joint mortgage split with child involved

22ranko

Hi
My ex left 18 months ago and immediately stopped paying his half of the mortgage and all bills. (He also left me with a car loan and no child support). We have a joint mortgage and one child (who he chooses not to see). He knows that I have a new boyfriend and am co habiting and has decided he wants me to buy him out or sell the property. I can fully understand why however, I would like to wait until next year to do anything or ideally have him buy me out. I do not wish to stay in the house and would love to buy independently and start again.
Does anyone know if he can force me to sell..?
What are my options?
Many thanks.

podperson

Might be worth posting this in the mortgage forum as well for more specialised advice.
As far as I am aware since you are currently living in the property, especially with a child, and the mortgage is up to date he would have an uphill battle to try and force a sale.
It sounds as though you don't get on that well at the moment but is it worth trying to sit down and talk reasonably about it to him. Say that you are happy to sell the property but that it would probably be best to wait say 6-12months and see if the market picks up as at the moment you would probably struggle to sell at all, never mind for the best price (which I'm sure he must want as well!)
Also get him chased up for child maintenance, regardless of whether he sees his child or not he should be paying you this!!

22ranko

Thanks for the advice - much appreciated..however as for talking to him have tried and tried already re: his child, with no luck..he has also been violent in the past (complaints made to police- who changed locks and upgraded security for me) so its not really an option.

Marisco

Hi ranko, I would seriously consider going to the CSA for maintenance though, as you cannot come to an "amicable" arrangement for reasons given. I'd normally say stay away from them as they often make a situation worse, but as he is not paying anything, and he should, then they seem the only option, and if he refuses, they'll just put a deduction order on his wages.

laurel7172

Go to the CSA.

Hang on to your home, if you want to, for as long as possible.

And if he doesn't pay the CSA maintenance, well, it can come off his equity when you DO sell, can't it?