Help Please.

shortbread

I recently moved in with my partner who is living in his mortgaged home he bought with his ex in 2007. She moved out of property in 2009 and has paid nothing towards mortgage or a joint 10k loan since. From the get go she wanted house sold as for some insane reason she thinks she is entitled to thousands. My partner does not want to lose house,he was the one who always paid the mortgage and has put a lot of effort into keeping the house in the last 2 years.

Since 2009 my partner has spent thousands on solicitors trying to get his ex to sign transfer of equity but to no avail. he even agreed to take on her half of the 5k debt from the loan for her to sign the contract and walk away. This was what she requested but even still her solicitor would just dilly dally and make stupid comments, thus creating more cost for my partner.

They bought the house for 146k and owe around 114k. The recent valuation is 130k. Unfortunately end of last year my partner lost his job due to the company he worked for going bust and funnily enough at this precise time his ex signed the transfer of equity knowing full well that he could now not afford a mortgage in his sole name. So after almost 18 months of trying to get her off the mortgage to free himself of this tie whilst he had the income to take on the mortgage she delayed any action to allow this to happen.

Now after no contact from her solicitor since Oct 2010 a letter came from a mediation company saying her solicitor has requested this to aid the sale of the property which she is now trying to force.

Thing is my partner does not want to sell the property as he loves the house and also myself and my son now live here and in effect we would be homeless. I know the easy solution would be sell the property but this is not something he wants to do willingly. Selling the house would mean they have lost 16k from original cost of house. Profit would be around 12k after costs etc and she would then have to take responsibility for her half of the 10k loan which she hasnt paid in 2 years but which my partner has.

I would like some advice if possible....

A. Would his ex partner be liable for any mortgage payments she has not paid? Two years worth and mortgage is up to date. If so would she owe them from any of her profit from sale?

B. Would a court actually see selling the house as a good thing to do?

This is driving my partner and myself insane it is such a worry as we would be homeless.

Any advice would be gratefully received:T

shortbread

Need any advice from those with accurate information of who have endured similar.......would so appreciate it

Sparkle78

I personally don't think she is entitled to anything. If anything, she owes. A joint mortgage is JOINT so therefore she has not paid a button for 2 yrs. I would have thought that your partner should have taken up a solicitor to hunt down the ex and make them either cough up or sign the paperwork for your partner to take on the full mortgage if that had been possible...

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Sounds like a rotten situation.

It seems to me that there are several issues at play here....

1. Your partner and his ex have two joint debts, the mortgage and the loan.

2. Your partner has paid the full installments on both for some time, as his ex has defaulted on her liability to pay for her half.

3. There is an asset (house) with net equity (after disposal costs and mortgage repayment) of around 12K.

4. There is a loan with approximately 10K outstanding.

So to get this straight, the net outstanding amount from sale of the house and payment of the mortgage and loan is around 2K..... Hardly seems worth fighting over, so there's obviously some deeper motivations at play here.

I would have your solicitor write a letter explaining the following:

Your partners ex has defaulted on her liability to pay her share of the loan and mortgage for the last few years, and this has caused your partner to pay her share. Your partner will therefore be taking her to court to recover this amount.

The net amount from the house sale after disposal costs and joint debt repayment would be around 2K, and the ex's share just 1K. You will agree not to pursue her in court if she immediately signs over all rights to the house to your partner and accepts £1000 as compensation.

If she's got any sense at all, she'll accept the offer. Otherwise, sell up, repay the debt, give her the 1K, and take her to court for the many thousands more she owes your partner.

Good luck.

Lance

It sounds like she wants a payoff, selling house or buy out. Selling would lower any equity because of extra costs so she probably wants a buy out. If you don't make her an offer she could force a sale through the courts but that would take time and cost money. If your partner wanted to fight on her level he could tell her to get on with forceing the sale and he will stop paying the mortgage / loan like she has. He could tell her he will save a lot of money not paying until eviction. WARNING this would damage both their credit ratings very badly but as a threat it would probably shake her up and make her a bit more realistic in any negociating.

shortbread

Thanks all for replies. She wants cash out of house but to be fair 2 years of not paying 500 quid a month to mortgage amounts to a lot of money.....is my partner legally entitled to go after her for the cash ?

Thing is he wont get the mortgage in his name right now, but solicitor has the signed transfer contract......

It seems hideous to do all this just for her to get 1k but she is a greedy money motivated woman who cant see further than her own selfish needs.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

shortbread wrote: »

Thanks all for replies. She wants cash out of house but to be fair 2 years of not paying 500 quid a month to mortgage amounts to a lot of money.....is my partner legally entitled to go after her for the cash ?

Yes absolutely, unless they have an agreement stating otherwise as part of the separation proceedings.

He can and should pursue her in court for the £12,000 in missed mortgage payments. (her share is £500 a month? x 24 months) Or at the very least use it as a bargaining chip.

Thing is he wont get the mortgage in his name right now, but solicitor has the signed transfer contract......

There are two things here, the ownership of the house itself and the mortgage against it. The key thing is you need her to revoke any claim against the house. It's then up to you to negotiate with the bank to end her involvement with the mortgage. Whether they will or not depends on her status, and your partners status, and to some extent the ability to prove payments have not been made by her at all for the last two years.

Speak to the solicitor about it. Don't give up. Lateral thinking and negotiating ability are your friends in this instance, but you may have to be willing to play hardball with the threat of default or non payment.

Who is the mortgage lender and what kind of deal is it on?

traineepensioner

"Quote:
Originally Posted by shortbread
Thanks all for replies. She wants cash out of house but to be fair 2 years of not paying 500 quid a month to mortgage amounts to a lot of money.....is my partner legally entitled to go after her for the cash ?
Yes absolutely, unless they have an agreement stating otherwise as part of the separation proceedings.

He can and should pursue her in court for the £12,000 in missed mortgage payments. (her share is £500 a month? x 24 months) Or at the very least use it as a bargaining chip."

I would imagine that she would be able to claim 2 years rent, from your partner, for using her share of the house

I'd let her know that I was going to stop paying the loan but continue paying the mortgage.;)

shortbread

It drives me mad that she is making all these demands for money and all she will get is about 1-2k after the loan is paid off.....Surely it has to be right that she is liable for a mortgage in her name also....Need to see if solicitor will suggest he makes a threat of demand for payment....She doesn't care about the loan as she didn't pay a penny and wont.........hes just foolishly letting her away with it all..........

Mortage is with Chelsea and hes just reduced it to interest only, its a 16 year mortgage I think. As she has obviously signed the contract solicitor has this to come into effect if ex partner could get mortgage. he has paid mortgage since they bought house , its always come straight out of his account, she paid things like gas and electric....of which she left 600 quid debt when she left and guess what, hes paying that too.


I need to suggest that he says he will go after her for the money he's paid for her share of mortgage...I told him even maybe threaten that he doesnt pay and then repossession would be suggested and Im sure she wouldnt want to walk away with at least 10k debt.....

Its harsh this business really is

paint

shortbread wrote: »

It drives me mad that she is making all these demands for money and all she will get is about 1-2k after the loan is paid off.....Surely it has to be right that she is liable for a mortgage in her name also....

Just putting another perspective on this.

Your partner has been enjoying the exclusive use of the house for the last two years whilst, presumably, his ex has had to pay rent to live elsewhere? He has also moved a new partner and her child in - would you expect her to still pay half the mortgage whilst you are living there? I can see why she wants the property sold, and feels entitled to half of any proceeds.

The loan is another matter, though.

I think a fair option would be to sell the house, repay the loan with any proceeds and split what's left between the two of them, deducting her missed loan payments from her share. All financial ties would be cut and you and he could start afresh.

Marvel1

For the mortgage I wouldn't be happy paying my share if I didn't live there and someone else moved in.