Forced to sell house?

missnippy

I'm posting on behalf of a friend. She split with her ex-partner some time ago - they owned a property in joint names, and my friend remained in the house with their son. She took over the mortgage payments and has continued to pay these for some time now.

Her ex has now met someone else, and wants to move in with her but they will need to buy the girlfriend's ex-husband's share of the former marital home.

My friend's ex now wants to come off their joint mortgage - easily done (according to the mortgage broker!), however he wants his share of the value of the property. My friend has a poor credit record and it's unlikely she will be able to get a big enough mortgage to pay him his share. My friend's worried that her ex can force her to sell the house, effectively leaving her and their son homeless. Can he do this?

Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks

Mojisola

missnippy wrote: »

My friend's worried that her ex can force her to sell the house, effectively leaving her and their son homeless. Can he do this?

Any advice gratefully received!

Because it's the child's home, he will not be able to force a sale.

BitterAndTwisted

Depending on when the property was bought there may not be a huge amount of equity to share. Is the ex-partner the father of her child? If there's any sharing of the equity to take place account needs to be taken of how long she has been paying the mortgage on her own. Just because someone stops paying their share of the mortgage it does not mean that their responsibilities to it are over.

Fang_3

Mojisola wrote: »

Because it's the child's home, he will not be able to force a sale.

That's not necessarily true. The OP's friend needs legal advice.

paddedjohn

Mojisola wrote: »

Because it's the child's home, he will not be able to force a sale.

depends on the size of the property, if its just the mum and one child in a four bedroom house then they could reasonably be expected to manage in a smaller house

NickyBat

I'm by no means an expert, but certainly going by my cousins situation (very similar to what you described) she stayed in the marital home (so to speak) until the children left full time education, now they have reached that age she must now sell it.
in actual fact on hindsight she has been very foolish to herself as over the years she paid the mortgage and upkeep of the house (struggled but managed) and now the house is worth 3 times what it was so her ex will get a tidy sum back meanwhile she is on a low wage and now will probably only be able to rent somewhere.

RAS

Hi

If they were married, this should have been sorted out when they divorced. What was agreed in the financial settlement?

missnippy

Thanks to all who replied. To answer the questions:

The ex is the father of the child.

The house is a two bedroom property.

They never married.

She's hoping she'll qualify for legal aid, as she can't afford a huge legal bill to try and sort this out. I thought I'd post on her and see if anyone else had been in a similar situation.

Thanks.

Caroline_a

How old is the child? Usually courts will allow the resident parent and child to remain in the marital home until the child leaves full time education.

DaisyFlower

She has far less rights if married.

Its not as simple that she has a child so can stay there. Judges take into account many factors as in size of house, if the other party can get a mortgage to allow them to have a home where the child can stay etc.

Perhaps she can look at upping her hours or taking on a second job to increase her chances of being able to buy him out.

Jamz

How much equity is in the property?

Could she afford a loan for his half of the equity?

If so a simple contract drawn up by a solicitor stating that he is getting £xxxx now and once this payment is made he gives up any rights and claims to the property unless he defaults on payments should cover it.

This is what my brother and his Ex girlfriend are doing, her name will stay on the mortgage as he couldn't get one on his own.