage, you will typically be required to seek the advice of Independent Legal Advice solicitors. The ILA is important because the JBSP mortgage carries significant risks yet no benefits for the joint borrower.
The risks involve the following:
You face these risks even though you are not a legal owner of the property and you can’t legally receive any benefits from it.
Experienced commercial conveyancing solicitors can help you fully understand these risks. This allows you to make an informed choice and go into the JBSP mortgage only after you have weighed the risks. Once you have received this advice, the ILA certificate is provided to the mortgage lender.
An ILA provided by reputable independent legal advice solicitors is used as a proof by the lenders that the joint borrower was fully aware of the risks involved. This is to prevent the borrower from claiming that they were not fully aware of the risks and hence can’t be personally liable for the mortgage.
The independent legal advice solicitors review all the mortgage documents and financial details of the contract. They also discuss several important matters in a one-on-one meeting with you to inform you of the nature of the contract, and ensure that you fully understand the terms. Such a meeting can also be done through a video call if allowed by the lender.
During the ILA meeting, you can expect the following matters to be under discussion:
If the meeting concludes successfully, you are then sent an Etridge letter. You are to sign the letter and send it back to the solicitor upon which a mortgage certificate is created and provided to the mortgage lender.
Many lenders allow you to seek ILA from any qualified independent solicitor. The commercial conveyancing solicitors at the London-based Adam Bernard’s have an extensive experience of handling JBSP mortgage cases.
Our commercial property solicitors can work with you to provide ILA, ensure that you are able to negotiate suitable terms with the lender, and deliver the mortgage certificate to your lender in a fairly brief time. This helps you proceed with the agreement without any delays.
As discussed above, the non-legal owner can give notice of their intention to leave the mortgage if they have signed a deed of trust with the legal owner. In such a case, the legal owner has the option to either sell the property on open market or remortgage the property within a stipulated time.
If the deed of trust does not exist, the parties of the mortgage have other options they can explore. You can apply for a deed of release. This is issued by the lender and releases you from the terms of the mortgage as the non-legal owner.
However, the lender is not likely to issue the release deed if the legal owner of the mortgage is unlikely to meet repayment commitments. On the other hand, if the financials of the legal owner have approved since the mortgage was purchased, you may be able to secure a deed of release.
You can also agree with the legal owner to have the property sold. In case such an agreement is not forthcoming, you can explore the possibility of a court order. However, a court will typically not issue an order to sell a property if you are a non-owning party, which is precisely the case in JBSP mortgage.
It is for these reasons that you must consult experienced commercial conveyancing solicitors when entering a JBSP mortgage agreement. With the expert advice of commercial property solicitors, you can ensure that you become a party to the mortgage while keeping your options open.
Here at the London-based Adam Bernard’s law firm, our commercial property solicitors offer ILA and related legal services. Whether you are a lender seeking ILA from a mortgage borrower, or a borrower who wants to negotiate favorable terms, we can help.
Our commercial conveyancing solicitors have a long experience of handling JBSP mortgage cases. We can work with you to make sure that your risks are minimised, your options remain open, and you become a part of JBSP mortgage without exposing yourself unnecessarily.
Our commercial conveyancing solicitors can also advise you on how best to avoid steep amounts in Stamp Duty Land Tax when you are only a joint borrower and non-legal owner in a JBSP mortgage.
With the help of our commercial property solicitors, you can draft suitable declaration of no-beneficial interest to make sure you are not taxed for your non-equity share in the mortgaged property.
You can schedule a free preliminary consultation with our commercial property solicitors to see how we can help you.
Get in touch with us today to schedule a free consultation with our joint borrower sole proprietor solicitors.
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