Best option for owning a home

DEAR MRS MACAULAY,

I am 25 years old and I am interested in getting a house for myself. I would do one of two things — apply for a National Housing Trust (NHT) house, or build on my father’s property and place my name on the title. I would borrow the money from NHT to build on this property. The intake process has not yet started for the particular NHT housing that I am eyeing. I am still keeping watch.

I must admit though that I am more leaning towards renovating my father’s house because, in my opinion, that is the more guaranteed route. Also, the scheme where my father’s house is in is an ideal location for me.

Do you think this is indeed the better option?

Your first option would see you applying to purchase one of NHT’s houses either in a completed scheme, in one being constructed, or one to be constructed. You would be the sole applicant for this, with a loan solely from the NHT, and it would hold a mortgage on the premises as security for the loan, which you would pay back by instalments. This is and will be a straightforward transaction between you and the NHT and the certificate of title will be in your sole name.

The second option is that you would apply for and hopefully obtain a ‘build on own land’ loan from the NHT in order to have your house constructed on a portion of your father’s premises. This will not be a straightforward process. I must point out that you cannot just put your name on your father’s title. He is the sole registered proprietor, I assume, so he must agree and it is he who would have to transfer the interest in the property to you either jointly or as tenants-in-common. In the former, you will both own the whole property together until one dies and the whole would then pass to the survivor. As tenants-in-common, you would both separately own 50 per cent of the interest in the property. If your father has a wife or common-law spouse, who is within the legal definition, and with whom he has lived in the premises as their family home, he must obtain her consent that you can do what you plan, even if her name is not on the title. Then, if he is still indebted to the NHT or whatever institution and is still paying his mortgage, he would have to obtain their consent to such a plan and undertaking.

The third option to renovate —maybe enlarge and improve your father’s property — would also see you needing your father’s consent. He would also have to transfer the interest in the premises to you both, as I have mentioned above.

The issue of the comparative cost of the three options is also of vital importance and you must investigate this, as you would have to satisfy the NHT upon your loan application that your choice is not only a viable, but also an attractive option.

I cannot give you any more objective assistance. You must do the comparative investigation about the respective costs of the options and obtain your father’s consent and do the necessary paperwork. You must, as you are dealing with property interests, obtain the services of a lawyer to advise and assist you, and your father must also obtain advice so he can act with full understanding of the entire transaction. All transactions dealing with land interests, in order to be legally binding, must be in writing.

Having said the above, I can say subjectively, that if I were you, I would try for the third option because of the location, as you stated, and for the sense of security.

But remember that you must not do any work on someone else’s property, however close they are to you, without a written agreement signed by both parties and duly witnessed, spelling out exactly what is to be done by whom, to what, at what cost, and exactly what you will be getting for your investment in the premises and by when this will be effected.

The very best of luck to you.

Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide personal responses.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this article are for informational purposes only, and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.