negative equity and divorce

stevenhunter20

Hi. Im currently going through a divorce but our joint propertyis in about £20,000 of negative equity. My partner is still living in the house but i moved out over 10 months ago. She is unwilling to let me take over the property and is adement that she is staying there and she wants the mortgage transfered to her name and me to give her 50% of the negative equity which is around £10,000. Ive offered to take the property myself but she is not interested. She has stated that if i dont give her £10,000 she will take me to court for it. Is there anything i can do?

xmaslolly76

Do you have kids if so i beleive she can have something legal put on the property saying she can stay until the child is 18 then you sell. If not then i believe you can force her to sell but you cannot force her to give up the property for you to take it over or vise versa. I dont see how she can take you to court for the £10k that would be the job of the mortgage lender if you refused to pay any outstanding balance once the house is sold. I could be wrong though im sure someone will be along shortly who knows a hell of a lot more than i do about these things.

I also doubt very much if the mortgage company would be willing to remove you from the mortgage in the current climate especially with negative equity they would be fools to.

stevenhunter20

There are no kids involved, we have only been married 2 years. Im not that bothered about getting her out, id be perfectly happy for her to stay there. I just really wanted to know if she could make me pay the £10,000 if she does take on the mortgage???

Floss

Can she afford to take on the whole mortgage, and would she be able to get a mortgage on her salary?

stevenhunter20

She cant on her own. But she couldnt even if i gave her the £10,000, as far as i know she is going to get her mum to on the mortgage with her.

xmaslolly76

Phone citizens advice they should be able to point you in the right direction to start with and may be able to get you a free 30min session with a solicitor who can advise you further. It all seems a little odd to me as to why she would want to take on the house if its already in negative equity Where is she going to get the other 10k from and also she will need another 10% deposit besides that for any mortgage lender at the moment as house prices are still very unstable thats a fare chunk of money to find from nowhere.

Debt_Free_Chick

stevenhunter20 wrote: »

There are no kids involved, we have only been married 2 years. Im not that bothered about getting her out, id be perfectly happy for her to stay there. I just really wanted to know if she could make me pay the £10,000 if she does take on the mortgage???

She is offering the same deal you would get if you sold at the price she is suggesting i.e. if you sold at that price, you would have to find £20k between you to pay off the mortgage. On this basis, her offer seems fair.

In addition, you are saving on EA fees.

Up to you, but if she can get a mortgage, then it's a fair offer (assuming the price she's suggested is reasonable).

pinkshoes

Your house is £20k in negative equity, but she wants you to give her £10k???

Unless the remaining mortgage is 3x her own salary, then there's no way she can take on the property on her own, so you need to look to getting it sold, and taking out a £10k loan each to cover the shortfall.

You should advise her to speak to a mortgage/financial advisor to make her realise that this perhaps isn't feasible, so perhaps selling is the best thing.

If she refuses to sell, then you could get a court order to force her.

If she CAN get a mortgage on her own, then give her the £10k, get your name off the deeds, and walk away. Life is TOO short!

stevenhunter20

She can get the mortgage with her mum. Ive offered to buy it for £8000 more than she has(which is the largest mortgage i can get) but she outright refused. We've also had an offer of £10,000 more than she is willing to pay by a 3rd party, shes refused that as well. In her exact words "The property is not for sale" She just refuses to do anything but take the house herself and take 10k from me. This is my dilema. If it did go to court would she be able to force me to pay the 10k??? what would be the most likely outcome?? bearing in mind that by the time it gets to court the offer from the 3rd party would propbably not be there anymore.

We have £116,000 on the mortgage
She will only pay £95,000
I can get a Mortgage of 103,000
3rd party offer was £105,000

PasturesNew

Just pay up the £10k, cut clear of the house ... let her and her mum take out a mortgage together and walk away knowing it'll be worth less in a year and you're FREE!!!!

RAS

stevenhunter20 wrote: »

We have £116,000 on the mortgage
3rd party offer was £105,000

Get the offer in writing.

So the negative equity is actually £11,000 plus the legal fees.

Offer her half that or you force a sale.