dont know where to turn, please please help

Nickybear

Hi, im new, so please bear with me, thanks

18months ago my partner was suddenly and unexpectedly arrested and sent straight to prison. He has since been sentanced (9yrs) but I have been left through no fault of my own, with the mortgage (£680) and a secured loan that he took out (£150) my ex partner has now written to me to say he will not sign the house over to me, nor will he allow me to sell it, as he says he will need money to set himself up again when he is released - as I can no longer afford the payments on the house, and Im not too happy about being made to pay the mortgage only for him to be released and start demanding money, If I allow the bank to reposess, what debts will i be left with, and will i be able to rent a property as i have 2 children also?
Please could someone help, i cannot afford a solicitor and really dont know what to do xx thankyou xx

RAS

The starting points are:

1. Are you married?
2. What benefit help are you getting towards the mortgage?
3. Are the children his?
4. Is the house his, yours, shared? If shared, joint tenancy or tenants in common?
5. Any equity in the house?

NouveauRiche

Many solicitors offer FREE 30 minute appointments. You may also be able to get advice from Citizens Advice Bureau.

Nickybear

Thankyou for the replies..
I am a single parent, and no, the children are not his. Im not geeting any help with the mortgage as i work. I had a free interview with a solicitor, and will have to pay for any other interviews. My ex is a very dangerous !!!!!phile and it nearly destroyed us when it was found out and he was thankfully sent down. He is refusing to acknowledge anything to do with the house which we jointly own, and says he will not sign anything to do with it until he is eventually released, when he says i will be made to sell the house in order to give him half. I owe £115,000 on the mortgage, and the house is worth roughly £130,000. I am wondering whether voluntary bankruptsy would be the best way forward for me. I cannot afford the mortgage or the loan any more. I cant sleep or eat for worry x

RAS

Are you married to him, please.

Is the house joint tenancy or tenants in common?

dancingfairy

Hi - have you checked recently whether you are entitled to any benefits? If you aren't then the most logical solution would be to try and sell the house and rent somewhere you can afford. I don't know if you can force the ex to sell though- hopefully RAS or one of the others will know more about it.
If you can't force the ex to sell then you may have to consider giving the house up and going into rented.
What are the rental prices like near you? do you want to stay in the same area or not?
If you were to give the house up and move into rented as the house has equity surely the bank could sell the house and get the money back and you wouldn't owe them anything so you wouldn't need to go bankrupt? or am I missing something?
df

Nickybear

No, I am thankfully not married to him. We took the mortgage out together in joint names 4yrs ago, and i dont know what joint tenancy/common thing means? both our names are on the mortgage.

RAS

Nickybear wrote: »

No, I am thankfully not married to him. We took the mortgage out together in joint names 4yrs ago.

Actually, a formal divorce would have allowed you to sort this out. Being unmarried makes it harder.

When you bought the house, did you make any provision (I am hoping that your solicitor had brains) for the situation when your relationship broke down? Or make any arrangments regarding who owned what proprtion of the house?

Nickybear

Hi, not that i know of, as far as im aware there is nothng in place. will i be responsible for any shortfall in the mortgage? will the court take into consideration my circumstances, do you think? thankyou for replying, i really do appreciate it

RAS

We are going to need a proper SOA, but can you advise

1. Have you done a proper benefits check on www.turn2us.org.uk?
2. How much is the secured loan for and how much is still outstanding? Was there any PPI on this?

dancingfairy

how much is the secured loan? and whose name is it in?
If you stopped paying the mortgage (as you can't afford it), saved up as much as you could, waited until the house was repossed, get rehoused by the council and then go bankrupt and you could put any shortfall or the mortgage into the bankruptcy?
Your ex is a little stuck - at the moment it appears you are jointly responsible for paying the mortgage, if you stop paying it then normally unless he decides to pay it then the bank will want to repossess it. I'm not sure how it works with him being in prison though - that's the only thing.
You might be able to get some help by phoning the debt charities or your local CAB - maybe try National Debtline or CCCS.
df