Friends Ex Refusing To Pay His Half - Repossession Fear

Conrad

Twinkly wrote: »

I'll try again. Under circumstances where he is not communicating with anyone and has stopped payment of what was reasonably considered to be HIS half - as it is a joint mortgage and would not have been granted on her wages alone irrespective of the now legal obligations - what exactly can she do ?

1) There is NOTHING she can do other than pay 100% of the debt or sell up

2) The lender is entitled to reposses unless the arrears are cleared / don't increase


End of, period.

Your'e assertion there 'must be something she can do' is neave, and I don't mean to offend you with that, just being brutly honest.

Imagine you worked for a company with 2 owners;
1 owner went off the rails and stopped paying you half your salary.
According to your logic, that would be perfectly ok as the remaining director had no responsibility to pay you the missing half - afterall it's not his fault the other bloke stopped contributing.
Would that be fair to you as an employee - because thats what you are expecting the lender to accept - ie, half the payment because one party has ceased contributions.

Conrad

Oh and to add, from what you say it wouldn't appear she would be able to remortgage to her sole name. Again to understand this, imagine the following headline in the daily mail;

'Woman already struggling despit having partner on mortgage, now facing repo once the full liability was transfered to her alone' - sign the petition to get the repo stopped, as this was a case of irresponsible lending

Rockporkchop

Conrad wrote: »

Oh and to add, from what you say it wouldn't appear she would be able to remortgage to her sole name. Again to understand this, imagine the following headline in the daily mail;

'Woman already struggling despit having partner on mortgage, now facing repo once the full liability was transfered to her alone' - sign the petition to get the repo stopped, as this was a case of irresponsible lending

That is an extremely long headline.

opinions4u

Twinkly wrote: »

Thanks for the responses. We are well aware that she is legally obliged to pay the entire mortgage payment. However, the mortgage is joint and would never have been agreed on her wage alone.

Clearly there is absolutely no way she should look to take on the whole debt then.

Personally I feel that this is one point that should be addressed in law, would halt a lot of unneccessary repossessions and oblige lenders to renegotiate such contracts when circumstances like this arise. For instance repossess the share, 50% or whatever they decide, held by the party that refuses to pay and transfer it where possible to the party that does.

I know you're desperately trying to think of ways out of a horrible situation, but, in the words of John McEnroe, you cannot be serious.

1) What would the "surviving" borrower do when the lender sells the other half of the property and the new owner of the other half moves in?

2) Why would any lender EVER lend to joint applicants again? If they repossess half a house who on God's earth is ever going to buy it when there's somebody living in it?

I appreciate your intentions, but this is a pie in the sky idea.

People are losing their homes because of unforseen malice by the other party and mortgage companies should and could do more to negotiate around it and neutralise it.

There's only so far any lender can allow a debt to rise (while the property value falls) before they have to take action. One mainstream lender announced losses of £500m on residential mortgages for the first 6 months of the year. When you say they "should and could do more" do you have any proposals that would benefit both the borrowers and the lender?

I'll try again. Under circumstances where he is not communicating with anyone and has stopped payment of what was reasonably considered to be HIS half - as it is a joint mortgage and would not have been granted on her wages alone irrespective of the now legal obligations - what exactly can she do ?

Many of the previous posts have answered the question or pointed you in the right direction (e.g. Shelter, CAB etc). She is, however, between a rock and a hard place. Not because of the lender, but becasue of the failure of her relationship.

She can not sell without co-operation. She can not take over the mortgage in her name alone without co-operation. She can not legally do Anything without his co-operation. Or can she ? That is my point. Experience of this situation is vital. If no one has experience and can not offer practical advice particular to this situation then thats fine. Thanks for reading.

Absolutely right. Experience is vital. Shelter, CAB, a solicitor have that experience and expertise.

The fact that there's no response to the questions in Mrs Bumble's post #4 really does restrict what anybody on an internet forum can say.

How would she go about proceeding with court action to have it signed over ? This would be the ideal solution but where would she start ?

A solictior. But there's little point pursuing this if the lender won't allow her to take on the whole debt. So it's more likely that a court order is needed to force him to agree to the sale.

zzzLazyDaisy

You don't say if your friend and her ex were married? I am presuming not, but if they were married she should see a divorce solicitor straight away.

Otherwise - can she take a lodger to help with the mortgage payments?

Other than that, if she cannot afford to pay the mortgage, and ex-oh refuses to contribute, then she has three options:

1 Sit tight and wait for the lender to repossess

or

2 Sell up, and use her share of the equity (if any) to buy or rent a new home for herself and her child.

or

3 Allow ex-oh to buy her out and take over the mortgage

Rikki

Twinkly wrote: »

She can not sell without co-operation. She can not take over the mortgage in her name alone without co-operation. She can not legally do Anything without his co-operation. Or can she ? That is my point. Experience of this situation is vital. If no one has experience and can not offer practical advice particular to this situation then thats fine. Thanks for reading.

My ex walked out on me ten years ago and left me to pay all the mortgage. I have continued to pay the full monthly amount and the mortgage company will still not release him from the mortgage. The title deeds are in my sole name so he has no claim on the property but if I default at any time we are both still joint and severally liable.

There is nothing she can do if the mortgage company will not release him!
She must earn enough to get the mortgage in her own right.
She will need to cover the full monthly amount to stop the eventual repossession of the property.

Twinkly wrote:

Then 6 months ago he pleaded abject poverty while getting a solicitor to write letters to her saying she had to sell the house OR if she moved out within 14 days he would take over full payment of the mortgage and move back in - with new girlfriend (naturally :mad:).

He have given her two options. I suggest she seriously considers them.

In six months she has only been able to cover three months full mortgage payments, in a year this could be just six months full payments leading to serious consequences.

Rikki

Twinkly wrote: »

Then 6 months ago he pleaded abject poverty while getting a solicitor to write letters to her saying she had to sell the house OR if she moved out within 14 days he would take over full payment of the mortgage and move back in - with new girlfriend (naturally :mad:).

The solicitors were rebuffed at every step, fairly easily as most of their legal advice to him and threats to her was half-baked and seriously questionable. How DO these people pass their exams ? I digress....He hasnt carried out any threats (legal ones anyway) so far.



She lives there with her son (not his biological child) and has no intention of selling her home if it can be avoided. She has always maintained her half of the payment and kept the mortgage company up to date with what is going on sending copies all correspondence - soliticor included - so they are well aware of the situation.

She would like to be able to take over the mortgage in its entirety subject to an extension of the mortgage term and her income and is willing to discuss clearing the arrears subject to his being removed from the mortgage and frankly, from around her neck. He would be only too happy for this to happen but flat out refuses to contact the mortgage company and denies receipt of any letters from them - despite slipping up and being found lying time and again.

I've just re read the opening post. I disagree with the advice given to him being half baked. The advice he was given by the solicitor is the advice I'm sure he would have been give by most solicitors.
The 14 day stipulation would be to stop any arrears building up like there is now, six months down the line. The straight take over deal is not as straight forward as it was six months ago.


I believe there is a touch of wounded pride on her part and has dug her heals into a situation she cannot cope with.
I believe she must look long term at the prospect of having this large debt to pay and if repossession happens a ruined credit rating for years to come.

Twinkly

Mrs_Bumble wrote: »

The problem that your friend has is that she can't afford to take on the mortgage. So where a court can agree in some circumstances to sign a house over to one party, it doesn't change the fact that the mortgage company won't release him from the mortgage because your friend can't take on the mortgage. Catch 22.

She can afford to take on the mortgage.

Mrs_Bumble wrote: »

What is the ex's position in relation to the house, is he happy to come off the mortgage? happy for it to be sold?

The ex's position changes daily and he refuses to speak to the mortgage lender. Frankly the ultimate aim is for her to lose her home. Spite.

Mrs_Bumble wrote: »

Your friend needs to seek legal advice, a starting point can be community legal advice http://www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/

She might also want to speak to Shelter in relation to the arrears and potential legal action taken by the lender.

Thank you for that information.

Mrs_Bumble

She can afford to take on the mortgage.

Then why hasn't she? If she could afford the whole payment and she hasn't then she has been playing the spiteful game as well and what this has ultimately done is ruin her chances of obtaining a mortgage because she has messed up her credit file.

Whether the ex wants to speak to the lender or not, your friend and her ex are in theory grown ups and should sit down and discuss this and what they both want as the most suitable outcome. Regardless of how they feel about each other!

I asked previously:

Does your friend have an income, if so do you know how much?
What is the current property value, www.zoopla.co.uk can give an indication
What is the current mortgage
Who is the current lender
What is the current mortgage balance
is the current mortgage on repayment basis
What are the current arrears?
Are there any other credit commitments?
Is she in a position to rent a room?
Is the biological father paying maintenance?

With the answer to those questions I would have been able to tell you realistically whether your friend had any options available to her.

Twinkly

benjo wrote: »

I have sympathy for your friend, you seem to be saying that she wishes to take over the mortgage in her own name but then you point out that the mortgage would never have been given on her salary alone - unless her salary has increased to enable her to take on a mortgage for the full value owed then whatever her ex does or doesnt do is irrelevant, since she wouldnt be able to borrow the amount of money she needs sadly.

It is doubtful whether they will consider her salary enough based on the current mortgage term. If it were increased she can easily afford it. She is 22....they have 43 years til she retires - strictly speaking so...

benjo wrote: »

Other advice given here is sound, she is equally liable for all of the debt, regardless of how uncooperative her ex is being she is cutting her own throat by paying only half - since her credit worthiness will suffer just as much as her ex's will - and given that she wishes to take on the mortgage if she can possibly afford to pay the whole amount she should do that or she may find that nobody will lend any amount to her no matter how small.

She has paid as he has consistently messed about shutting down the joint account, saying he will pay and then she finds he hasnt - all manner of mind games. It isnt that clear cut I am afraid. She knows she can not sit and wait for him to play fair now and has decided to do whatever it takes to keep the house. Hence I am here asking for any help before proceeding further..

benjo wrote: »

Now as for what she can do - well, she could offer to buy him out (assuming she is able to do that - see above). It would stick in my throat to do this, but it may be an option. Another alternative is to await repossession - and that may not be far away, not in your friends interests imo. She really needs a good solicitor and thats going to cost Im afraid - goodluck to her though.

Thanks for your good wishes.