Court order to force house sale query

goldbyron

I posted a while ago as my ex partner is refusing to sell our house even though we split up 1.5 years ago after 6 years together. We are not married and there are no dependents. We are now tenants in common registering our seperate interests in the property.

I have been forced to live with my parents since we split and I have now taken to matter to a solicitor as she would not agree to sell. I have been very patient and suggested several alternatives (her/me buying other out, renting a room) however this has not been successful.

In reply to my initial solicitors letters she agreed to sell if I paid all selling costs (which I had already offered), tied in the move with another house purchase for herself and paid her a 'contribution' towards buying costs estimatated (laughably) at £10k.

My solicitor made the offer that I would pay all selling costs (roughly £3k) however would not pay the £10k as if we went to court she does not have a legitimate reason to contest. Also she would be liable to pay her and possibly my legal fees for being obstructive.

Her solicitor has not replied within the deadline and so we are going to have to go to court. It seems straight forward to me that it is in neither of our interests to go down this route.

Does anyone know of a legal reason why a judge could order not to force a sale or have personal experience? A friend has stated that she could be ready to sue me for damages (I don't get this as all I have done is left a relationship) - is this is a possbility?

I see it as this any distress she has suffered after a relationship break down (1.5 years ago) is not comparable to my distress at having no where to live. We have equity in the property and she has a job therefore she is able to buy or rent.

Thanks for any advice!

Me_Myself_2

My OH (a solicitor) says , a judge will force the sale unless there are special circumstances. e.g. children or other dependants living there.

pinkpauline34

I was in a similar situation with my ex. We bought a house (as joint tenants) in 1997, he left in 2000 while I stayed in the house with our children. It was an acrimonious split and he refused to contribute to the mortgage. In 2002, I was struggling to pay the mortgage so my solicitor wrote to him to say I wished to sell the property but obviously needed his consent to do so.

As with everything else, he ignored all letters so we had to proceed to County Court where we got an Order for Sale with me having full conduct over the sale. The property was in a very desirable area so I had numerous offers within the first week of marketing and accepted an offer from a FTB with no chain. As I had full conduct of sale, I did not have to consult with my ex.

Unfortunately, this was when the problems really began. My ex refused to comply with any Court Orders and refused to sign the Contract for Sale which caused numerous delays. My solicitor had to go back to Court to have a Judge sign the Contract for Sale on his behalf and the same thing happened at completion - he refused to sign the Transfer so again, the Judge had to sign this on his behalf.

As my ex refused to attend Court hearings, the funds from the sale of the property had to be paid into Court in July 2003 so that a final court hearing could determine who was entitled to what. The hearing didn't take place until November 2004 at which time my ex decided to appear and the split ended up as a 60/40 in my favour and he ended up having to pay all legals.

I really hope your situation doesn't end up in Court because there are no winners when it gets to Court and it's not a pleasant experience. I am quite certain any Judge would award an Order for Sale but the most important part is "who has the conduct of the sale". I'd make sure that your solicitor asked the Judge to word the order that you should be consulted on any offers made for the property and who the selling Agent is to be so that you can be kept in the picture as the sale progresses. I hope your ex isn't as awkward as mine was.

Please feel free to pm me - I've been there and got the T Shirt so I'm happy to advise if I can. Good luck!

Bossyboots

Suing for damages is rubbish and the court will not entertain such an application. She will find herself severely out of pocket if she tries this one. Any damages she claims have to be quantifiable so unless you leaving has cost her some financial loss then she has nothing to sue for. Any expenses directly attributable to you leaving would be offset against your share if such expenses were reasonably incurred (I can't actually think of anything that would even come under that at the moment).

If she is not prepared to compromise then I would expect a court to to grant an application for the house to be sold and if she is not careful, she could be ordered to pay the selling costs herself. It is definitely not appropriate for her to expect you to pay her buying costs not least because it sounds like she is expecting you to pay her stamp duty when you have absolutely no choice over the property she buys. She would be expected to buy a property within her means, not expect you to finance a property over the 3% stamp duty bracket (which would be the only way to get those sort of buying costs). Even if she is in an expensive area and needs to stay there, she should be able to get something below £250,000.