Tennants in common - urgent advice

mortgagehelp777

Hello

My situation ....

Me and my friend bought our house 2 years ago.
We are equal partners paying equal mortgage amounts 50:50
The initial 5% deposit was paid by the builders
The 95% repayment mortgage was for 137k now currently down to 130k
the house is now valued at 120k
The fixed term ends dec 2010.
We never setup a trust deed.

I have been offered a job which would mean moving away in 6 months time
i would like to exit my mortgage commitment from this property because i really want this job and could not afford to keep paying the mortgage.

Im not sure how to do this, can i sell my half of the house to him? how do you do this? is my half worth anything because we are in negative equity? If so is it really such a dumb idea just to gift him my half of the house for free and just take a % of the sale if and when he comes to sell it?

I dont know what to do!

Thanks

Darren

Darren

CloudCuckooLand

Why should you get any % of the eventual sale if you stop making payments now?

If you were to find a lodger to make your payments, without any hassle or expense to your friend, it might perhaps be considered to continue your interest in the property - if your friend agreed to a stranger in the house etc.

Otherwise, if you wish to be free of the outgoing, then you should, imo, also be considered free of any potential future gain.

It sounds fairer to simply give your friend your half, with no future %. You will need to convince him into taking on the current £10k shortfall, and that's not a given.

But also, the problem is likely to arise, that your friend probably doesn't have sufficient income to support the entire mortgage, so your lender will not allow you to be removed from the mortgage/deeds.

Until such time as your name is removed from the mortgage, you will remain jointly and severally liable for the negative equity, i.e. should you not paying your half create arrears, that is a risk of repossession, then you will each owe £5k. (or 1 of you owes £10k if the other can disappear)