Selling a house - joint mortgage

marcusjames

A friend has recently split with her partner. She has remained in the marital home whilst he has gone AWOL. The mortgage is causing her real pain and she'd like to sell the house and clear the mortgage (agent's current estimate would cover the mortgage).

The house has been marketed for a number of months and finally an offer has been received. Unfortunately it is £30k under the agent's estimate, leaving her with a shortfall for the mortgage. The bank is refusing to accept the offer as the ex needs to agree. He has been making a number of threats, along with saying he'd rather see her bankrupt.

Someone has suggested she gets an Order of Sale to force his agreement. This would enable her to accept the offer, rather than risk handing back the keys.

My question is, does the Order of Sale remove the ex from the joint mortgage and as such remove his liability for the £30k shortfall.

Any advice appreciated.

Thrugelmir

marcusjames wrote: »

My question is, does the Order of Sale remove the ex from the joint mortgage and as such remove his liability for the £30k shortfall.

Any advice appreciated.

No it doesn't remove liability from either party to repay the shortfall upon sale of the property.

The order forces the sale of the property to proceed unless there is a good reason why it shouldn't.

If the ex is obstructive then they will find themselves liable for the court costs as well. So the threat of action may force co-operation from the ex if they have any commonsense or seek legal advice themselves.