Ex won't pay half to negative equity debt

Janie1975

Hi All,

As a regular lurker of the forums I thought I would finally join as I need help!!

My fiance is having trouble with repaying negative equity incurred when he and his ex girlfriend sold their house three years ago.

There is a debt of £17,000 outstanding. My fiance is happy to pay monthly payments to pay off his half. The mortgage was a joint mortgage in both their names but the building society will not split the debt. The mortgage is with Kensington. They have basically said to him that as long as they get the money, they are not bothered where it comes from. So, as it stands, he is not paying anything either as he will just end up paying the full amount, although he has offered as long as they split it.

She has been a nightmare since I met him (they were already seaparated when we met!) and actually never paid anything to the mortgage when they were together. He offered to buy her out and she refused which shows how stubborn she is, as she could have walked away with £10K, but now owes almost £10K.

Is there anything we can do to help get this debt split fairly?? We are getting married in April and I do not want this to be hanging over our heads when we get married :(

Can any of you MSE's help us?

Many thanks in advance,

Janie

blueberrypie

Your fiance is liable for the full amount of the debt, not half of it. You cannot force the lender to split the debt in half - a joint mortgage means the debt is payable, in full, by either party or both. It might seem unfair, but it is what your fiance and his ex agreed to when they took out the mortgage.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but there are only two ways that your fiance can deal with this:
- pay the full amount himself
- come to an agreement with his ex.

Unless he does one of these things, the debt *will* be hanging over your heads when you get married, and it will continue to do so. If neither of those on the mortgage pays up, the debt will prevent your fiance from getting other credit (including another mortgage) for several years.

Janie1975

Thanks BBPie,

We thought that would be the case but thought I would check if there is any way around it. Looks like we are just gonna have to suck it up! Luckily I have a mortgage so that's no problem, but like you say, we may struggle in the future with his credit rating.

Thanks again.

J.

Annisele

I think there are two separate issues here - and it's important for your fiance to keep the two issues separate in his head.

Firstly, there's your fiance's liability to the lender. The mortgage would have been 'joint and several', so your fiance is liable to pay the lender the full amount of the debt. (The ex is also liable to the lender, but that doesn't affect your fiance's liability - the lender can go after him, her, or both of them, depending on which one it thinks has most money).

Secondly, there's your fiance and his ex's liability to each other - which has absolutely nothing to do with the lender. Whether your fiance and his ex can sue each other for anything depends on any agreements they might have had with each other.

Which comes down to the same thing blueberrypie said. Your fiance has to either pay the lender, come to an agreement with his ex, or risk negative financial consequences (possibly up to and including bankruptcy, depending on circumstances).

Sorry, I know that really sucks, but it is the agreement that would have been reached with the lender at the beginning.

Edit: Cross posted with the OP

Thrugelmir

Allow the matter to be taken to court. Then matters will come to a head.

geoffky

try a full and final offer...

silvercar

Is the debt still on the mortgage or has the property been sold and Kensington want their money?

Janie1975

Thanks for the other replies, the house sold over two years ago and Kensington want their outstanding money. The thing is, he is happy to pay his half, but they have basically said they don't care where it comes from as long as they get it, so even if he does pay his own half, he will still be liable for the rest if she refuses to pay - which she will. We have had no contact with her for over two years, nor do we want to, but we know that she won't pay it.
My fiance has offered to pay his half as long as his debt is written off by this but we have heard nothing as yet.
Maybe, just leave it to go to court, if he shows he is willing to pay his half then, they make take pity!!

Thanks again all!

Janie

Thrugelmir

Janie1975 wrote: »

Maybe, just leave it to go to court, if he shows he is willing to pay his half then, they make take pity!!

Maybe the threat of court action will incentivise the ex to take action, and not incur unnecessary legal charges.

CLAPTON

Janie1975 wrote: »

Thanks for the other replies, the house sold over two years ago and Kensington want their outstanding money. The thing is, he is happy to pay his half, but they have basically said they don't care where it comes from as long as they get it, so even if he does pay his own half, he will still be liable for the rest if she refuses to pay - which she will. We have had no contact with her for over two years, nor do we want to, but we know that she won't pay it.
My fiance has offered to pay his half as long as his debt is written off by this but we have heard nothing as yet.
Maybe, just leave it to go to court, if he shows he is willing to pay his half then, they make take pity!!

Thanks again all!

Janie

unfair it may be but think carefully before refusing to pay.

him not paying will of course trash his credit record which will make obtaining credit in the future very difficult

if he is a property owner then they may seek a charging order on the property

SouthCoast

Mortgage shortfalls have a habit of coming back to bite you when you least expect it.

Many people find themselves being asked to pay large sums by their mortgage lender after they have been repossessed or have handed in the keys on their house. Often people think that once they have left the house their liability ends. However, this is not the case if the house is sold for less than the outstanding mortgage. The debt that remains is usually referred to as a mortgage shortfall. This also includes the monthly instalments and interest that has been added on to the debt until the house is sold, plus legal and estate agents’ costs.

http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=11_mortgage_shortfalls