Helping someone with a mortgage deposit.

[Joe Public]

Obviously some people will do this with their kids etc and not necessarily expect it back.

But say you were to help someone out with their mortgage downpayment because it's in your interest to do so, is there any contract you can put in place to protect your money should they decide not to pay it back?

Should stress I'm not going to do this, was just thinking about it and surely it occasionally happens and causes a lot of disputes.

Yes you can put a legal charge in the loan, secured against their other assets if they have any. Doubt you’ll be able to get it secured against the house as the bank wouldn’t allow it.