Buying a house in one name when you're married: what does the bank check?

Short answer: You can often buy a home in your own name when you're married. But the bank won't ignore your partner. It'll still look at the bills you share and the debts you carry together.

First, work out what "one name" means for you. Do you mean one name on the title, one name on the loan, or both?

The title records who owns the home. The loan documents record who owes the money. Decide whether you want one name on the title, the loan, or both before comparing lenders.

With ubank, each applicant must also be on the property title. If you want both incomes on the loan but only one owner, don't assume its standard eligibility rules fit.

Our ubank home loan review covers its other eligibility and product checks. We'll check any exception before putting it in front of you.

Someone can pay for the groceries without being a borrower. But anyone who signs a loan or guarantee can take on more than the share they expect to pay each month. Have your solicitor explain the documents before you sign.

Adding a partner to the title later can mean fresh legal, tax and lending checks. If that's your plan, check it before choosing the initial setup.

Prepare a household budget that shows every cost and who pays it: childcare, school fees, groceries, utilities, transport, insurance, plus costs that belong to only one of you.

Ask whether the lender can recognise your spouse's contribution and what evidence it needs. Your agreed split isn't automatically the split its calculator uses.

The bank may compare your figures with its own minimum living-cost allowance and assess extra expenses separately. For a CommBank application, have your living costs and existing commitments ready.

How those costs are allocated between spouses still needs checking with the particular lender.

If your spouse isn't borrowing, they may still need to provide a statement. With Macquarie, that means disclosing their income, assets, debts and living costs, and acknowledging that more of their income may be needed for joint debts.

Ask what information is needed, why, and how your spouse's consent will be obtained.

The bank needs evidence that your spouse can cover their share after their own debts. And tell it about changes that are coming, like parental leave or fewer working hours. A split that works on today's payslips could leave you short later.

A common debt reducer changes the figure used to assess your new application. It doesn't pay off the old loan or release either borrower from it. Our common debt reducer guide explains the assessment in more detail.

Disclose all joint commitments, even if your spouse normally makes the payments. Some lenders count the whole commitment. Others can recognise an evidenced share under their rules.

Ask your solicitor what you remain liable for under the loan and any proposed guarantee. Keep that separate from the bank's borrowing calculation.

When only one of you is applying, the key question is how much of the shared debt the bank counts against you. Depending on the lender and your spouse's finances, that may be half, an income-based share or the full repayment. We compare the same household figures, then explain what your spouse must provide or sign before you choose the ownership and loan setup.

Macquarie can recognise a spouse's share of joint debts for married and de facto couples if they can afford it. A 50% split isn't automatic.

Both the household and your separate application must pass. Your spouse normally provides income evidence and a statement covering their finances, expenses and awareness of the new loan.

This can help when a joint mortgage limits your borrowing, but your liability for it stays. Our Macquarie home loan review covers the wider loan.

AMP can leave a non-borrowing spouse out of its minimum living-cost benchmark if they have at least $45k in verified independent annual income. Your expense contribution and mutual dependants still count; joint liabilities stay in full.

To split a shared debt for affordability, AMP requires considering your spouse as a servicing guarantor. That is a different commitment from supplying payslips.

Our AMP home loan review covers the wider product checks. Ask us what your spouse would need to sign before relying on the result.

MyState requires spouses to live together and both the household and individual applicant to pass. Your spouse provides consent, identification and income evidence, and needs a credit check.

MyState uses the greater of your household-income share or 50% for joint debt. If you earn 70%, it uses 70%, not half. Living costs follow your income share.

If one partner earns much more, check the assessed repayment before setting your purchase budget.

ING normally counts the full joint repayment. If the other borrower isn't applying and that full repayment prevents a pass, it may use 50% with evidence they can afford the other half. Without that evidence, the full repayment stays.

This reduced-commitment approach may not work if your spouse has little income or large debts. Our ING home loan review covers the wider loan and eligibility checks.

Pepper may use 50% of joint repayments and single-applicant living expenses for a sole applicant with a spouse. Both the household and individual applicant must pass.

Your spouse still provides verified income, assets, debts, living costs and signed privacy consent. Our Pepper home loan review covers the broader loan choices.

Westpac and St.George may split shared debts and expenses by your household-income share for eligible new applications through a specific application process. We check that your application qualifies for that process before relying on the split. Otherwise, the full commitment counts; there is no blanket 50% rule.

You must live together and be the only borrowers on the shared debt. Your spouse can't borrow or be an income-reliant guarantor on the new loan. Both incomes need verification. If your non-borrowing spouse is self-employed, their income must meet the lender's verification requirements for this route, called Fast Track.

This route excludes a company co-borrower, foreign income and applications that need income from a planned return to work to pass. We check the route and evidence first.

The full debt balance or limit still counts for debt-to-income checks, and total household income sets the minimum living-cost benchmark. Our Westpac home loan review covers other features and restrictions.

Suppose you earn 70% of the household income and share an existing mortgage repayment of $3,000 a month. A 50% allocation would be $1,500, while an income-based 70% share would be $2,100. These are illustrations, not approved lender assessment figures.

The lower number helps only if you qualify and pass both required affordability checks. We also compare assessed rates, living costs, debt-to-income limits and what your spouse must sign.

Send us the proposed owner and borrower names, your income evidence and the statements for debts you already share. We can compare suitable lenders using the same household figures and explain what each would need from your spouse.

We compare the borrowing estimate, the documents each person would sign, rates and fees. Request a free assessment before you apply.

One name doesn't automatically preserve first home buyer benefits. For Queensland's first home owner grant, a spouse's grant history and previous home ownership can matter. Check the QRO eligibility rules before counting on a grant.

The 5% deposit scheme has its own rules again. Our first home buyer loans guide covers finance options, while the low deposit home loans guide helps you compare the deposit side of the purchase.

Talk to a solicitor about estate planning, relationship-property questions and any later transfer. A mortgage assessment can't answer those.

Here's a made-up monthly budget, not an approved bank split.

Typing $2,000 each into a calculator because there are two adults could give you a misleading borrowing estimate. The lender needs to check the actual contributions, evidence and its minimum expense allowance. This is about its affordability sums, not who is legally liable for a debt.

Our Brisbane home loan brokers can check the owner and borrower names, your household budget and your debt statements. Bring the proposed names, both partners' contributions and evidence, statements for existing debts including joint ones, and details of planned leave or changed hours. Call Hunter Galloway on 1300 088 065 or request a free assessment.

If you're ready to seek pre-approval, have those assumptions checked before using the estimate to set your buying budget.