House, equity and complex relationship breakup

The_Swerve

I am looking for a bit of advice regarding a friend of mine who is getting pretty stressed out. (Honestly it is a friend, it isn’t me)

I will try to summarise a pretty complicated situation…

Friend bought a house with his partner at the time in the late 90’s (mortgage about 50k). A few years later it came out that the partner had built up quite a bit of debt on credit cards, on which she had missed payments. They then took out a secured loan (with original mortgage lender) for about 25k to pay off her debts.

They moved to a nearby city about 5 years ago and rented the house out. 3 years ago my friend discovered his partner was having an affair and they split up. She lived elsewhere for a bit but started making all the mortgage payments, which she proceeded to default on. (Ex) Partner moved back to the house and agreed to make mortgage payments in full and the fella she had the affair with moved into the house (still co-owned by my friend and ex). Ex agreed that she would pay my friend approx 30k to take my friend off mortgage.

My friend hooked up with new lady and moved down south and got married. They are now expecting a baby. Ex and ex’s new partner still live in house, but as she is self employed and probably has bad credit rating she cannot re-mortgage to release the equity. (Secured debt about 75k to 80k, house worth approx 125k but probably falling as I type!!!).

My friend has suggested to the ex that the house goes on the market. It seems as though the ex is stalling now, and has said she wants to make improvements to the house (carpets, decorating, some of the guttering etc). The ex also stated that any payment to my friend should have 2 years worth of mortgage payments taken into account (even though my friend has not had the benefit of living there, and the ex’s now partner has been living there and earning a wage).

This situation is getting pretty stressful for my friend. He just wants his name off the mortgage and his fair share of the money. His now pregnant wife is also resenting all this, because she thinks my friend has been too easy on the ex and just wants the ex and that house out of their lives.

Does anyone know of what possible course of action my friend can possibly take with this? I cannot see how he can force her to do anything, as she and her partner are now quite settled in the house that my friend is named on. Pretty frustrating I think.


Thanks

The_Swerve

if this isnt the best place to put this thread, anyone know where is best?

BitterAndTwisted

The partner can go to court to force a sale. How any equity is carved up should be mutually agreed through solicitors before a sale takes place or they won't see a penny.

zzzLazyDaisy

If the house is in joint names as joint tenants (rather than tenants in common), then what happens when the house is sold is that the mortgage and all secured debts are paid off, the solicitors and EA fees are paid and whatever is left (the net equity) is divided equally between the joint owners.

The issue of how the secured debts arose or what has been happening in the meantime is irrelevant to this.

If, as a separate matter, they have agreed that she will pay him £x towards the debts or whatever, then she will need to pay that out of her share of the net equity. Provided she is prepared to agree to instruct her solicitor to do this, then fine. If she is not willing to do this, he is going to be up a gum tree unless he can show that she owes him money for something specific.

If she won't sell the house, then yes he can get a court order. That will cost money and he will almost certainly have to pay those fees up front.

The_Swerve

Just goes to show...trying to be nice doesnt pay!!!

olibrofiz

Despite the ex paying the mortgage, if they're both on it, isn't there something that says the ex's boyfriend should have been paying 'rent' for your friends 'half' - so that should be taken into consideration?

CH27

What has his solicitor said?

The_Swerve

olibrofiz wrote: »

Despite the ex paying the mortgage, if they're both on it, isn't there something that says the ex's boyfriend should have been paying 'rent' for your friends 'half' - so that should be taken into consideration?

That is exactly what I said to my friend!!! Seems the ex's boyfriend is sitting pretty in all this mess.

The_Swerve

CH27 wrote: »

What has his solicitor said?

To be honest, I dont know