Help & Guidance Please!

MrsTinks

Ok what is the house worth now? more or less than when you bought it? If she wants out then she needs to realise that for a quick sale you will need to drop the price and therefor she may not get all her deposit back. In the mean time there will also still be running costs so she will need to contribute her share of the costs (minus her share of the rent from the lodger) whether she lives there or not. Any up front costs of selling the house will need to be shared on a pro rata basis too.

And no matter what happens you need to get her to agree to come off the mortgage (and you need the mortgage company to agree to let you take on the mortgage on your own...) - it may be worth speaking to them and seeing if you can re-mortgage - release the £3500 and pay her off at the same time as taking her off the mortgage and deeds.

Orlando_Virgin

MrsTine wrote: »

Ok what is the house worth now? more or less than when you bought it? If she wants out then she needs to realise that for a quick sale you will need to drop the price and therefor she may not get all her deposit back. In the mean time there will also still be running costs so she will need to contribute her share of the costs (minus her share of the rent from the lodger) whether she lives there or not. Any up front costs of selling the house will need to be shared on a pro rata basis too.

And no matter what happens you need to get her to agree to come off the mortgage (and you need the mortgage company to agree to let you take on the mortgage on your own...) - it may be worth speaking to them and seeing if you can re-mortgage - release the £3500 and pay her off at the same time as taking her off the mortgage and deeds.

I think we will have to get the house valued again. Bit overwhelmed by it all at the minute. She is going to seek legal advice on the way forward and its probably a good idea I do the same!

MrsTinks

Well get some estate agents in to value it - they're free and if you DO have to put it on the market then at least you will have some idea of who to go with Make sure you get 3 or so in to value it

Orlando_Virgin

MrsTine wrote: »

Well get some estate agents in to value it - they're free and if you DO have to put it on the market then at least you will have some idea of who to go with Make sure you get 3 or so in to value it

Thanks I will do that!

theoretica

Who is the owner of the house according to the deeds? You need to make sure these move into your name alone. If there is any cost to doing this I think she should share it.

If you can find the £260 a month that you have as 'left over' and cut down your groceries and entertainment a bank loan for the £3500 (or whatever) while undesirable shouldn't be unaffordable for you.

Do you have any relatives who might like to buy her out as an investment?

Oh, and beware of estate agents valuing high to entice you into selling! And as has been mentioned before house selling takes time, and if your ex wants to sell her share to you at a time of her choosing she should not expect the top price.

barbiedoll

She should certainly be paying a small share of the running costs and if you do any repairs or improvements, she should contribute to the bill too, especially as it seems as though she may be expecting a rise in the value of her deposit if the price of your house rises in the meantime. And why are you paying for life assurance? Do you have any dependants? If not, that's another £32 you can give her each month. See if you can raise £3000 quickly and offer it to get her off your back. If she's been seeking legal advice, she's not prepared to wait much longer for her money, you may lose your house if she forces a sale. If you parted on good terms, try seeing if she will speak to you about this, make it clear to her that you want to pay her back and show her how you are going to do so. Tread carefully, be nice and do what you have to do to save your property. Good luck!

Orlando_Virgin

I don't know who she's been talking to, looks like her sister but now she's on about going to court, I am trying my best to be amicable but she's just not interested. I don't know whether there has been a change in her circumstances or whatever but now it's "I want the money now".

I really would like to avoid going to court seen as I have no experience about what would happen should it do so, and she seems adamant I would have to pay court fees etc and that she would win.

I don't really have much alternative at the minute, other than to get a loan and get it out of the way. I think I'll ring the mortgage provider shortly to explain the situation.

Thanks to all for your advice so far.

Tixy

I wouldn't be so sure she would win anything at the moment.

As it stands she is still on the deeds and the mortgage, so at the moment you owe her nothing.
Sounds to me like she is either trying to bully you into thinking she is correct or is possibly quite naive.

I would be very careful about taking on a loan to pay her off, as you may find that in taking out the loan it makes it even harder for you to get a mortgage in only your name, and no way should you be paying anything to her until she has come off the mortgage and the deeds.

On £26k or so salary you are going to be struggling to get a £103k mortgage anyway. And if you cannot stay there alone then she should not expect her cash until the house is sold.

How long ago did she move out by the way?
How long ago did you buy the house?

Orlando_Virgin

Tixy wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure she would win anything at the moment.

As it stands she is still on the deeds and the mortgage, so at the moment you owe her nothing.
Sounds to me like she is either trying to bully you into thinking she is correct or is possibly quite naive.

I would be very careful about taking on a loan to pay her off, as you may find that in taking out the loan it makes it even harder for you to get a mortgage in only your name, and no way should you be paying anything to her until she has come off the mortgage and the deeds.

On £26k or so salary you are going to be struggling to get a £103k mortgage anyway. And if you cannot stay there alone then she should not expect her cash until the house is sold.

How long ago did she move out by the way?
How long ago did you buy the house?

Hi, thanks for replying. I really don't want to get any sort of loan at the minute and the main reason is what you have stated, she is still on the mortgage and deeds.

In the situation and timeline is this. We bought and moved in the house in August and bought it for £115,000. It was for sale at £124,950. We decided to go our seperate ways in December, it was too difficult living together and to be honest, I was the only one out of the two of us who could afford to keep the house on my own, so she moved home with her Mum and Dad.

I carried on in the house on my own til around February, until I asked a friend to move in as he was looking for somewhere to live having just returned from finishing university in Dundee. He pays me £200 a month for this. My ex and I then talked and I said that I would try and pay her back the £3500 she invested in the deposit and she would walk away, I explained I wasn't happy about this as her name would still be on the mortgage and deeds, and Britannia at the time would not let me take the mortgage on my own.

Since then we are in the same situation. I don't want this to come across as one sided, I completely understand she feels she has invested money in the house and is now getting absolutely nothing for it, which is entirely true. I want to pay her back but its difficult for me to pay that amount of money back in one sum with living being difficult already (albeit I admit looking at the budget I could be a lot tighter, which I am determined to do starting now, I am going to save a few hundred a month no matter what the outcome maybe).

My feelings on it are that recently she has just become totally fed up with seeing no money (which I understand) but I have explained I will try to pay it back as much as I can (a minimum of £200 a month, £350 would be my target for 10 months).

There is a lot of bitterness now at the moment between us both and its getting more and more difficult. Even if I could get her off the mortgage and deeds, the fact remains she would want the money invested back in a lump sum, which I don't have!

Little_Miss_Uni-Debt

Hi,

I think the more she pushes to have it back in a lump sum the worse off she will do out of it really! Basically she doesn't really care if you have to pay over the odds to pay her back. I think if it went to court they may just say she has a charging order on the house and she'd get the £3500 once it was sold.

Then she'd be stuck without it for a long time!

I'd also be wary of paying her back and having her name on the mortgage of the house still. What's stopping her staking a claim on the house after you've paid her back already? You'd have to prove you made the payments so keep receipts!!!

So she wants the interest as if it had been sat in her bank, she wants it in a lump sum and she wants the extra if the property has risen in value.

I'd ask her does that mean she's willing to accept less if it has dropped in value. It seems to me she wants to have her cake and eat it!!!

Yes, she did invest which means she took the risk of a loss. This is one of those instances.

I can see you want it to be amicable but it's clear she isn't fussed what situation you're in.

Why don't you just send her a cheque for the full amount but post dated 2012 and you can just start saving in a bank account.

Doesn't she see that she is better off having some paid into her account monthly so she is gaining interest instead of you saving up to give it to her in a lump sum!

Is there maybe a family member who you could borrow the money from? Then you could pay them back monthly and they might be easier to deal with than your ex!! Plus you could pay a little extra back to them as a gesture of thanks. It'd still be a LOT cheaper than a loan from a bank!