If you're buying a property with someone else, you'll need a joint mortgage. How much you can borrow will depend on both your incomes. You need to think carefully about what would happen to your mortgage if you break up.

• How much can you borrow?
  
• Rights and responsibilities
  

How much can you borrow?

A couple who are both earning can usually get a mortgage up to:

• 2½ or 3 times the higher income, plus
• 1 times the lower income.

Sometimes the two incomes are added together and multiplied by 3½ - lenders will vary on this.

Unmarried couples are usually treated the same as a husband and wife when working out how much they can borrow. Gay or lesbian couples and groups of two or more friends can also apply for a joint mortgage. However, lenders may be less willing to give you a mortgage.

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Rights and responsibilities

With a joint mortgage, both or all the borrowers will be equally liable for keeping up the repayments, even if someone moves out. The lender can pursue any of them for the money if someone fails to pay. It's important to have mortgage protection insurance to pay off the loan if one of you dies.

You should also check out the legal difference between buying a property with a joint tenancy or with a tenancy-in-common. This affects what would or could happen if one of you dies or wants to sell their share. Buying with other people can be quite complicated.

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