Splitting From Partner - Advice Required

rscosworth

Guys,

This probably isnt the right place to post this kinda information but im pretty confused about all thats going on in the last couple of weeks.

Heres the background....

Ive been seeing my girlfriend for almost 10 years, we moved into a flat around 4.5 years ago and then in february this year we sold the flat and moved into a semi detatched.

Things havent been great since and its come to that stage where im not happy anymore and have talked about splitting.

Its prefectly amicable and we havent fallen out/found other relationships.

We paid 163k for the house (in october) but moved in Feb of this year. We took a mortgage of 121k from Halifax on a fixed 5year deal (6.29% i think, i can check) my parents gave me 30k cash to help with the shortfall and we used 12k from the profit from the flat.

Now we never got a pre-nup written up which sounds daft but thats just the way it was. But my girlfriend is not contesting that my parents have to get there 30k back.

My questions are

* Will halifax let me take on the mortgage myself? (I earn 30k a year and can cover it with no issues)
* Id be wanting to buy her out. If the house is now worth 180k, minus 120k mortgage, minus 30k parents = 30k (split both ways is 15K) then whatever i want to keep from the house id pay her half for,,,,,,,is this how it really works?

Any other advice you guys could give me would be gratefully received.

Thanks

teedy23

What you buy her out for is your and her biz. just get it done legally, agreed and signed for by both parties in front of a lawyer, then no come backs for any of you. I got caught out with this 3yrs after the "amicable" split. I got the mortgage changed into my name soley and I,m not in as good a position as you, so shouldnt be any problems there.

inca_2

Hiya

Have you had the house valued? as prices have on the whole been coming down you the fact that you bought it last October means that it is unlikely the property will be worth 17'000 more now than it was then. This will have an impact on how much equity you will have left to use to pay parents back etc. Also if the house values up and you are able to take the extra 30k you will be looking at borrowing 5x your income (without taking any other debts into account if there are any) which you may struggle to get agreed. I'm not by any means saying it is impossible however. If you are tied in I'd speak to your current lender first, to save you having to pay any ERC by taking the mortgage elsewhere in your own name.

Without the extra borrowing you may find that you don't have problems getting the mortgage in your own name, it will be the extra that could make it difficult, particularly if the value has dropped. Make an appointment to speak to an adviser and see what they say. If you are speaking face to face take bank statements and payslips etc so that you can help prove it is affordable to you.

rscosworth

Ok,

I understand what your saying, my current estimate is based on how much we spent on the house (we completely refurbished/renewed everything).

There are no other outstanding debts.

I would not be wanting to borrow any extra money from the mortgage lendor, this would come from my "rainy day" isa.

I have around 15k sitting in an isa and 5k cash. Also have a motorbike worth 5k if it come to it.

Do you think the mortgage company would have an issue with me taking 120k on in my current position?

Ive worked out that alone the house would cost £1150 a month (all bills, tax, food, etc etc) and i take home in excess of £2k every month.....

Cheers

silvercar

I understand what your saying, my current estimate is based on how much we spent on the house (we completely refurbished/renewed everything).

Your starting from the wrong place. You now have a property worth X that needs to be split between you and your GF. From its current value, and look for recently sold prices not estate agent windows, you take off the mortgage and your parents deposit and split the rest. Chances are the property has dropped in value and you are taking on something that could drop further, whereas your GF walks away with no liability and no risk of further house price falls.

Different example. Say you bought 15 years ago for 100k a property with a 50k mortgage and your parents 30k deposit, so had put in 10k each. Now its worth 300k. We are saying knock off the mortgage and parents deposit would leave 220k, so your GF would be entitled to 110k. You are saying (I think) that you would need to repay the original 10k investment to your GF. I doubt she would be happy with that, in the same way that she should realise that you can only split any equity based on its current value.

rscosworth

I understand what your saying above, but this is a totally amicable split and i wont see her short, she needs to have enough for a good deposit on a flat.

The property slump in my opinion is short term and in 5yrs i will have made back the money i gave her.

We agreed at £163k purchase price in october but didnt complete till feb 1st of this year, knowing that house prices had gone down etc.

If i buy her out, my parents wont actually get their 30k back, thats just their equity in the house.

Does she have any legal claim to the 30k my parents gave me? As nothing was put in writing and no pre-nup agreed/witnessed.