How to force a house sale?

need-to-sell

Hello
Any advice woud be greatly appreciated. My ex partner (we never married) and I split up 5 years ago. He does not pay maintenance for his 2 children nor pays towards the mortgage of our jointly owned property. This is fine however I need to sell the house and buy somewhere bigger and also to sever myself from him completely.

He is not agreeable to this and in nearly a year of asking I am no closer to putting the house on the market.

I'm hoping that someone can advise me of the procedure of how to take him to court to force a sale WITHOUT using a solicitor as I cant afford this and I'm not entitled to legal aid.

Thanks in advance

Orrin

You could try the CAB or Shelter or a solicitor who offers a free initial appointment. You're going to need to get a court order and a good solicitor could easily pay for themselves if you can get a better settlement.

BitterAndTwisted

I know this is a daft question but if you can't afford professional legal advice how do you propose to be able to afford to buy a larger property?

You absolutely do need legal advice as the ultimate share of the proceeds should not be 50/50 since you have been paying the mortgage on your own AND he's not contributing to the children's upkeep either.

Are you certain that you will qualify for this new mortgage once you will be the sole mortgagee?

need-to-sell

I have a new partner and we can afford a larger property. My solicitor has advised it would cost £20k to take him to court which is a hefty part of our deposit

BitterAndTwisted

If the other joint-owner is not inclined to sell then you will have to go through the legal process of forcing a sale.

Some leverage could be brought to bear with the issue of going to the CSA as a pretty big stick to wield, I would say.

amcluesent

>My solicitor has advised it would cost £20k to take him to court<

Down the East End you can arrange a contract to get someone 'rubbed out' for £1K.

Orrin

If you have to force a sale then it's going to cost your ex too, so what's his reason for not agreeing? What kind of equity do you have in the property?

DVardysShadow

need-to-sell wrote: »

I have a new partner and we can afford a larger property. My solicitor has advised it would cost £20k to take him to court which is a hefty part of our deposit

Put it in context.

If you win, you should get costs. If you lose you are not going to be able to spend the deposit. There is a gamble - and some solicitors probably don't like to dwell on that with clients - they prefer to state the worst case.

need-to-sell

his reason for not agreeing is that it will benefit me! I have a new partner and baby and we simply do not have enough room. I have offered to waive his considerable CSA arrears and draw up a legal doc stating I do not want any future payments and pay him a lump sum he said no!

He offered me a 60/40 split in my favour which I accepted then he changed his mind!

Its horrible, I just want to sell the house and move on

Mojisola

need-to-sell wrote: »

his reason for not agreeing is that it will benefit me! I have a new partner and baby and we simply do not have enough room. I have offered to waive his considerable CSA arrears and draw up a legal doc stating I do not want any future payments and pay him a lump sum he said no!

He offered me a 60/40 split in my favour which I accepted then he changed his mind!

Its horrible, I just want to sell the house and move on

The carrot hasn't worked so you probably need to go down the stick route.

Why haven't the CSA got him to pay child maintenance? Start leaning on him.

BitterAndTwisted

You cannot force someone to do something which suits you and not them, other than by legal means. It's not your ex's fault that you have decided to increase the size of your family while living in a property which is too small.