What now?

moleymoo

Hi all - am after a bit of advice if thats okay, here's hoping I've put it in the right place

I've recently split up with my husband of 4 years (together 10). We bought a house in 2005 on a Northern Rock Together product, and have been on repayment so have reduced it by c£10k. I need to broach the subject of selling the house with him and just wanted to have some info before I do.....

Basically, if we sell then what happens? Neither of us will be getting another mortgage for a while so we'd be selling with no onward chain. Obviously we would need to instruct an EA, and we'll need a solicitor to do the conveyancing but will they also deal with the mortgage company? And what happens if we have some equity left over (mortgage at about £164k, reckon if we're very lucky we might get about £175k for the house) will that be split by the solicitor or will we have to do it ourselves? And any ideas how much the solicitor might cost for the work they'll do?

Sorry, lots of questions, I just know he's going to ask so thought I'd better be prepared.........thank you all in advance for any help

MM x

Jojo1daffy

Hi..
Yes, the solicitor would deal with the mortgage company as part of the conveyancing and they would also split the equity. You need to decide between you (or through mediation) how it will be split (eg. if you have children that will be staying with you, you are entitled to a greater share of the equity in order to rehouse the children).
Solicitors fees vary - get quotes from a few (and ask them all your questions as well) - but I think it would be about £400-500 for a basic sale.

tyllwyd

Whenever I've bought or sold houses, the solicitor has always dealt with the mortgage company, so I don't see that would be any different in your situation. When it comes to returning any equity to you, the solicitor should act on your instructions - I don't see that a simple 50/50 split would incur any additional cost. Estate agents fees are usually about 1.5% plus VAT, a solicitor I guess would be around about £500. Are there any early repayment fees for the mortgage?

You've estimated the value of the house as £10K above the mortgage - is that a conservative estimate? Your biggest problem might be that you find you are in negative equity - at the very least, you will find that money gets eaten up by moving costs & fees.

moleymoo

Hi both, thanks so much for the replies. TBH I think that £10k is a bit optimistic, although I've looked on rightmove for the other houses down our road on the market and they're all on for around £180k. I'm not really worried about getting anything out of the property, but neither of us can afford to keep it on our own so it's the only way forwards. No kids thankfully, so it would be a straight 50/50 split. He would look to go into a shared house and he has a van so no moving costs there, and I'm back at my parents for now - things are all amicable at the minute so I think he would either help me move my stuff or I'd hire a van for myself - am thinking of getting a storage unit anyway as it wouldn't be fair to lump it all on my parents again!

Oh, and I don't think there are any ERC's on the mortgage now, we've been on the SVR for a while now and I think they stopped applying when we moved off the fixed.....