With real estate prices in Vancouver continuing to rise, so too are the number of families attempting home-sharing.
“We’re finding more and more, both commercial and residential real estate, people are getting more creative with their approaches to ownership,” says Aneez Devji, a lawyer with Richards Buell Sutton.
“This is definitely one of the ways people are doing it.”
Two families that took the plunge five years ago were Christina and Ryan Ingham, and Ryan’s brother Jeremy Campbell, buying a two-level home in Ladner.
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The trio planned to sell after a couple of years. But because of the skyrocketing prices for detached homes in the Lower Mainland, they’ve decided to stay put, because none of them would be able to afford a replacement on their own.
“The market has now skyrocketed, as everyone knows, and we’ve kind of been happy,” said Campbell, who lives on the lower floor. “There have been no issues. It works for us at this point in our lives.”
Since they bought in together, the Inghams have had a child and Campbell has gotten engaged. To date they have had no issues and don’t have any legal agreement on what would happen if there was one.
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“Knock on wood, it doesn’t happen, but if someone wanted to get out, the idea we would have is…to get the house assessed for current market value, and then one person would possibly buy the other person out. That’s the game plan,” said Christina.
But Devji recommends anyone who emulates their decision have more than a verbal agreement in place.
“The circumstances you’re living with today might not be the same six months from now or six years from now. You may not want to have the same arrangement down the road,” he says.
The concern would be its oversimplifying by saying we’ll go our separate ways. There might be smaller issues that can be overcome if there’s an written agreement, such as someone not being able to make a payment for a month, or someone wanting to make small renovations.”
However, so far it’s been smooth sailing for Campbell and the Inghams.
“We’re just very close and happen to get along. Looking back on this, we couldn’t have predicted this. It’s worked pretty well,” says Ryan.
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