Can I sell my share of a jointly owned house

Garden_of_Coconuts

Hi,
My boyfriend and I split up and he lives in our jointly owned house in London with his new girlfriend and Ive moved abroad.
I urgently need the money from my share of the house and but he refuses to sell it until next year and his offer to buy me out is unacceptable. So Im thinking of going to a lawyer to force a sale which will be costly and take time.
However 2 people (German and Australian) suggest I should find an investor who wants to buy out my share completely so that I can pay off my part of the mortgage and have the lump sum that is my share of the profits and completely walk away from the house and my ex.
Apparently it should work so that my ex has the mortgage reduced by half (as I pay my share off) but he then has to pay monthly rent to the investor.
They assure me that this often happens in their countries but Ive never heard of it in UK and, as it seems too good to be true, Im wondering what, if anything, the catch is, and how it actually works in practice. - Any ideas?

BitterAndTwisted

I can't think of any stranger who would want or need their 50% of an investment to be tied to someone else and their whims like that. What would happen if your ex experienced financial difficulties and stopped being able to pay the mortgage and it was repossessed, for instance?

I suggest that you seek legal advice and find out how to force a sale if your ex will not or cannot buy your half-share from you. Are you still paying your half of the mortgage?

Garden_of_Coconuts

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree with you - the idea seems fraught with danger for any prospective investor - yet there must be some way around it given that it seems common in Germany and Australia. Anyway, I have contacted a lawyer and no, Im not paying towards the mortgage.

zzzLazyDaisy

The suggestion wouldn't work here.

Why? Because mortgage liability is 'joint and several'. This means that you are each liable for the full amount. You can't pay off 'your half' of the mortgage, because your liability isn't limited to half the mortgage.

What you are proposing amounts to a sale. You and your ex would sell the house to the two new owners - your ex and the investor. This means that your ex would have to agree to the sale, and it seems that he is probably unlikely to cooperate. Even if he did, the lender also has to agree to the sale and purchase, and would only do that if the new owner was also named on the mortgage.

You are unlikely to find an investor to take your place as joint owner of the house, because, having paid over the cash for his half of the house, he would still be liable for the mortgage, as joint owners are jointly and severally liable so if your ex defaulted the lender would be able to pursue the investor. There is no way that the lender would allow someone to buy half the house, but not be named on the mortgage, because if your ex defaulted they cannot repossess half a house.

EDIT it is my understanding that loans for the purchase of property are structured differently in Germany, and home ownership less common than here - it is much more common to rent there. So it may be that an arrangement of the nature you describe might be possible there.

Emmzi

are you still paying the mortgage?

I'd probably

a) get a proper surveyor in to value, not an EA, and see if that changes his mind or yours on a "fair" price and
b) stop paying my half of the mortgage

Which may have ramifications or may not depending on his financial stability.

LandyAndy

Garden_of_Coconuts wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I agree with you - the idea seems fraught with danger for any prospective investor - yet there must be some way around it given that it seems common in Germany and Australia. Anyway, I have contacted a lawyer and no, Im not paying towards the mortgage.

Emmzi wrote: »

are you still paying the mortgage?

I'd probably

a) get a proper surveyor in to value, not an EA, and see if that changes his mind or yours on a "fair" price and
b) stop paying my half of the mortgage

Which may have ramifications or may not depending on his financial stability.

...............................

auroan

Sounds like you want your cake and eat it. How do you know there is any profit in the sale of the property ? How long has your ex been paying the full mortgage ? He may counter your sale demand with a demand for you to contribute to the property that your are jointly (by law) responsible for.

ViolaLass

auroan wrote: »

Sounds like you want your cake and eat it. How do you know there is any profit in the sale of the property ? How long has your ex been paying the full mortgage ? He may counter your sale demand with a demand for you to contribute to the property that your are jointly (by law) responsible for.

Surely the OP could then counter-demand rent from her ex.

Garden_of_Coconuts

Thanks for your replies - particularly zzzlazydaisy's explanation. Luckily my ex has now agreed to sell the house - so hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.
Cheers