selling house with ex - advice please

asp746

as the thread says. mortgage and deeds are in joint names. i never see this man and haven't for several years but the time has now come for me to move on. im fairly sure he'll sign whatever but someone told me yesterday that when the relationship irretrievable broke down i should've written to experian to tell them this as on my credit file he's down as an associate? is this right.

also i don't know whether it'll be easier to get him to sign everything over to me and if so how do i do this? Or would it be easier to just get him to be involved with the sale and for him to sign etc.

its just a pain - the estate agent want us both to go in to show our passports to prove its us selling the house - something to do with fraud apparently and i think its things like this that the ex will drag his feet over.

please advise - i've just had the hip done so its now 'on the market' and i just want everything to go as smoothly as possible.

poppysarah

If he's dragging his feet I'll put 50p on him still living there.

How do the finances break down? Is he going to be happy with that?

terryw

It is going to cost you quite a bit in legal and solicitor's fees to change the property over to your name. And this will delay things as he will (from what you say) probably drag his feet on this.

Unfortunately the EA's are subject to Money-laundering regulations and need to see proof of identity etc.

You have to chase him to make him visit the EA. As regards the sale (when a buyer appears) your solicitor can probably do with just one visit to sign contract and transfer.

Best of British!

Annisele

I'm not sure there's much point putting the house on the market until you've sorted out an agreement with your ex. If I'd made an offer on your house, I'd withdraw it pretty fast once I realised your situation.

If you own the house as joint tenants, then in principle he's entitled to half of the equity (though depending on who paid what during the time you both owned the place he might not get anywhere near that much). He might not 'sign whatever' if he realises that doing so will potentially lose him thousands of pounds.

I think your best option is to get advice from a solicitor, not a forum - sorry.

asp746

forums are for help and advice so i think this is exactly the right place to post an enquiry to see if others have been in the situation and what was the smoothest way of doing things and also solicitors, estate agents etc do post on these forums.

i actually still live in the house and i know for a fact he'll 'sign whatever'. I'm just asking whether its better/cheaper he signs the house over to me or he just participates in nipping down the solicitors as and when required.

i'm wondering about when the money from the house is through would it be ok just to go into my account as obviously we don't have a joint one anymore. I've felt so positive of late but today i feel really down.

as for people withdrawing their offer when they realise 'my situation' i couldn't careless - their loss not mine as i'm in no rush to move - infact the longer it takes to sell the better.

Oldernotwiser

asp746 wrote: »

as for people withdrawing their offer when they realise 'my situation' i couldn't careless - their loss not mine as i'm in no rush to move - infact the longer it takes to sell the better.

So why are you selling it at all?

Annisele

asp746 wrote: »

as for people withdrawing their offer when they realise 'my situation' i couldn't careless - their loss not mine as i'm in no rush to move - infact the longer it takes to sell the better.

Well, that puts a different spin on things. I'd assumed you wanted to sell quickly - in which case I think you should go to a solicitor and work out an agreement with your ex. If you don't want to sell quickly, then whether or not you should use a solicitor depends on what you want to achieve. Do you need to delay the sale for some reason?

asp746

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

So why are you selling it at all?

well timewise within reason - id be horrified if it went too quick - i've a ccj coming off my credit file on 24th august (yipee) so i'm assuming from then on in i'll get a more favourable interest rate. i've just finished the last of the jobs that needed doing in the house and there's been a lick of paint throughout so whilst its in good nick i thought best to stick it on - also there's not much up for sale round my way for 1st time buyers & i'm a firm believer in moving 'up' once your able to let others get their foot on the ladder soastospeak.

Annisele

OK, in that case you probably don't want to complete until September/October time, so you've got plenty of time to decide how to sort things out.

I still think a solicitor is a good idea though!

If your ex is in financial difficulties (by which I mean "heading towards bankruptcy" rather than "things are a bit tight") then his creditors would not be at all pleased with him signing away his potential rights to your house. In that case, no matter how reasonable he is personally, prepare for him (or his creditors) to play hardball. Similarly, if he's in the process of getting divorced the wife's solicitors might have their eyes on the equity in your house. There are probably other things that would turn a reasonable man into a person who refuses to sign anything - if you're worried that any of those are even the slightest possibility, I think you *need* a solicitor.

In principle there shouldn't be a problem with the money from your house sale going into your sole bank account (assuming your ex is happy to sign all relevant papers), but I'm not sure what the inheritance tax position would be. If your ex were to die within seven years, I'm not sure whether he would be deemed to have 'given' you half of the equity - but if his estate is likely to be small anyway that doesn't matter. (Edit - added the 'if' there).

Effectively, as you say, you have two choices: get your ex to sign the house over to you and then sell it, or just sell it in joint names.

Selling in joint names is potentially cheaper, but riskier. If your ex decides to play silly !!!!!!s between exchange and completion, he could cause you all sorts of problems. Also the property might not sell, or you might change your mind - and the fact that you can find your ex now doesn't mean he won't disappear off to Brazil next year.

However, your current mortgage lender might have something to say about the issue - if your income won't support your current mortgage on your own, you might be stuck with owning jointly with your ex.

As I said before, that situation will also put off some potential buyers. If I was buying a jointly owned house, I'd be far more comfortable shelling out for a survey etc if I knew that they both wanted to sell. I know that's not a problem to you now, but come August/September (depending on the state of the market in your area) you might not want buyers to ignore your property.

If you get the house signed over to you now, then you'll have peace of mind that your ex can't do anything to disrupt the sale later on (or fail to do something - it sounds as though you're concerned that he won't be bothered to turn up for appointments rather than being concerned that he'll actively make a nuisance of himself).

caeler

Did this last year. Never had to show passports to Estate Agents, had to send verified copies to conveyencing solicitor before proceeding with the sale. If he's on the mortgage, then signing it over to you would mean you getting a new mortgage to fully own property then you could sell. You'll need to decide how your splitting the profits of the house once everything is repaid (ie. Estate agent fees, solicitor fees, etc) and a legal agreement might be an idea. If you own the house in joint tennancy then your split is 50/50 and if something different has been agreed you'll need proof to show your solicitors to pay you the money. Good Luck. Even if you know he'll sign it can be madingly frustrating at times.

asp746

thanks for the replies - things are looking a bit clearer and what i think i'll do is:

go into santander tomorrow and find out what i need to do to get the mortgage transferred into just my name and ask them how much i can lend and if it'll be cheaper to wait till the ccj's expired.

99% sure he won't play funny beggars but like one of you said, i think you have to expect the unexpected in situations like this.

i'll post back tomorrow to let you know what santander says as i'm sure it will be of benefit to others who may end up in my situation.

If anyone else has any other comments or suggestions they'll be gratefully received.