Why can't the Abbey do the right thing

paulscott72

My wife and I divorced in April this year, we both shared a property on which we were both paying the mortgage, part of our parting agreement was that I kept the property, continue to pay the mortgage by my own means and have my ex wife’s name removed from the mortgage and the deeds. I have continued to pay the mortgage prior to our divorce, from our separation in fact, now 21 months.
During our separation and divorce a consent order was approved by the courts, within this order it states that by the 4th December my ex wife’s name is to be removed from the mortgage, and unfortunately I have not been able to comply with this. The reasons for this are as follows

• The fall in the housing market
• The property now being in negative equity
• The Abbey national un willing to remove my ex wife’s name unless I pay a 10% deposit plus the shortfall of the mortgage, the total that they stated was £43000

I am now facing legal action from my ex wife to sell the property at a loss, the mortgage is currently £208700 and my ex wife is willing to sell for £204000 which as you can see would leave me with a considerable shortfall after Estate Agent fees and Solicitor fees, the consent order states that I am responsible for this.

I have tried to explain this situation to the Abbey but they simply aren’t interested.
To me it seems a quick fix, just remove my ex wife’s name from the mortgage. I am happy to pay the administration fees for this and continue to pay the mortgage and see out the current housing market slow down.
I have contacted the financial Ombudsman, they have now written to the Abbey, but I fear this will still have the same outcome.
I am now faced with the prospect of eviction, which to me seems completely crazy as I am paying the mortgage.

I am not asking for any financial help, all I want is for someone to make the Abbey National see sense and remove my ex wife from the mortgage.

maninthestreet

What does your solicitor say?
Can you afford to pay the shortfall plus all other other selling fees?
Where does the figure of £43,000 come from? 10% of £208,700 is only £20,870.
What is the current value of the property?
Why will you be evicted if you are able and willing to pay the required monthly mortgage payments??

Conrad

From Abbeys and no doubt thier insurers point of view the risk is currently less as they have 2 people to chase in the event of payment default.

Ensnaring one person with a 100%+ mortgage is just too risky and would also put Abbey in a difficult position should you fall into arrears in the future as you would argue with your lawyer that they behaved irresposibly by ensnaring you with a high negative equity debt.

Imagine your lawyers words at an eviction hearing in 3 years time - 'm'lud, my client was experiencing stress at the time the mortgage was put into his sole name and in no position to soundly weigh up the risks. I contend that Abbey have acted irresponsibly and therefore ask that you dimiss thier reposession order'.

I'm afraid thats the letigious world we live in. If people did'nt go around sueing and claiming misselling (see many threads on this site re just such claims) then people in your position now would have more wriggle room.

You will likely have to sell I guess and put it behind you.

On the plus side if you rebuy you may nfind the property price is attractive at the mo.

All the best

Paralegal

I've actually seen my work dry up as a result of lenders applying far more stringent lending criteria. I used to do the legal work for client's who needed a transfer of equity into their sole name.......I still get the odd bit of work but unfortunately it tends to be the better off or those with nominal mortgages anyway.

The only solution that I'm seeing from time to time is where the party staying on the title of the property brings another relative or good friend in on the act to join them in both a mortgage and as joint owner of the property. Whilst I have seen this backfire (spectacularly), it is however a solution.

Cannon_Fodder

To go to a single person basis is effectively a re-mortgage. Due to checking income adequacy etc. It is not a simple 'name removal'.

They cannot allow a NE basis. Asking for 10% 'deposit' is just being sensible after the mess caused by lax lending.

Santander need to protect themselves, as they have been taking on alot of "dodgy" companies since the crash, so are more financially at risk than when they first took Abbey over.

Shame you didn't seek re-mortgage upon seperation. 21 months ago was before the tightened lending and big drops in equity.

Also confused by the £43k figure. Perhaps their computer valuation is less than you've been offered - but tread carefully, it might be that when your buyer's survey goes through the mortgage is only approved for a lower figure.

And you end up gazzundered into an even worse shortfall.