Being Forced to Sell

Clearlier

g0009348 wrote: »

Hi, me and my partner have split up and she wants to buy the house from me and keeps threatening to go to the solicitors if I do not accept her offer. We used some of my parents money to top up our deposit and she is claiming, after advice from her solicitors, that is was a gift not a loan. Unfortunately I never got any paperwork drawn up to detail this either way, only bank statements can prove we have been paying it back. The funny thing is up until she spoke to her solicitors she never once denied it was a loan.....

She has offered to pay me back all of my deposit plus half of what my parents gave us to buy me out of the house. I think that this is not enough as it would leave approx 7 grand in the house which is not hers. She says if she goes through her solicitors she could easily end up giving me nothing (dont belive this) My question is, if I called her bluff and said ok then let the solictors sort it out, could I be forced to sell to her or would a court decide that is best to sell the house to somebody else. She has already agreed that if we sell the house the money to my parents gets paid off first and then the remained gets split 50/50 which is the scenario i prefer.

Is it possible that your ex is just bad at maths? It makes no logical sense that she would be happy to pay back your parents if the house is sold but keep half of what your parents contributed if she stays. It might not be maliciousness so much as stupidity.

The crux of the matter is obviously the status of your parents contribution. If it was a gift to you both then she gets to keep her half. If it was a loan then she has to repay it. I think you need legal advice on that issue. I imagine that it would help your situation if you had something in writing in respect of what she agrees would be done in the event of a sale. If it were me I would first find out if she understood that her position in respect of your parents contribution is different depending on whether she keeps or sells the house. It may be as simple as her not having done her numbers correctly.

All that said, you might still be better off financially by taking her offer to buy you out. It depends on what price you can actually achieve for the house minus the costs of selling. If the house were to be worth 15k less than what you sold it for (costs should also be taken into consideration) then you would end up worse off by selling it. You'd probably feel better if she acknowledged this but then it's a question of your priorities (financial v. emotional).

DVardysShadow

Clearlier wrote: »

Is it possible that your ex is just bad at maths? It makes no logical sense that she would be happy to pay back your parents if the house is sold but keep half of what your parents contributed if she stays. It might not be maliciousness so much as stupidity.

That is a very good point. If it is just a matter of plain being thick, but OP deals with her as a swindler, that will aggravate the situation.

GDB2222

As I understand it, you have been paying your parents back the money they put into it. Was this done jointly or out of a joint account? If so, it's very, very good evidence that it was intended as a loan not a gift. Disputes like this are settled by the courts on the basis of balance of probability - if it ever gets to court. You don't have to prove 'beyond reasonable doubt' that this was a loan, just that it was more likely it was a loan than a gift. You'd no doubt wheel your parents in to say it was a loan, plus there are the repayments, so if what you said is correct the court will almost certainly decide it was a loan not a gift.

Your biggest problem could be that you may not have been completely honest with the bank when you applied for teh mortgage. Did you tell the bank it was a gift?

Get a litigation solicitor - not a conveyancer. They are used to resolving disputes such as this, and nearly all cases are settled without going to court.

IronWolf

If you have proof of repayment and your parents can testify to the loan, she has no leg to stand on, the judge will dismiss it in seconds. Show her the middle digit and tell her to swivel.

She cannot force you to sell the house to her, and don't accept anything below 50% of the fair value of the house. If you still have a mortgage then she needs to get a new mortgage for just her to pay off your portion of it and clear your name from liability.

Thrugelmir

IronWolf wrote: »

If you have proof of repayment and your parents can testify to the loan, she has no leg to stand on, the judge will dismiss it in seconds. Show her the middle digit and tell her to swivel.

The judge will require documentary evidence. They don't rule on opinion or hearsay.

GDB2222

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The judge will require documentary evidence. They don't rule on opinion or hearsay.

This is simply incorrect.

oasisfeverish

Forgive me if it has been mentioned before, but I haven't seen anything said about the contents of this property.

I'm assuming if she wants to buy you out and live in the property, I guess the main contents, bed, furniture, TVs, etc will remain?

If that's the case and you purchased jointly then in all probability you are entitled to a payment for leaving these as she is gaining the contents, so you will need to factor this into your side of the settlement, ie. contents being left valued second hand at £3k, your price £1500 added onto the 50/50 split of equity after parents loan is repaid.

It's time you need to be strong, splits are a horrible thing, but things rarely get sorted with both parties agreeing all accounts.

And forget the facebook stuff, you should be saying to yourself "now this is why I don't want to be with her anymore".

The £'s you spend on a solicitor will be wisely spent to sort this out as she sounds the kind of person that just takes advantage where she can.

Good luck.

g0009348

hi just a quick update for anybody else going through something similar. My ex has got back to me today and said my request is too high,and her solicitor has told her, that her offer is to high and she has a strong case and could end up only having to give me a fraction. I now am thinking with the amount i might lose is it worth me putting an offer on the table to buy her out? I have checked and I can get the mortgage and could offer her, her full deposit back. Would this sort of change of heart go down well or likely to backfire?

Egg_custard_2

g0009348 wrote: »

hi just a quick update for anybody else going through something similar. My ex has got back to me today and said my request is too high,and her solicitor has told her, that her offer is to high and she has a strong case and could end up only having to give me a fraction. I now am thinking with the amount i might lose is it worth me putting an offer on the table to buy her out? I have checked and I can get the mortgage and could offer her, her full deposit back. Would this sort of change of heart go down well or likely to backfire?

You jointly own the property so I don't see how her solicitor could possibly think a scenario where she only has to pay you a fraction was likely. Did she expand at all on why her solicitor believes this?

Personally, I would tell her that you are not prepared to negotiate on your original offer and so the only option left is for you to place the property on the market.

Trollfever

she is claiming, after advice from her solicitors, that is was a gift not a loan.

The mortgage application form should clarify this issue.