Can he force me to sell home

Michmele · 20 August 2008 at 7:56PM

We have been living together in a house with a joint mortgage for 5 and 1/2 years. We have now decided to part, but now he wants to sell up and split the profits. I want to keep the house on by myself, and the bank have agreed the funds for me for buy out, but for badness he want to force me to sell up and lose my home, even though he does not want it himself. Can he force me to sell my home, even though I am willing to give him his proper share of the funds, equal to the amount we would both have received if we had put the house on the market? Please help!

geoffky · 20 August 2008 at 8:31PM

as long as you pay him his share and your banks think you can afford the mortgage he has not got a hope in hell of getting you to sell..

baileysbattlebus · 20 August 2008 at 8:41PM

He can't force you to sell, both parties need to agree to a sale - he would have to go to court first - pretty costly and time consuming.

You really need to seek legal advice - but don't be bullied into selling if you don't want to.

Keep paying the mortgage!!!

jaype · 20 August 2008 at 9:56PM

"Keep paying the mortgage!!!"

... and make sure he does, too - don't just take his word for it, check each month (unless you are already landed with all the repayments)

Michmele · 20 August 2008 at 10:38PM

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied, you've given me hope, much appreciated, and yes I will keep paying the mortgage and make him pay his fair share. Fingers crossed he won't take it to the court stage.

Richard_Webster · 22 August 2008 at 9:52AM

He could go to court to force a sale and that would cost him a lot of money. If you offer to buy him out his solicitors are going to tell him that as long as the deal is reasonable he should settle for that to save costs.

It is usually only worth going to court to get a sale ordered if the amount you are offering him is way below what he is advised he could get, so that the costs of going to court make it worth his while.

If the case goes to court then any mortgage payments he should have made but didn't will be taken off his share, but if doesn't get that far, they will simply be part of the negotiation, so don't assume he will keep up his share of the payments.

You will also want the house transferred into your sole name so you can sell it or remortgage it in the future, because you would still need his signature if his name does not get removed. If he wants out because he wants to take out another mortgage then you can negotiate a lower price. If he doesn't care, doesn't immediately need the money, and is happy to risk a bad credit rating in the future he could disappear to the other side of the world and then announce via friends of friends that if you wanted to sell then he might be prepared to sign the documents, but at a price...

Michmele · 23 August 2008 at 1:19PM

Thank you Richard, your information is very useful, even though I am based in Glasgow. I will arrange for a letter to be sent to his solicitior advising that he can have has share of the profits (had we sold) as this is only fair. The only problem I have, as that he may make us proceed to court just for badness so that I do not have the house. I hope he will not be as mean as that, but it is a possibility I have to face. Thank you again for you help.

Yasmin02 · 24 August 2008 at 2:50PM

Hello Michmele

For what is is worth people can be very bitter and I went through a very bitter split up a number of years ago. It owuld be in both your interests for him to buy you out. You both do not want to go court its a waste of money and paying barristers and solicitors to argue your case if very expensive. As others have said please do not be bullied someitmes people think this is the only way out and certaintly is not. I did have to go to court to force the sale of my property but only to find out a couple of weeks later my ex partner was playing games and then bought me out!!

As others have said he can take you to court but why on earth would he want to do that if you are going to buy him out the courts would take this into account too.

Best of luck with it all.

Yasmin

Michmele · 24 August 2008 at 4:21PM

Hi Yasmin,

Thanks for sharing this information with me. I would like to buy him out, because he has no intention of buying me out, he doesn't even want the house, but he just doesn't want me to have it because he knows I love it, he can be very twisted at times. I really hope he does accept my offer because he will still be in the same situation i.e. in a flat somewhere else but with a lot less money, all because of court costs. I will just have to stay strong and stick to my guns and hope for the best, as it is not very pleasant being in the same house with all this going on.

Thanks again for replying to me, and good luck with the future.

Michelle

GDB2222 · 24 August 2008 at 6:58PM

Surely, the problem here is one of valuation? Houses are hard to sell at the moment, so it is difficult to fix a price that is fair to you both. If you follow his suggested course and put the house on the market, you don't have to sell it, and it will give you both a better idea of what the house is actually worth in today's market. This strengthens your hand if it comes to a court battle, too.

Michmele · 24 August 2008 at 7:26PM

The house has been valued by a surveyor from my bank, I know how much it's worth, I am a fair person and would not try to outdo someone with money, therefore there is not need to put my house on the market, he would get his fair share.