Mortgage responsibility

gazza007

Sorry a long one?
A friend & his girlfriend who have been together for almost 3 years bought out her ex-husband's equity of her home. It was all done through the courts as her 2 teenage boys went to live with him as they wanted to, so he received more of the money. The mortgage was done in joint names even though GF was earning very little at the time. My friend & GF also had a co-habitation agreement drawn-up that would ensure she received her equity and then any profits would be split, there was also provision to award a higher percentage if somebody was shown to be consitantly paying in more money.

A week after it all went through( last september) the youngest child returned.
This started to cause problems & domestic tension soon raised its head.
Also the Ex refused to pay back any money to complicate things. ( she is going back to court on this)
Basically my friend was forced out of the house by GF & has been with his parents since early November. He still sees his GF but they still have problems. They can't live together but can't live without each other.
He wants to get out of the mortgage & get his own place but the BS won't allow it as she doesn't earn enough. This has led to them putting the house up for sale but she is being awkward about viewings, has changed the locks & got the girl at the estate agents to take sympathy with her. Lets face it it has been her home for a long time.

I have told my friend to stop paying the mortgage but he is concerned that he will get bad credit ratings which will affect his future prospects. GF now has a job but wouldn't be able to pay without help.

Any ideas/solutions apart from seeing a lawyer

Savvy_Sue

Seeing a lawyer would be good for starters ... sorry I can't say anything much more constructive than that!

chivers1977

Hi, I haven't posted before but I work in mortgage complaints so thought I could be helpful. Unfortunatley both your friend and his GS are joint and severably liable for the debt. So if he doesn't ensure that payments are made towards the Contractual Monthly Payment (CMP) then if the CMP isn't made by her, the lender will report both parties to a Credit Reference Agency. Unfortunatley, he also also can't do a Transfer of Equity or remortgage into her name if 1) she cannot evidence that she can meet the CMP on her own income or 2) she refuses to sign the Transfer document. I am not sure if he can force the sale via the legal route as that would be something that we would refer through our legal team for advice on. But defintely, he should still meet at least half og the CMP each month and ensure that he keeps documentation to show that he is making payments. It would be a good idea to speak to the lender to advise them of the situation if an arrears situation might arise. Sorry I couldn't have been of more help but hope that this clarifies the situation re the CMP.

gazza007

Cheers for that,
He is in a catch 22 situation as he doesn't want bad credit.
The latest is that he has asked for half of the mortgage to be paid into his account, she seems quite ameniable to this as I'm sure she will get it off her parents. If she dosen't pay-up, the mortgage will still be paid next month, then he can go down another route. He also says that she has agreed to a price reduction on the property. Well we shall see.