Separating from partner, what do with mortgage

joparry111 · 24 March 2018 at 10:46PM

Hi. I am in the middle of a separation from my partner and have no idea what to about our house. We have 2 children who will be living with me, I am currently still living in the house.
We have quite a big mortgage, I only work part time so the bank would say I don't earn enough to put the house/mortgage solely in my name. At the moment we own it under tenants in common, I have a 60% share he has 40. The mortgage is outstanding at 230k and I reckon the house is worth 400k ±
I am not sure I want to remain living in the house as its quite a large house for just me and the kids and it also needs some reonavation work which I cannot afford to do myself plus living costs are quite high as the house is old, heating, lighting is not that efficient and I'm going to struggle to make ends meet as it is.
I am going to try and get some help from citizens advice but it would be helpful if any had any tips or has been through similar and ended up with a fair resolution. Thank you.

joparry111 · 24 March 2018 at 10:53PM

Also should add that, if we sell and split, neither of us would not be able to afford to buy another property separately!

joparry111 · 24 March 2018 at 10:57PM

Sorry, unable to edit previous post, was meant to say, if we sell house and split profit, neither of us will be able to afford to buy a new property separately.

enthusiasticsaver · 24 March 2018 at 11:05PM

How are you managing to pay the mortgage now? Is your ex paying a proportion? The equity is £170k and usually if you have the children living with you then you would get the bigger share but as you bought tenants in common it looks like you have a larger percentage anyway. What does your ex suggest and is he able to get a mortgage for a smaller place if he was released from this mortgage?

I think it is unrealistic to think you will both be able to buy a house each so where do the children normally live? Can your ex make do with a flat?

joparry111 · 24 March 2018 at 11:12PM

Ex is currently still helping pay towards our mortgage as he is currently living at a relatives. That's fine at the moment but he'll want to get his own place, likely to rent as he won't be able to get a mortgage on his own either but once he does this he won't be able to afford to pay a share of the mortgage too.

Lilla_D · 24 March 2018 at 11:12PM

You just answered Thrugelmir's question in relation to another post from today how a man ended up with a mortgage on a property where his ex lives. They split after buying the house and the ex stayed in the property and pays the mortgage. However, as the ex can't get the mortgage in her name only, the man is still named on the mortgage. Unfortunately this situation is one that I see a lot

There's no easy solution, especially when children are also involved. Yes, the property can be sold, everyone takes their share of the equity and goes into rented accommodation - it's just that people are not necessarily keen on it. Or shared ownership could be considered for the next purchase, but many people don't like it either. So based on clients' stories, it seems that people just wait until a new partner comes along, who can help by joining the mortgage instead of the partner who left the property. Not ideal solution either. Then again, splitting up is not ideal in the first place...

Hope you'll manage to agree about the way forward with your ex and things work out for both of you and the children (as much as possible).

joparry111 · 24 March 2018 at 11:23PM

Thanks Lilla, split was not what I wanted but ex had other ideas. I don't even think I can afford to go to a rented property, the area we live in the rental market is quite high (a 2 bed flat to rent would probably cost more per month then our current monthly mortgage repayment!) shared ownership I have looked into but they dont seem to come up that often and nothing in our area at the moment. Children are settled at school and I have family close by so ideally I wouldn't want to move a completely different cheaper area as that would be even more of an upheaval on the kids!

Separating from partner, what do with mortgage

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