Partners walks out leaving me with £1000 mortgage!!repossession or bankrupcy??

charly007

One day i walk in to find my partner after 6 years has left me and taken my daughter with her! This was 2 years ago and every day since i have been paying £1000 of our joint mortgage along with bills on top! she contributes nothing and asked for CSA charges of £300 on top for our daughter just recently! Which i do not mind paying however this has now meant i have nothing left to survive on a month. Nothing for petrol or food. I am on a fixed mortgage till july 2012 and cannot lower to interest only without permission from my ex. WHO WILL NOT GIVE IT!!! my apr is 6.6% hence why mortgage is so high on a £150k property.

The property has been up for sale for 8 months and the ex again will not agree to lower the price and it making it difficult for me to achieve a sale. My property is in negative equity and every month i am slipping into more and more debt.

I only stay at the property now once a week when i have my daughter as the rest of the time i reside at my girlfreinds house. I want rid of the house and all of its ties before my debts get out of control, as she is joint owner i am thinking of going bankrupt or handing in the keys. What is my best option? How will it effect me and my ex?

Another option has come to light too, we had someone who wants to the rent the house, the rent still does not cover the mortgage. I still would have to contribute to any maitenance of the property and £300 on top per month of my own money. However i am starting to begrudge paying all this money just so we can both stay in good credit! If i was to go bankrupt with tenants present how will this effect me and her? for better or worse?

I really hope you can all help because i do not know which option to take reposession or bankrupcy!

Many Thanks

Charly!

vickyj

If it is a joint mortgage then she is every bit as liable for it as you are. You need to contace the mortgage company and fill them in on the situation. They will at least need a correcpondance address for her to keep her up to date.
Does she not think that the mortgage company will chase her?
If worst comes to it then it may be better for you to register bankrupt this way they will absolutely chase her for the mortgage not you. Beware thought this will have a massive impact on your rating for the next 5 years.
HTH
Vicky

GDB2222

If you are repossessed, you will still be liable for any shortfall on the mortgage. Go bankrupt and you become debt-free. It's obvious which way to go, I'm afraid.

After a year, you'll be discharged from bankruptcy, although your credit record will be shot to ribbons for 6 years. Your ex- will also probably become bankrupt.

If house prices were just about to turn the corner and shoot up, I'd say rent the house out, but to be frank I don't see house prices rising much, if at all, and I think your position will be no better in 2 or 3 years time.

Before doing anything, try to set up a mediation session with your ex-, as you have your daughter to think of. Bankruptcy for both parents may in fact be the best way to sort out your financial issues, but you ought to discuss it first.

charly007

Thank you for both responses. If i was to go bankrupt will this effect her new husband and his assets that are now in joint names??

Will the trustee go after the new husband and the ex? They have recently bought a new car and a new house. Will it effect the new house they have moved in to?

I want to protect my daughter and she always has a home with me but i still want her to have a home with the mother, even though she is being very unresonable at the moment every daughter reserves the right to be happy with both parents and have a room to call her own.

GDB2222

Gah! Your ex and her new husband have put all their assets into joint names!!!!?????? This despite her having negative equity on the old house? Did they think about what they were doing at all?

The answer is that the new husband is not liable for her debts, but the trustee in bankruptcy needs to collect in all of your ex-wife's assets - if she goes bankrupt. If that includes half the house, half the car, etc, so be it. Of course, if there are loans attached to those assets, that's taken into account. Nevertheless, they could lose half the equity in their new house, etc. That might be enough to pay off the losses on the house you have been saddled with, though, so maybe she is not going to be bankrupt after all.

New husband will not be pleased, especially as with a bit of advance thought and planning they would not have put the new assets in her name at all. This problem has been swept under the carpet for far too long.

It sounds like you need to get round a table to sort this out. You need to come armed with figures, and your starting point is that you are about to file for bankruptcy and you want to warn them in advance. You are happy to consider any proposals they want to make, but they have to be fair to you. You maybe ought to have a paid financial mediator present.

paddy's_mum

Yet another reason why doing the adult, reasonable, sensible thing is always one's best first option!

Beckyy

I would sit down and talk to your ex. It sounds like she's in a pretty comfortable financial position now(?), and I would explain to her that because you can no longer afford the mortgage that you are expecting to have to declare yourself bankrupt. Explain that if you do this the mortgage company mayl then chase her for the remaining debt and may be entitled to half the equity in their new house/car etc.

Once she knows that see if she would be willing to share the costs of the house until it is sold. To be honest I would be fuming if I were you.

Could I also ask what the arrangement of the house sale was? Say you were to sell for a profit, would it be split? Would any remaining debt after the sale be split equally? etc.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

vickyj

As the above poster has suggested i would defo talk to her about the bankruptcy option nd explain the impact that this will have on her. I would give her a chance to contribute to the mortgage to avoid BR. This maybe enough of a carrot to encourage a more adult attitude towards finances from your ex

geoffky

look after yourself first mate..do whats best for you otherwise you will not take the decisions that need taking..one little word of advice..i got repoed in the 80s crash and never went bankrupt..10 years later when i was back on my feet they caught up with me demanding a eye watering sum due to the time lapse-. good luck

charly007

The plan is to send her a letter suggesting that she contributes half the rent due to my financial sitation or once tenants move in, the difference I will still have to pay which is only £150 a month, this will mean that we are both likely to not have to go bankrupt.

She will probably not agree with this but I shall point out that if she does not the cost in the long run will be alot worse.

At least if I do have to file bankrupcy I gave her the option to avoid it, rather than just coming out with '' by the way Im going bankrupt'' as that could be seen as being too harsh when it comes to the lender.

The lender has not been helpful to my situation at all and i guess as long I keep paying the mortgage then they wont help!
I have been taking the strain and stress too long so feel its time I shared the stress out.

Is it right that i can only go bankrupt if I then start to owe huge money? I will need to stop paying the mortgage all together in order to go bankrupt i think. Is this the right thing to do?

pinkshoes

I would write to her saying something along the lines of:

Dear <ex wife>

I am no longer able to pay our joint mortgage on our joint home, and as you will not lower the price so that it can be sold, I have no other option but to allow the house to be re-possessed.

Obviously, you will be liable for your half of the debt. As you are now financially linked to your new husband, then please be aware that debt collectors and bailiffs will be legally permitted to go after any asset belonging to you and your husband, including your new house.

The only way to avoid this situation is for you to pay your half of the mortgage for the past two years, so if you would kindly send me a cheque for £12,000 to cover your missed payments over the last year, then it will prevent you losing your current home.

Also, as I no longer have any money, I will be unable to pay the current rate of child maintenance that you are demanding, so can now only afford 15% of my take home pay, which is <£X>. This is in line with the requirements of the CSA.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

<you>

Send it recorded delivery.

You can't just rent the house out. You'll need either consent to let from your lender, or a BTL mortgage, which requires a 25% deposit. You'll also need to protect the tenants deposit, have gas safe certificates etc...