Cohabitation and dividing the house

[Deleted User]

Have you, or she, enquired as to whether or not the bank will allow you to come off the mortgage?

You ought to be entiteled to half the equitey when this happens (but that's just an opinion, I don't know the facts). Have you thought about getting some legal advice, and then you would know for sure what each of you are entitled to.

smartpicture

slipperhero wrote: »

Thank you for your comment. I did mention the possibility that I was being unreasonable, and I thought I made it clear that I do not think that she should bear ANY losses. But even if the house is valued such that there is only £16k equity (and it may be more), the offer of £6k seems to me unfair, considering that we have an equal share in the house. I apologise if I came across as self-righteous - I assure you I am not.

But I take your point. A settlement has to be based on the value at the time, whether it turns out better for one party or the other. Is that a fair summary of your answer to my question?

Yes, that was the point I was making. I don't think you're self-righteous at all, you're just in a difficult situation where it's probably impossible for both of you to feel happy with the outcome. But your loan, the amount already made in mortgage payments, and how much house prices may rise in the future are all irrelevant when calculating a fair value, what matters is the value of the house at the time you split up - which unfortunately means you will both lose out.

Person_one

Domino9 wrote: »

Have you, or she, enquired as to whether or not the bank will allow you to come off the mortgage?

You ought to be entiteled to half the quitey when this happens (but that's just an opinion, I don't know the facts). Have you thought about getting some legal advice, and then you would know for sure what each of you are entitled to.

This. Your ex will have to apply to take over the mortgage in her sole name. The lender will run all their affordability tests again and if they aren't satisfied that she will be able to keep up with the repayments, they won't let you off the hook and you'll still be legally responsible for the mortgage payments.

So your first step should be making sure ex can actually buy you out and take over on her own. Once you know that, then you can talk numbers.

princeofpounds

Dvardy's advice is correct. Come over to 'our' part of the boards and we will talk you through this.

But the bottom line is when you buy a house you are taking a risk on the housing market, which has fallen. You do not have any god-given right to preserve the equity you originally put it. If there is none left, then you should be glad to walk away even.

She would only be 'quids in' if the market rose once again because she is using borrowed money to make a gamble on the housing market. It is not a risk-free bet as you yourself have discovered.

slipperhero

Thanks everyone for your comments. It's hard to be dispassionate about these sorts of situations. I just didn't appreciate her 'take it or leave it' approach. I would have loved to keep the house, but unfortunately, my change in career makes it impossible. I don't think she'll consider any counter offers, but obviously we need to talk about it. If we sold, I would probably come out the same, but she would be much worse off. I don't want that, so I'll make another attempt at talking. Not easy!!!

Dvardy & prince - Cheers. I'll check out the other forum and I'm sure that will help me put it into perspective.

Everyone - thank you so much. It's been difficult trying to make sense of the situation when there is no one impartial to talk to about it. I had convinced myself that I was being reasonable and she was not, but maybe we both had too much emotional capital invested to negotiate rationally. Thanks again.

chesky369

You definitely need proper legal advice - your local citizens' advice should be able to put you in touch with a solicitor who will give you a 20-30 minutes free interview session and at least give you an idea of what to do.

diable

If you are going to buy someone out then you have to take into account all fees if you decide to sell up and then split the equity so use this to work out if you are better off or not. I know its hard as if the market doubles in the next 5 years you will feel hard done by but sometimes its better just to walk away and forget about it.