Can I sell if my ex-wife doesn't want to?

simon20_08

Hello everyone,

I was after some advice for the situation I now find myself in - maybe someone else has been here too? Basically, my ex-wife & I no longer live in our marital home (it's rented out) I want to sell, but she doesn't.
Here are the facts running up to this to give you an idea of my situation:

Before I met my now ex-wife, I made a decent sum of money from a flat I owned on my own.
Met my ex wife, fell in love and wanted to live with each other (as you do).

Bought a property together and I used £35,000 from the proceeds of my flat sale as a deposit and my ex didn't/couldn't put down anything. It was a struggle to get the home actually as she had arrears on her credit file. Anyway, we got it in the end due to the decent deposit size I put down.

A year later I proposed and took us on a round the world backpacking trip for 6months - all paid for by me. We rented our home out whilst we were away.

Returned to the UK but settled in the North West near her family as our home still had tenants in. I found a new job and then about 6months later from returning to the UK I find out she has cheated on me, and starts seeing another man. She is full of apologies & I move out, devastated, into my own rented accommodation.

Ex says she does not want a penny from me (and in hindsight she wouldn't have been able to claim really as in short marriages you get back what you put in)
To be sure of this & that she cant change her mind in the future, I get myself protected and have a Consent Order drawn up which we both agree too (a legal document sealed in court, which details financial arrangements after divorce - a 'clean break' agreement)

Consent order states that if the former marital home sells for more than what we paid for it, the original deposit is returned to me (as I put this in prior to marriage) and the profits above the original purchase price are split 50/50. I think this is fair, so did my ex.

Divorce is finalised, Consent order approved in court by the judge. All done and dusted - or so I thought.....

Last summer we tried to sell the house for £175k (£10k more than we paid for it), but it received very little attention from potential buyers and feedback was that it was slightly too high an asking price. Current housing market it's understandable.

SO - I want to try again in the next few months at the same price we paid for it, get my 35k deposit back and move on with my life. However my ex has decided that she doesn't want to sell unless she gets £10k out of the sale!!!! In other words the house would need to gain £20k, to get her split of 10k. Which in all reality could take 10years to achieve unless there's a ridiculous boom in the market which I can't see happening. She's dug her heels in and said unless she gets 10k she doesn't want to sell.

So in summary - she put nothing down in deposit on the house, she cheated within a year of our marriage, she agreed to the terms of the consent order which has now been enforced by the courts. And now she wants 10k which is totally unrealistic.

How on earth can I sell the house now (and not in 10years time) without her agreement ??? Unfortunately the consent order didn't say anything about time scales to sell the former marital home- so it's got to be on mutual agreement. But surely if she wants to keep the house and I want to sell - she would have to buy me out? (but I know she can't afford to).

Help please !!!

geoffky

a good solicitor and a good letter should put her in the picture...good luck..

Terrysdelight

Reading this posting brings back some painful memories!!

A house in joint names can't be sold without the both parties signatures. You could get a buyer, go down the road to exchange and then she could refuse to sign.

If she is going to be difficult the best thing to do is get a solicitors letter off to her threatening to go back to court as she is delaying a sale. She is in breach of the consent order and she would end up paying your solicitors costs. If she refuses the sell at the current market value, the court can sign on her behalf.

I really feel sorry for you. Best of luck.

simon20_08

Thank you for your replies, I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place! It's like she's got me over a barrel and I can't do anything about it - It's going to cost lots in legal & court fee's, which I don't really have the cash for right now (hence needing the house sold) - and for not putting a penny in when we bought the house, she is now in a position to delay the sale and put my life on hold unless I pay her 10k out of my part of the sale... it's either that or wait years and years for the house to climb in value (if at all it will).

Unbelievable - it feels like extortion... I mean, what if she decided "I want 15k before I sign for a sale." It feels like there's nothing stopping her. Grrrrr !!!

Terrysdelight

If I were you, I would definitly go back to court. Call her bluff over costs, just get a letter sent by a firm of solicitors (probably costs about £60), to say you are applying to the court to vary the order and will be looking to her for the costs because she is delaying the sale.

Then, make the application to the court yourself, don't employ the solicitor and just represent yourself. Its only a couple of hundred for the application and no more costs will be incurred providing you don't employ a solicitor. She will assume the solicitor is going to represent you and I imagine she would be worried sick that she can get landed with a huge bill because she knows she's in the wrong. Thank goodness you don't have any kids with this woman and that it was such a short marriage.

Get rid of the house asap as you still have a financial link with this person and she is obviously bad news.

nanker

Sell for what you can and then give her the 10k if i was you. I know it seems really unfair as you were the wronged party, but the peace of mind when you move on with your life will be well worth it.

You seem like a hard working fella, and i'm sure it won't take too long to make the money back.

best of luck

tattyuk75

How exactly is she justifying the fact that she feels she will be owed £10k from the sale? She must be aware that no money will be made from the sale surely with house prices the way they are? If the house sold for less than you paid, would she be prepared to contribute to any shortfall?

Legal advice, although expensive now, would sort this out and save you a whole load of grief.