Delicate one

Mgreen17_2

Hello,

My friend (and it is a friend I promise!) is in a bit of a situation.
I will try to be quick.

. He and his girlfriend bought a house.
. They split up.
. He moved out.
. Its been 9 months now and he is still paying half of all bills! About £600 a month.
. Option 1 - buy her out. She does not want to sell.
. Option 2 - she buy him out. She does not want to buy him out.
. Option 3 - Get a lodger. She does not want a lodger.

Errr I dont know what any other options are.

My advice is to him is to write to her saying that if she has not taken one of the above three options in the next two months he will just stop paying half of the bills.
This obviously seems littered with legal problems given his name is on the mortgage, among several other problems.
I am not sure what else he is supposed to do??

Any advice / suggestions welcome.

ps - Things are currently still amicable between them and he is very keen for them to stay that way.

Happy Christmas all!

julie2710

Move back in to the spare room until she decides on one of the other options? He can't be expected to pay for more than one roof!

Mgreen17_2

Well there is the "move back in and make her life hell until she leaves" option we discussed in the pub.

julie2710

I wasn't suggesting he make her life hell! Just that he move back in to what is still his property as much as hers as he won't then have to pay for two ( well 1 and a half!) homes.

This may not work if they are still amicable but I'm sure she's liking having her own space at a discounted price right now!

Soot2006

Force a sale?

PasturesNew

I can see that half the mortgage would be his to pay, but she'd be getting single person council tax now, so I'd leave her to pay that alone. As for the rest, I'd pay half the standing charges/VAT only as the actual usage will be hers solely.

Whose "fault" was the relationship breakdown?

jdturk

PasturesNew wrote: »

Whose "fault" was the relationship breakdown?

why does that matter? The relationship has ended, the house needs to be split unless the OP wishes to carry on paying £600/pm

lellow_lorry

I was in this position 5 years ago. He can sit there and pay half(the crappy end of the stick) or as i did stay in the house........be amicable, but is likely to force the sale in the end. The other options are legal action to force the sale(very costly) or let her get a cheap rent as you are paying half.

property.advert

Depends upon the equity in the property, if any. If there is equity which he wants and she will not or cannot buy him out, then he will have to force a sale. He should not have moved out really but sorted this all out beforehand.

The reality is often very poor. To achieve a sale, they will have to agree on price and in this market, to sell quickly, it is unlikely they will be able to agree. Then you are off to court. If the court orders a sale, then you may get 75% to 80% of the full market price. At that level, is it worth it for him ?

I have been nearly through this, as far as court and the options are only negative. She will have to "lose" something but not as much as a forced sale and buy him out. If she won't then she loses more. That is the only argument there is to force against her.

poppy_f1

is he paying half of all the bills eg gas electricity or just the mortgage

if its all the bills then he should stop paying them and cover his half of the mortgage til she decides

Scubabe

I would either continue paying only his share of the mortgage, no other bills, and then try to convince her to sell or buy him out (which would be easier if she had to face up to the reality of paying all her bills herself each month!).

OR I would move back in, and again try to convince her that selling is the right thing to do.

I would keep up one of those 2 options for another 6 months.

And if in 6 months she hasn't agreed to sell or buy him out or whatever, then I would speak to a solicitor and seek a forced sale (better than being attached financially to someone you don't want to be for any longer!).

I wouldn't have let it go on 9 months the way it is tho, he's been VERY good about it all by paying half of all bills!