Splitting up with OH, Money questions?

mattt44

Hi

Posting this for a good friend who can't get onto the net atm.
She needs some advice and I said people on mse will be able to help.
Hope this is in the right board, difficult one to place.




I have split up from my partner of 5 years recently and he has moved out of the house we have a joint mortgage on. He is not willing to continue paying the mortgage as he is paying rent somewhere else and wants me to pay him off. It’s a big mortgage for me to take over and really to stand any chance of me keeping it up, I really need to pay him as little as possible.

We bought the house for £142,000 about 2 and a half years ago and have jointly paid the mortgage since, although I put £20,000 down which also paid for legal fees, moving fees, solicitors fees, surveys and stamp duty also. He now wants a payoff to get him off the mortgage, and has mentioned the figure of £6,000. I did not (stupidly) get anything documented regarding the £20K I put in to the house, could he legally take me for half of this if he wanted to? Even though I don't think he will.

I have had the house valued at £154,950 to accept £150,000, making a profit of £8,000. This would mean £4K each but just wondering if I need to take off some of the fees that I paid for in the first place.

The costs were.

Stamp Duty £1,420
Moving £130
Solicitors fees £700
Survey £250

Total £2,500- halved - £1250
This takes the figure down to £2,750 that he is owed.
We have paid £9,000 a year off the mortgage but only £3K of that has been actually off the capital amount. So, in 2 and a half years that's £7.5 K.

Is it right that we both pay half the legal costs of taking his name off the mortgage?

Also, am I allowed to change the locks if he is still on the mortgage? Should I have more of a share of the profits as I put more money into the house in the beginning than he did ? And how much should that be. The deposit was all my money, the £20 000 minus the costs above.

I know its alot of figures, but its a bit confusing.

I need to know opinions on how much money is fair please….. Any opinions gratefully received..

If you need to know anything else, please ask.

Thanks..

hobo28

Personally I think fair would be to take off 100% of the capital you put in, half the costs you incurred to buy and you will incur to remove his name. Then split the remaining equity 50-50.

Does that make sense?

Also, his name is on the mortgage so legally he is liable to pay 50% of the mortgage. Just because he's moved out, doesn't absolve him of his liability. I would also push for 50% of the mortgage payments (capital & interest) incurred from when he moved out until you get names swapped. That said, it not worth arguing over it if you both want a quick resolution. Otherwise, a few exchanges of solicitors letters and you'll have wasted the same amount.


As for changing the locks, yes you can change the locks but it will prob. really annoy your ex so best to be done after you've reached an agreement.

Gem_

I agree with Hobo - get him to pay his half of the mortgage until this is settled and dont give him a penny! If the money you give him does not go through the solicitor then it is going to be very hard later to get this taken into account in the house monitary split.

I take it from the comments about changing the locks that this was not a friendly split? If not then ask yourself whether it is worth the agravation of fighting in order to get your £20,000 back rather than just going 50:50 on everything. Can you prove from Bank Statements that it was your money used to pay the fees and the deposit the first time? If not then it may be hard to get back. Could you suggest that he pays all costs this time to be fair?

Do you actually want to sell the house at all? Could you just take on the whole mortgage and give him a couple of thousand to disapear?

I would talk to CAB or a solicitor about the legal position after you have made up your mind what is a "fair" outcome for both of you. His current suggestion of £6k sounds very unfair to you if there is only £8k equity!

HTH

G

chugalug

It would be difficult to prove that you put more into the property originally and if you want a quick resolution then can you come to some agreement? As the previous poster said, if you argue about it then could waste a lot of money on solicitors. Ultimately, if you can't agree on a settlement then a court would decide. Only a court can order the sale of the property if either party refuses to agree. If there are no children involved then its not likely either party would take precedence over the other regarding the equity. If there are children, you need to take advice as this would be dealt with under Family Law regardless of whether you were married or not.

Re the mortgage - has the mortgage company agreed to giving you a mortgage in your own name? Do you have the income to support this? If not, then unlikely your ex can come off the mortgage as the lender will want to ensure they get their payments. Even if you both agree to him coming off the mortgage the lender can refuse. Then, only solution would be a sale. As a previous poster said, he is responsible for paying half the mortgage as he is on it. In reality, if he doesnt pay there isnt a lot you can do. You can let him know that if you cant afford the payments then could go into arrears which would affect his credit rating aswell.

Re the locks - if he is joint owner then technically you are not allowed to exclude him. If you do and he took umbridge then he could make things very difficult. He could, ultimately, if he wanted to spend the money, take legal action to gain entry. Bit of a grey area as far as the police are concerned as they don't always take action but a court would certainly look on it as illegal. (Obviously the advice would be different should there be violence or any other reason but should still go the legal route)

Might be a good idea to go to the CAB or Shelter for advice on your options now.

mattt44

As far as I understand it, her Mum will be willing to go onto the mortgage with her so she can stay in the house, she doesn't want to sell it.

The split was only half unfriendly, she was asking about changing the locks because I and someone else had suggested it, of a matter of course.

As she said, she doesn't think he will play dirty and fight to get half of the £20,000, but would like to know the legal situ regarding it.
I think she will be able to prove that the money was hers without a doubt, it came from her Dad who died and left it to her.

Thankyou for the replys so far.

matto

Theoretically he should be getting half of the difference between the market price now and the outstanding mortgage amount. I presume the deposit was about £17.5k and you say about £7.5k has been paid off, mortgage outstanding would be about £117k which would entitle him to approx £16k (half of 150-117).

However it seems he doesn't want the £10k which would be half of your original £20k so he is happy to settle for £6k. Seems he is being very fair. Admittedly that doesn't take account of the past costs but as you are intending to stay there anyway you'd have to have paid those.

Also, his name is on the mortgage so legally he is liable to pay 50% of the mortgage.

As it's a joint mortgage you are both liable for 100%. The BS can chase either or both of you for repayments regardless of who is living there.

sashacat

have you agreed a current market value?

gentlepurr

for what its worth, my simple view is that £6,000 is a very small price to pay for peace of mind, and a chance to move on with your life, with some form of civility with the ex to be. it would cost far more than £6,000 in solicitors fees alone if your friend decided to go that route.

xx

SaraSeahorse

if you put 17,500 into house originally then surely that is worth more now as the house has increased in value so would be the 17,500 back - plus what it has 'grown' to, plus half the remainder

I don't see why it is hard to prove where the 20,000 came from, if they have bank statement etc

bluezone

LOCK CHANGE:

If his name is still on the deeds then legally unless you are worried for your safety and with the police advice you cannot change the locks. If you do this and he wiches to gain entry he gain so long as he pays for any damage caused! - I only know this as going through divorce and selling house etc. I have changed my locks on advice from police but have been told that he gain access if he wants!!!!!
You can apply for something called sole occupancy on the property until the name change of the deeds.

I hope this helps x