Difficult Situation

terryjread

Hello -

My financee currently still owns a property with her ex-boyfriend.

The situation was that she put in over £10k as a deposit by herself when they initial got the house and have an on-going interest only mortgage. Both their names are on the deeds.

When they broke up in March 2010 they lived together still for a couple of months before she moved out and stayed witha friend. She allowed him to stay in the house by himself and helped him pay the mortgage, but a few months down the line put put it on the market.

They actually found a seller which would have paid the full price a few months after it went on the market (October 2010). She would have got her £10k out and he would have had about £5k for himself plus any more from the furniture and appliances. Due to the fact that she felt guilty and her ex didnt have somewhere to take their dog, she agreed they wouldn't accept the offer but would put it back on the market after xmas, but also wouldnt pay towards the mortgage anymore.

It is now March 2012. During that period my partner has been texing, phoning and emailing him asking him to either buy her out, get his new girlfriend to buy her out or sell the property. Through these correspondences she would most likely get a reply 50% of the time, and generally would just involve him saying he was trying to get the money together.

She also has found out her ex has a girlfriend who lives there and a lodger. To be honest though, the lodger just means the mortgage is getting paid so isn't that bothered he is making money from it.

Sadly at the end of 2011 he was made redudent and is currently looking for work, but my partner and I are looking to get married next year and of course want a home of our own.

I am posting this to get some advice on how best to deal with this situation. She doesnt mind if her ex pays her off monthly for the £10k in the property, if he gets buys her out or if they sell it.

HELP!

Dave_Ham

Not a good situation - I do feel for you.

Right, first issue is that her ex just simply cannot buy her out at the moment. Were they to approach the bank and request your fiance's name to be removed they would decline the request as the ex is not working and therefore cannot obtain the mortgage.

Without knowing his new partners details, this could potentially be an option depending upon income and credit file.

He needs to be pushed as otherwise is not going to do anything, certainly not in the current climate.

If he does not pay the mortgage, your Mrs will receive a bad credit file, worst still if he default her name is on that too..

You can legally force sale, although this will be not be quick and will be expensive..

Sorry, as I said hard work for you...

ACG

She could go down the legal route of forcing a sale. Short of that you cant actually make him do anything if he doesnt want to.

terryjread

Thanks for your advice - with regards to forcing the sale; how much are we talking about in legal costs (roughly)?

Dave_Ham

It really is a piece of string answer. It depends on how hard he tried to fight it really and how expensive your solicitor was - maybe get some costs..

Add in these considerations though:

• If he put no more in initially, how likely is he to stop paying the mortgage?
• How likely is he to keep the house up to standards?
• In forcing a sale, what sale price are you reasonably going to achieve

I will be inclined to have a conversation with the guy and try to avoid courts at all costs.

Aside from emotionally, the £10k is gone. I would just tell him if he moves out within x period, he gets a 50-50 cut of any profits with no £10k repayment first...?

You will sell for more as he will be motivated, you will not adversely affect your soon to be wifes credit score, you get him out of your lives onces and for all and you can afford to buy the home that you want as newlyweds?

Sense all round, but hey we are all people and cannot change what we feel.

Failing that - get the guy on Jeremy Kyle - that will sort him out!

star4876

Changing from a joint mortgage to a single application is difficult enough as it is at the moment because of how stringent the banks are on proof of income, let alone trying to achieve it when the re-applying party is out of work - there's no hope I'm afraid.

The only thing to do would be to wait it out until her ex is working again, then he could reapply to take over the mortgage with his current girlfriend, increasing the chances of them being approved. Then the equity in the house can be released to your partner and you can both walk away.

Short of that they can sell the house (is his accommodation really your/her issue??) and get your money back that way. Bit of a mistake to let go of the buyer she had before, to be honest! Although I know that doesn't help.

If she wanted to force the sale of the house she can do so by getting an order for sale through Court. Not much point in doing this, if her ex is willing to sell the house.

I would be careful leaving this unresolved and informally agreeing to her ex giving her money to 'buy her out'. Unless her name is coming off that mortgage she's 50% responsible for making ongoing payments, whether she's got her deposit back or not. If he fails to make the payments on both of their behalfs then her credit rating could be ruined for a long time, not to mention having the bank after her for the payments.....