The Bank of Mum and Dad: Helping Your Child Buy a Home Without Storing Up Problems
Gifting a deposit, lending money, or buying together are all sensible ways to help an adult child onto the property ladder. Each one carries legal and tax consequences that are far easier to deal with before completion than after it. Here is what families need to think about, and the practical steps that protect everyone involved. Parental support has become one of the main routes into home ownership in England and Wales. For most families, the conversation begins with a straightforward question of affordability. How much can we help with, and when can we transfer it? The questions that actually matter are different, and they tend to surface much later, usually at the worst possible moment. Who owns what share of this property? Was that money a gift or a loan? What happens if the relationship breaks down, if one party wants to sell, or if somebody dies? None of this is difficult to resolve at the outset. All of it is difficult, expensive, and damaging to resolve afterwards. The sing...
