Now single - don't want to lose house - please help!

Boo12345

Hi All,

I have recently split with my girlfriend of 6 years. We bought a house a couple of years ago & I spent all my free time for approximately 18 months doing it up. My ex now wants to sell the house. I love this house & deperately want to keep it.

I am worried I can't afford to keep it but want to investigate every possible option before I agree to sell.

I am able to raise some capital through family loans but there is likely to be a shortfall.

Has anybody had a similar experience & manage to buy the partner out through, for example shared ownership schemes or any other way of raising capital?

Thank you in advance for any help anbody can give.

Lotus-eater

Be sensible and sell it.

PasturesNew

Any chance of making it up?
Easiest/best solution all round.

pinkshoes

Are you sure it's definitely over? It's not the 7 year itch and the whole relationship feels like it's boring and over is it??

What do you earn, how much is the house "worth", and how much would you have to get a mortgage for?

Boo12345

Hi,

Thanks for your posts

I'm afraid there's no chance of patching things up as she was unfaithful. We are both in agreement that enough is enough.

I earn £30,000, am due for a potential £1,500 payrise pending exam results in 3 weeks..

I have yet to have the house valued but I think it is worth about £225,000 and we have an outstanding mortgage of £176,000.

I can raise about £50,000 through family connections so would need to borrow about £150,000.

Boo12345

Hi,

Thanks for your posts

I'm afraid there's no chance of patching things up as she was unfaithful. We are both in agreement that enough is enough.

I earn £30,000, am due for a potential £1,500 payrise pending exam results in 3 weeks..

I have yet to have the house valued but I think it is worth about £225,000 and we have an outstanding mortgage of £176,000.

I can raise about £50,000 through family connections so would need to borrow about £150,000.

Leighthal

Can you afford to take the mortgage on by yourself?If you can raise some cash from relatives can you not just pay her off?Explain to her that we are in a falling market and the house could take ages to sell.

RichPenny

You could suggest to her that you put the house on the market and try to sell it, if it does not sell in a specified time, then you agree to buy her half for the highest offer you have received. Don't tell her anything about the market, she has not been honest with you.

It does seem a little unfair that she has been unfaithful yet you have to take a big financial hit or lose your home. Ignore a valuation, it is a valid selling price that you need to split the difference over. This WILL be low as the only people buying at the moment are either insane (include myself in this category!) or driving hard bargains.

As far as the sums go, I would have thought that you might struggle to get a £150k mortgage on £30k, I am on similar and was offered about £135-140k a few months ago. Be careful though, can you afford a £150k mortgage??? Hopefully you would get that down a bit and end up with maybe £130-140k. Good luck, just don't get railroaded into either selling too low because she wants shot, or giving her too much for her half.

tinkerbell84

Could you get a lodger?

PasturesNew

Try to cut her a deal. Point out that you'll be holding onto something that's losing value. You put all the work in. She's the unfaithful one. So would she settle for £90k now because if you decided to sell it and divvi up you'd probably end up not finding a buyer until it was under £180k.

bubblesmoney

RichPenny wrote: »

You could suggest to her that you put the house on the market and try to sell it, if it does not sell in a specified time, then you agree to buy her half for the highest offer you have received.

risky stratergy. all she has to do is to get one of her friends to put in high offers and ur goose is cooked if u agree to the above mentioned plan.

how ever if u call their bluff and want to sign contracts etc, they still could pull out their offer.

better plan is, agree to put it on market for a mutually agreed price, insist on splitting all costs of sale and mortgage in meantime. if she doesnt agree tell that u will sue her for damages if she doesnt keep up to her share of the mortgage payments till house sold and make a claim on her share of the property. or if u do get a low offer but know that buyer will complete transaction, then and only then make an offer to her and see if she agrees for you to buy her out for the same price as the low offer as sale might be quicker and more surer. since that will be a private sale u will save the estate agents costs. but make sure u insist on mentioning in contract with estate agent that if house sold privately then no commission is due etc. dont know if it will work but worth thinking about. get legal opinion whether the work u put into improving the value of the house with ur DIY etc over the years can be claimed from her share of the property if sold.