Split with partner and have shared mortgage

jodenice

I have a mortgaged flat with my partner - we bought it 3 years ago (at the height of the market) and I paid the deposit although this is not indicated anywhere that I should get it back. We actually split over a year ago and I have been paying the mortgage by myself with odd contributions received from him every now and then dependent on if he had any money left over from his debts.

He finally moved out about a month ago and had agreed to sign the mortgage over to me and be taken off the deeds (he is so in debt that charges on the flat or bankruptcy loom at some point in the future for sure). The mortgage company are happy for me to take over the mortgage by myself, I just meet the affordability criteria.

He left his dogs behind (he didn't have the money, time or space to take them with him) and sadly in the month he has been gone I have realised that although I love them they are not getting the best life with me, I am out at work all day and its not fair on them. PLus I rely on his contributions towards the dog walker and he is already struggling to pay - without this money they would be alone for at least 12 hours.

When I broached the subject of rehoming them he was furious and in revenge is now planning that actually he will not be signing the flat over and he wants me to sell it. I think we are in negative equity (we bought it for about £130K, its now at £123K plus we are in a fixed year deal that penalises us £6K if we try to sell or pay off the mortgage before 2013).

I will phone CAB later but I'm not sure what to ask them or where I stand. Can anyone offer some advice please.

jw2003

ouch, I have no advice for you but didn't want to read & run and hopefully one of the mortgage gurus will be around shortly to give you some good advice. You could tell him you'll keep the dogs then and re-home them afterwards...

jodenice

Nah too late, I didn't want to lie and have shot myself in the foot. If he could just see past his sadness, which is understandable, he will see that they could have an amazing life with someone who is in all day!

dats

I don't have any advice, really - but wanted to say that I was in a similar position 18 months ago (except with a cat!) but that we had to sell the house because he didn't want to keep it and I couldn't afford to.

Do you own the flat as joint tenants, or tenants in common? We were advised to sever the joint tenancy when we split up and had a Deed of Trust drawn up, which set out what we'd agreed in terms of dividing things. My ex had put in a much bigger deposit, but we had split every 50/50 since living together - although he earned twice my salary. We agreed on a 60/40 split (me getting 40%)

If I ever buy with someone else, I am going to make sure that...actually. You know what? I'm just not going to buy with anyone ever again!

You are being more than reasonable about the dogs - hang in there and good luck.

Claire

ETA: I went to the CAB and they weren't very helpful at all. I did a massive amount of online research and saw a solicitor for a free advice session. Far and away the best solution for both of you is going to be trying to resolve this without legal proceedings. Maybe do your research and then try and meet him somewhere neutral and try and talk it through?

jodenice

No, I was so naive, thought we'd be in it together forever, so its all down as 50/50.

Its so frustrating I can afford it, I have put the most money in, I have been paying by myself for a long time - I am happy to do it alone - but its just spite thats stopping it happening.

I hear you, I feel like living by myself forever!!

I might try that, my local CAB has now stopped offering telephone advice and its closed by the time I get home.

silvercar

He needs to understand that selling it will mean a loss, a loss that he will have to pay towards. There is even an arguement for saying he should pay you to take on the whoe debt as he is giving you liability for his half of the mortgage which is greater than the value of half the property.

and give up the dogs, you don't need them and can't afford them.

dats

I know, I know...well you go into these things with the best of intents, don't you? Stupid boys (yes, I am joking dearest male readers...). I love living on my own, it's ace! Although currently in rented with a housemate...

I would seriously think about whether you need to take steps to protect yourself against him trying to claim a share of your deposit/investments since he left. My split was reasonably amicable, he was the one that left and while I didn't want to take him to the cleaners, I needed to stand my ground and make sure that I came out of it with something. He also left me with the sole responsibility of the house/bills/cat so I feel I earned some of the money while he was off having a(nother) midlife crisis at his mother's!

But I guess my point is, I did all I could to fight my corner - although selling the house was never up for debate, there was no choice but to sell - and you need to be prepared for the fact that he might do the same.

jodenice

He actually doesn't care about the debts - when I mentioned that I would lose my deposit he smirked and added that he could add me to the list of creditors! Its all about spite right now.

so what would happen. Can he force me to sell? Can I be obstructive?

kegg_2

put it on the market at a price no one would buy it at

RWAP

As you both own the house jointly, yes your ex can go to court to force you to sell the property (it is held on a trust for sale and the court cannot actually refuse!).

However, what would be the outcome of this, as you would just become the purchaser and - in the current market, no-one would expect some other purchaser to come forward and offer a higher price in the time it would take you to complete on the purchase, so no estate agent worth their salt would deal with it. If he did take it to court to force a sale, you could stand before the court as a buyer ready and willing to complete on purchase and ask that they transfer it to your name - don't forget though, that if you are in negative equity, the court would want to know what you will do with the remaining debt as you both remain jointly and severally liable for it even after the house is sold!

However, if he will not see sense, then the only recourse is through the courts - as you cannot force him to surrender his name on the deeds without a court order.

He basically needs time to think this through - if a house sale is forced, then he would not gain anything, would incur court fees and still remain jointly liable for the whole of the mortgage debt not paid off by proceeds of sale.

If he agrees to surrender his share in the property and you take over the full mortgage and maybe even pay his legal costs of the transfer, he is £1000s better off!

The answer to the dogs is probably if you can find someone local to him so that he could still visit them?

RWAP

kegg wrote: »

put it on the market at a price no one would buy it at

A possibility but then it would not get his name off the deeds and form a clean break!