Break-up with difficult ex - joint mortgage and property

rnilz

Hi,

I am in somewhat of a sticky situation and was hoping if some of you may be able to offer some advice, or if indeed you have been through a similar situation (god forbid!).

About a year ago, I bought a property together with my now Ex. She paid deposit (30%) and stamp duty, and I piled in about 12k in renovations. We hold the property as joint tenants (i.e. 50/50) and have no trust deed.

We broke up about 8 months ago and it has been less than amicable. Since she is a very unreasonable individual, I offered that she take the whole property gratis, i.e. Transfer of Equity for nil consideration. She, however, has other ideas and wanted me to sign a Trust deed whereby I continue to pay half of the mortgage and she lives in the property. Needless to say, I did not sign it.

I have now moved overseas (Asia) and I continued to pay half of the mortgage up until a couple of months ago, hoping she would see reason. She has not and is instead threatening to sue for the non-payment, as well as various other renovation/repair items. She says she can serve me court papers where I am, though whether or not that is true is another matter. I do believe her when she says she will sue, as she pretty much sues everyone she disagrees with (tried to sue her three previous employers).

Now, I know I can go to court and apply for an order of sale. But, TBH, I have lost too much money on this already and cannot really afford the humongous court bills (my solicitor a few months ago said they could run up to 30k).

So I am looking for a cheap option as it were. I remember reading in the mortgage T's&C's that they can recall the loan if either party informs them that they split up / are no longer living together. Does anyone know if I can use this somehow to ask and get the mortgage company to recall the loan? This would pretty much solve everything as it would force her to either re-finance in her own name or sell the place. Worst case scenario, repossession kicks in, which I would be okay with, even if it torches my UK credit rating.

So, does anyone have any experience in getting mortgage companies to recall loans?

Thanks!

missile

I do not have an answers to your questions but I sympathise with your situation. It would have been better if you had sorted this mess out before you left for sunny climes.

I would suggest you contact a local solicitor asap and you can do that by phone and mail. Most will offer a free initial consultation.

I would suggest you write to the mortgage provider and ask their advice.

rnilz

I agree, would have been great to have it sorted before my move. I did try, however the moment I had the place valuated to at least start a sale on a parallel track, she started lodging complaints with the real estate agents. When I had a solicitor draft a letter to her, she engaged in long email communications with my solicitor that didn't actually talk constructively about the points raised but rather rambled on for pages how everything is my fault.

She is, how should I say, a vindictive individual and the chances of this being resolved without the intervention of courts or mortgage provider are slim.

I will write to the mortgage provider and see what comes of it.

Thanks.

missile

Seems like the solicitor you picked is not very good :eek:

IMHO a decent solicitor should have sorted this out with mortgage provider and / or forced a sale of the property. He should not have engage in pointless e mails with your ex partner ......... no doubt at your expense:rotfl:.

Thrugelmir

When a "forced sale" goes before a Judge for a ruling. If one party is delibrately obstructive then its a reasonable assumption that the Judge will find in the other party's favour and award costs accordingly when splitting the equity.

So I wouuldn't be afraid of following this path. When your ex receives counsel this will be pointed out to her.

getmore4less

Even thought you should pay 1/2 the mortgage you would be entitiled to 1/2 a market rent to offset this.