mortgage/child maintance/tax credits

LJ1

seperated from husband over 2 years ago
family home to be put up for sale shortly

I work part time (cant increase hours at the moment) receive maintance from x (voluntary not via CSA) and i also get tax credits.

have been to various banks and building societies who are unwilling to take maintance or tax credits into account - which is fair enough as no one can really guarentee this income.

buying a house for me would be cheaper than paying rent.

but my biggest problem will be finding a house within my budget to coinside with the family home selling.

At the moment there are a couple of houses around which at a pinch i could put down a deposit - i would then only be able to afford the mortgage on interest only until the family house was sold - then it would be my intention to pay off most of the interest only mortgage then convert to repayment mortgage.

The family home is in Joint names, my husband says he will pay the mortgage on this until it is sold, he has recently bought a house with a new partner.

He wants the family home empty so that work can be on on it and the house prepared for sale

Can anyone see any downsides to this (apart from the obvious one husband not being able to pay the mortgage) but to be really honest im sure he is more than capable of this.....

I just feel if i wait - house prices in my range might go up and be more than i can afford in the future
When i told my lawyer he said id be struggling to get a lawyer who would assist with the sale because of the joint mortgage - yet my x managed to get another mortgage no problem dispite him being jointly attatched to the mortgage on the family home.

What id like to do is buy a house at 100k
put down deposit of 40k
interest only mortgage 60k
then when family home sold pay off 40k
and end up with repayment mortgage of 20k

is this too big a risk to take
or should i stay put

herbiesjp

If your name is on another mortgage, then that mortgage commitment will be taken into account when looking at you purchasing a new property.

There are lenders that may take the tax credits into account, along with the maintenance payments.

What is your income from work, maintenance and tax credits?

VIGILANT22

Who is going to accept a voluntary maintenance payment??

Cannon_Fodder

Wait for the house to sell;

- easier to get a smaller mortgage on low income
- avoids risk of an unexpected delay in the house selling, causing you financial hardship.
- not relying on the ex-husband paying the mortgage - what if he died next month, or was made redundant?

Has there been a divorce settlement? Think this should be tied together somehow, to formalise the maintenance and ensure there is no sudden "change of plan", catching you unawares.

LJ1

my inc is 11000 tax credits around 3500 and maintance around the same. I know common sence tells me to stay put - but elderly mother in hosptial and probably about to get home and i am registered carer for her - just dont have the time to oversee work needing done or the sale on the family home. Ive been keeping a eye on the 2 bed house prices in the area and some of these prices seem to be creeping up a bit - but the family home price just seems to be static. Im really worried that we might miss out on being able to buy another home. I dont stand a chance getting a council house - moving to another area just means more travelling expence and no guarentee of childcare and might even mean me having to work less hours as a result. I cant buy my husband out of the family home - so feel so pressurinsed into buying another home as otherwise we will have to apply for homless temporary accomodation - feel im between the devil and the deep blue sea here -
voluntary maintance - your right who would accept -
I dont want to be in position where i need to be relying on husband for money so trying to keep to a very strick budget.
if he died then i still pay the joint insurance so house would get paid
if has his own business - so he is not likley to loose his job - and his business is doing well -
Think id be struggling to get a mortgage if they take the family home into account. But just wondering if got finances agreed and signed over to husband if all done legaly then i might be free to buy another home.

at the point now where family home is too far away from work, school, and have loads of travelling to do every day to hospital and back - travelling using up too much of my day and getting dearer and dearer by the week.