House indemnity insurance???

F_Bear

I’ve recently separated from my partner and am going through a transfer of equity with nationwide and have instructed a local solicitor, who is my ex partners friend, to register the transfer deed. Her friend said she could do this in her dinner hour and would be no charge.
They’ve since rang my ex partner, as I was away on holiday, saying we NEEDED indemnity insurance, and this will cost £450. As I was away I left this with her, as I do believe her friend has her best interests at heart and our break up was not acrimonious, and on checking up on it upon returning from holiday I’m unsure if I need it??
I’m currently 30yrs old, single, no dependants with a steady job in the public service and have about 15% equity in the house. My understanding of the insurance is that if I go broke and the house is worth less that the outstanding balance I’m covered. But if I’m broke I won’t care.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

G_M

Maybe I'm being slow, but what exactly are you doing?
You jointly own a property with your ex?
You are transfering the property (and mortgage?) into ... her name? your name?
You are using a solicitor to act for YOU, but who probobly has your ex's interests in mind......
The indemnity is against.... what?... bankrupcy? Why do you need this? Is Nationwide insisting?
And the .. HOW much?... £450.. that's a one off? or an annual fee....?

You need to be more specific

my advice would be to get yourself (and pay for!) an impartial solicitor, and then ask them for clear explanations and advice, rather than relying on us semi-knowledgable and ill-informed bods here.

F_Bear

thanks for pointing a few things out that i missed!

we jointly mortgaged the property and now im taking over the mortgage soley.
when u put it like that.............im sure shes acting in both our interested and trust my ex partner
the insurance is against insolvancy and the fee is a one off for 8 years i believe

i agree with getting my own solictor and will be making some phone calls in the morning!

G_M

A quick google found some similar enquiries....

here

and here

and here

As I understand it, it is (sometimes) required where a property is transferred from one party to another (ie from your ex to you) at with no Consideration (ie no cost).

Suppose your ex were about to go bankrupt, so she transfers all her assets (property etc) into your name. Then her creditors can't touch her property (it's yours now, right?).

No - under the Insolvency Act 1986 section 339 the creditors could still whick the property away from under your....feet? nose? Leaving you homeless and the Nationwide with no asset against their mortgage.

Hence the insurance.

But £450 sounds a lot....

DVardysShadow

G_M wrote: »

...

Suppose your ex were about to go bankrupt, so she transfers all her assets (property etc) into your name. Then her creditors can't touch her property (it's yours now, right?).

No - under the Insolvency Act 1986 section 339 the creditors could still whick the property away from under your....feet? nose? Leaving you homeless and the Nationwide with no asset against their mortgage.

Hence the insurance.

But £450 sounds a lot....

As you describe the risk, it sounds to me like a fairly high risk indemnity compared to, say, chancel indemnity. But if it covers the transfer of £5000 equity, it may still be a deal too good to refuse.

F_Bear, perhaps you would tell us how much

• the house is worth
• mortgage is outstanding
• you each put into buying the property

and let's see if we can make a little more sense of this.