Removing name from joint mortgage, complicated.

LilMissEvil

Hiya,

Looking for a little bit of advice on the best way to remove my name from a joint mortgage, though I feel I know what the answer may be already. I'll try give as much detail as I can without waffling.

I bought a home with my ex partner around 7 to 8 years ago when I was very young and rather naive/stupid. Things went wrong very quickly, and we split up and I moved out about 3 months after buying the house. I contributed half to the deposit, and half towards the mortgage for about 6 months in total until I found my own place to rent. I have not contributed to it since, he has been paying the mortgage for 6 to 7 years now.

I have tried with the lender (Northern Rock) to have the mortgage transferred to his name, and they came back with the predictable outcome that on paper he doesn't earn enough to have the mortgage in his sole name, even though he's been paying it. I have tried this several times over the last few years.

The house was put up for sale when we split up, and I was under the impression that it has been on the market ever since. I found out today that the house has only been on the market for about 3 years, and it was taken off around 12 - 18 months ago.

I have asked my ex today to put the house back up for sale but he is not willing to do this as he wants to stay there.

I have asked if there is anyone who is willing to sign guarantor for him to have the mortgage transferred into his name, and unsurprisingly he knows no-one that is daft enough to do so.

At my best guess, the house is either in negative equity, or it may just about break even with the mortgage balance at the moment. I am aware that I could apply to the County Court for an order for sale, however I'm not sure if this would be granted if the house was in negative equity - would the lender have a say in this?

Does anyone know of any other way apart from going down the Court route, that I could get my name off this mortgage? At this point, I don't care about losing share of any possible equity or my half of the deposit that was paid into it, just want my name off it.

Thank you,

LME

Thrugelmir

LilMissEvil wrote: »

Does anyone know of any other way apart from going down the Court route, that I could get my name off this mortgage?

Your only option if the other party won't co-operate.

holly_hobby

I agree, you really need to take legal advice on this - and really force the property sale, or for him to "buy you out" i.e financially compensate you for your share of the market value of the property, after the mge has been deducted, and the amt of mge repayments he has solely made over the last yrs.

You would then have your Solicitor amend the mge deeds to show that, although remaining party to the mge (as you currently can't be released), you have 0% equity share. (this is technically taking the mge from a joint tenancy basis (automatic equal share of the property between all named on the deed) to tenants in common (where the apportioning of the property can be noted as being of differing shares to the different individuals). You will need to get the lenders agreement, but can't see it being a problem (as technically you are still legallly responsible for mge repayments), but don't worry your solicitor will explain the process.

Of course any legal action or engagement of solicitors will have a fee - so remember to factor that into what you decide.

So .. bottom line is .... go and get a free half hour of solicitors advice and decide your options from there - but it seems that going through the legal channels is currently your only option, based on your ex ptnrs behaviour.

Hope this helps

Holly

LilMissEvil

Thank you very much for the replies!

I think it is going to be a case of legal advice, kind of knew it would be but was hoping there was another way.

I wouldn't be happy with signing over the deeds to the property but still being legally liable for the mortgage should he decide to default at any point, so that's not an option at the minute.

A forced sale may be in order then. Does anyone know if the property was negative equity, would I still be able to do this? I know that normally if you want to sell and it's in negative equity, it's the lender's decision as to whether you can sell or not. I'm not sure whether there's equity in the property or not, so trying to cover all my bases at the minute.

holly_hobby

Well if you sell and there is negative equity, the difference in sale price to outstanding mge will have to be paid by you and your partner - or whoever wants to pay the remainder in whatever portion.

Holly

pvt

Miss Evil,

Dunno what terms you're on with your ex, but it's worth trying to discuss it with him rationally if you can. Then the two of you go see the lender together.

If you go down the legal route that will eat up yet more money in legal fees. That reality might help your ex see reason and negotiate the situation.

The mortgage lender cannot stop you selling the house, but no one will buy the property unless it agrees to remove the charge. It will only remove the charge if the whole of the outstanding mortgage is repayed, or if you discuss a settlement with it.

If the property is in negative equity then the lender will want the difference paid to it by you and your ex, jointly and severally.

The reality for your ex is that the house is going, whether he likes it or not, unless he can find a lender that will lend him, in his sole name, the amount of the outstanding joint mortgage. That seems unlikely.

Don't let the situation drag on as you are exposed to any further drop in the value of the property, and more importantly, if your ex decides to take a mortgage payment holiday. Though he would be stupid to do that, it would cause the lender to repossess and you would achieve your objective anyway. Just with a lot more mess and cost for both of you.

Good luck