Walking away from a property- deeds?

bargain_carly

Hi I hope I'm posting this on the right forum.

I amicably split with my ex over a year ago and we have a house together which we bought on 100% mortgage just over 2 years ago.The mortgage is in joint names and we are equally joint on the deeds. The house is worth now approx what we paid for it. I moved out when we split and havent made any mortgage payments towards the house (I looked after the bills when I was living there).
I have decided that I want to walk away from the house and hand it over to him. He wants to carry on living there in the hope that it will increase in value eventually. He is fine with me handing it over to him and is going to see a financial advisor to try to remortgage the property on his own (possibly with his dads help who was listed as my guarantor on the mortgage).

I did enquire as to how much it would cost to remove me from the deeds and mortgage through a solicitor and was told approx £200 :eek: which neither of us can afford even if split 50:50 so my ex has said that he will keep me on the deeds til he can afford it (assuming the mortgage lender doesnt mind).

My mum says I should get myself off the deeds in case the mortgage company come after me should me ex fall behind on his repayments, god forbid. Is this likely to be the case? I had in my mind that I had nothing to lose from being kept on the deeds, and that it was my ex who had most at stake eg if I decided to ask for half the profits of a sale or took out a secured loan against the property (which I wont btw:A!!!).

NB I know that until my name gets taken off the mortgage I would still be liable for repayments should my ex fall behind and that this would affect my credit score. I am just hoping he sorts out remortgaging asap.

Also does anyone know of a cheaper way of removing me from the deeds? Can it be done direct with the land registry?

Thanks for reading! x

Francesanne

bargain_carly wrote: »

Hi I hope I'm posting this on the right forum.

I amicably split with my ex over a year ago and we have a house together which we bought on 100% mortgage just over 2 years ago.The mortgage is in joint names and we are equally joint on the deeds. The house is worth now approx what we paid for it. I moved out when we split and havent made any mortgage payments towards the house (I looked after the bills when I was living there).
I have decided that I want to walk away from the house and hand it over to him. He wants to carry on living there in the hope that it will increase in value eventually. He is fine with me handing it over to him and is going to see a financial advisor to try to remortgage the property on his own (possibly with his dads help who was listed as my guarantor on the mortgage).

I did enquire as to how much it would cost to remove me from the deeds and mortgage through a solicitor and was told approx £200 :eek: which neither of us can afford even if split 50:50 so my ex has said that he will keep me on the deeds til he can afford it (assuming the mortgage lender doesnt mind).

My mum says I should get myself off the deeds in case the mortgage company come after me should me ex fall behind on his repayments, god forbid. Is this likely to be the case? I had in my mind that I had nothing to lose from being kept on the deeds, and that it was my ex who had most at stake eg if I decided to ask for half the profits of a sale or took out a secured loan against the property (which I wont btw:A!!!).

NB I know that until my name gets taken off the mortgage I would still be liable for repayments should my ex fall behind and that this would affect my credit score. I am just hoping he sorts out remortgaging asap.

Also does anyone know of a cheaper way of removing me from the deeds? Can it be done direct with the land registry?

Thanks for reading! x

I agree with your Mum. Get your name removed asap. £200 might sound a lot but it'll be worth the expense and it could save you a fortune in the long run.

lincroft1710

Your name is on the mortgage, you are therefore equally responsible for payments and if ex doesn't pay, your lender will seek payment from you and if you can't/won't pay will repossess, sell and can pursue you (and ex) for 12 yrs for any loss incurred. Sorting remortgage is far more important than name on deeds.

McKneff

take notice of your mum cos mums always know best.
imagine this. other half defaults, mortgage company reposses, resell the house for £50k less than you owe them and they will chase both of you for the money. £200 is peanuts when you think what could happen

bargain_carly

Thanks for all your replies. I'll make sure I get the money from somewhere and come off both.
Cheers

poppysarah

Find the £200 and get off the deeds. You could be saddled with debts if you don't.

You really don't have £200 in a savings account?

ohmsoft

Can I just stress the point made by Lincroft above - it's the mortgage you need to come off rather than the property deeds (the later is simply who owns what on the property as opposed to who owes the lender money).

You need to ask the lender if they are prepared to take your name off the mortgage (likely to be called a transfer of equity). They will only agree this if they are satisfied that your ex can afford the mortgage in his own right.

Debt_Free_Chick

The mortgage and the deeds go hand in hand. The mortgage is granted to you both, jointly, and it's secured (i.e. attached) to your joint interest in the property.

In theory, your share of the mortgage is secured against your share of the property; and your ex's share of the mortgage is secured against his share in the property. Only it ain't that simple, as you can be liable for his share of the mortgage but have no claim on his share of the property (and vice-versa).

You cannot do one without the other.

So ... your ex needs to buy-out your interest in the property - and that might be nil - but to do so he needs to get a mortgage in his own name.

£200 is cheap - you really should find it for the hassle you will avoid in the future.

ohmsoft

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

You cannot do one without the other.

quote]

That's not strictly true - i've seen a fair amount of case while working in a mortgage recoveries department where for one reason or another somebody is removed from the property deeds but remain on the mortgage.

This is usaully a result of court action - the Courts are capable of forcing the removal of someone from the property deeds (often resulting from a marital split and divorce settlement). However, there power does not normally extend to forcing a mortgage lender to remove joint liability from a mortgage. The lender would keep the mortgage in joint name - still have the property as security - but also have the personal guarantee (and the income factor) from the person who has been removed from the property deeds.

Conversly - the lender can (although it happens less) agree a sole mortgage to a property that is held in joint names (One of the IFAs here may be able to confirm but does this not happen quite often with some of the more complex pesion arrangements? SIPPS etc?) - in normal practice as I said it's rare and would depend on the equity in the property and usually only on Tennants in Common (I beleive).

Don't mean to confuse anyone as the above is quite unlikely but the point I was trying to make in my first post is that the OP should ensure that it's the mortgage they are coming off (IE the £200 is the lenders charge and not just the SOLs)