Splitting Up - Sorting out the house !?!?

chrishay

Hi Forum,

I know this question or similar questions will have been posted before but I want to be specific about the situation i'm currently in.

Ok.. here goes, WE saved up £12k deposit for a house almost 2 years ago (£6k each)..

Purchases house for £123k (£130k including gifted deposit)..

Seperated a year later..

I've been living in the house about 8 months now paying bills / mortgage..

ex-Partner now wants her name removed off mortgage.
What usually happens from here?

My thoughts were, paying ex-partner her £6k deposit back as a settlement fee which she seems happy with this as I was paying almost double towards the running of the house during our first year. And also if we were to get the house valued it could be worth less than what we bought for (judging by sales of other houses in the street this is a big possibility).

What options could be available to resolve this, we have been waiting until situations with our jobs improved before jumping to any decisions hence the long wait.

Appreciate any advice before we go to solicitors etc.. (if req'd).

Thanks guys,
Chris

getmore4less

Mortgage company is the starting point to see if they will let you take on the mortgage alone.

B_Blank

Seems silly to buy a house together and then you pay more of the mortgage. Setting urself up to get screwed surely

timbo58

getmore4less wrote: »

Mortgage company is the starting point to see if they will let you take on the mortgage alone.

Agree
All other advice will either be pointless or affected greatly by an adverse decision.

You *may* be being too generous also: worth getting a 'spread' of valuations (free) from local EAs and seeing if the house is actually worth 'buying her out' of any 'share': i.e. what if it's only now worth £118k?
All of the deposit is then lost, and giving her £6k is pointless.
After all SHE is asking you for the favour -to lose the liabilities attached to the joint mortgage, so think with your head and ignore your heart being too generous at your expense.

shortchanged_2

Depends really what equity, if any, there is in the house. If the house is worth less now than what you paid for it, why should your ex partner get anything?

If you sold the house for less than you bought it for would she be willing to cover the shortfall?

bosseyed

B_Blank wrote: »

Seems silly to buy a house together and then you pay more of the mortgage. Setting urself up to get screwed surely

Eh? Why? Makes no odds does it really. You buy a house together and the finances are sorted according to whats easiest. In my previous relationship, I paid the mortgage, she paid the bills. Ultimately I paid more towards the house, but then I earnt more. No idea why that would be setting myself up to 'get screwed'.

Anyway. OP, if you want to keep the house yourself then I think the mortgage company is your first port of call to see if they'll let you take it on alone - depending on what they say this will inform how you proceed. If theres no equity in the house, then you might want to rethink giving her £6k.

In my case, when my ex and I split up, the mortgage company wouldn't let me take it on alone (and rightly so to be fair, I couldn't really afford it alone) so we sold the house and simply came to an agreement of how to divy up the proceeds bearing in mind who had paid what deposits and contributed over the year or so we were there. Then we went our separate ways, the lying cheating b***h. Bitter? Nah

chrishay

B_Blank wrote: »

Seems silly to buy a house together and then you pay more of the mortgage. Setting urself up to get screwed surely

My wage was alot more than hers at the time and I didn't want to leave he purse empty every month.

As for the rest of the advice thanks, i'll chat with her and look into it. I'd feel guilty by not giving her anything if I kept the house (afterall we both saved solid for a year), however on the other hand - if we were to sell it, it would cost her money if it was worth less due to negative equity I guess.

chrishay

bosseyed wrote: »

my case, when my ex and I split up, the mortgage company wouldn't let me take it on alone (and rightly so to be fair, I couldn't really afford it alone)

Couldn't you have somebody else i.e. parents or somebody put on the mortgage? - I think I can afford it as i've been living there alone for almost a year now covering all bills etc.. however if I were to get a loan of e.g. 6K this would have an impact on my outgoings.

Incyder

shortchanged wrote: »

Depends really what equity, if any, there is in the house. If the house is worth less now than what you paid for it, why should your ex partner get anything?

If you sold the house for less than you bought it for would she be willing to cover the shortfall?

This is the situation I was in. House had fallen to 5k less than the mortgage value. Deposit was just a memory.

So by me taking on the house/mortgage in my name only it meant I effectively 'bought' her 2.5k debt and prevented an EA and solicitor selling cost, saving her probably 3.5k ish in total, (in those days.)

If your lender will let you keep the mortgage in your name only, hers will need to be legally removed from it and the land registry by a solicitor.

shortchanged_2

chrishay wrote: »

Couldn't you have somebody else i.e. parents or somebody put on the mortgage? - I think I can afford it as i've been living there alone for almost a year now covering all bills etc.. however if I were to get a loan of e.g. 6K this would have an impact on my outgoings.

And affect the amount of mortgage you would be granted.