A woman who bought a flat with her friend says it was “a huge mistake” and “like a divorce” after it left their relationship “irreparable” when they had to sell. Victoria Mortimer, 38, made the leap to get on the property ladder in July 2015 when she and her pal decided to purchase the two-bed bedroom flat in Hackney, East London, for £420k.
She says they each contributed 50 per cent of the £42k deposit and they covered £600-a-month each in mortgage payments – with Victoria insisting it would have been “too much of a jump” for her to buy in the city solo at the time. Victoria says their arrangement worked well for the first two years but claims “things changed” when she met her now ex-partner and wanted to live with him.
She says they were unable to agree what to do with the flat at first – but eventually settled on Victoria’s friend buying her out of the property, after a long disagreement. But then they were forced to spend a year living together after Victoria moved back into the flat in January 2020, after she broke up with her boyfriend and was unable to rent and pay her mortgage, before the process was complete.
Victoria, who posts online @theunlikelyaccountant, has since bought a place of her own – a £460k two-bed flat – and advises others to “proceed with caution” when considering buying property with a friend. Her tips include waiting to buy alone, making sure you have a declaration of trust – a legally binding document that outlines the ownership rights and interests of all parties in a property – and having a conversation to decide what to do if one party no longer wants to live there.
Victoria, a finance director from Hackney, said: “We had been friends for more than a decade. We were thick as thieves and never had an argument.
“Ultimately it caused a rupture in our friendship because we couldn’t agree on the best way forward. It was like a divorce. When you break up with your partner, you’re heartbroken, but it hits differently when it’s a friend.
“Everyone who knows I went through this would say ‘I bet you tell everyone to avoid it like the plague’. If you’re going to do it, do it with caution.”
Victoria says she first moved into the flat after deciding with her friend to pool their resources and split everything 50/50. “It seemed like a good basis for getting on the ladder,” Victoria said.
“At the time we didn’t think we could afford to buy individually. Then I met someone and I was spending more and more time with him at his place. I was conscious I was spending time there and not contributing.”
Victoria says she suggested renting out her room, but claims her friend suggested they sell up entirely.
“It almost had to go down a legal route,” Victoria said. “Fast forward to September 2019, me and my boyfriend split up.”
Victoria and her friend were forced to live together for a year after she could not afford to rent elsewhere and pay her existing mortgage. She said: “We couldn’t even look each other in the eye. It got to the point where she could buy me out. I found somewhere else that I bought.”
Now Victoria is sharing her tips for other potential buyers thinking of going down the same path. She said: “If you think you might be able to do it on your own in the next year or two just sit tight and do it on your own.
“If you think you’re going to sell in the next two or three years, it would be harder to make money because you would have paid stamp duty potentially and have estate agent fees.
“It just makes it harder unless you’re in a really high growth area. Sit down and have a conversation and ask ‘what are we going to do if X, Y or Z happens?’.
“Our solicitor didn’t advise a declaration of trust. What that document does is it outlines what happens in the event you need to sell and lays out those things.
“It’s a bit like getting a pre-nup. If we’d been advised to do one of those it would have forced the conversation of where our heads were at if I wanted to move out.”
