problem with selling jointly owned property

tomask · 25 March 2012 at 6:36PM

So here is my situation:
me and my ex-partner have bought a property in june 2009, we both are owners on the paperworks. We both were working and had one budget but direct debit was set-up on her bank account (just for the reasons of convenience at that time - cause most of the bills and other living costs were paid from my account).
After 16-17 months we broke up. At that point we were still good friends - we agreed that i will pay her £5000 (half of the payments we have made to the lender up to that date) and she will leave the property for me, so i borrowed £5000 from my parrents and gave it to her.
Because im young and dont earn enough money i was unable to rewrite the mortgage and keep only myself as the owner. So she promised me that she will start her own life and will forget about all this and there wont be any problems. (i now it looks very silly that i didn't asked her to sign any paperwork about this agreement, but at that time i thought its alright). The payment has been sent through internet so i believe i would be able to get the proof that this amount of money has been sent to her.
My parrents and my pregnant sister with her boyfriend are staying now at the property and helping me with the mortgage because i decided to go back to uni and dont have enough income to keep up with mortgage repayments.
Now few days ago my ex-girlfriend contacted me and said:
"..i have a lot of problems now and i want to come back to live in our property in one of the bedrooms, and you can rent out the second bedroom or do whatever you want with it. Direct debit was set up on my account for the first one and a half year, so the £5000 you gave me are just your half of money we had to pay in that time. Now we can say that your parents were just neutral tenants who were helping us to repay our mortgage in the last 18 months. So i dont owe you anything and i have the right to come back and live in my property.."
i told her that i prefer to sell the property, in this case. She just got angry and didnt told me anything, now i cant get hold of her for the last few days.
My position is - i paid her £5000 - half of the amount that has been paid to lender in those 17 months. I want to get that £5000 back (because even though the direct debit was set-up on her account , i was paying the other living expenses like bills , travelcards, food, holidays etc..) And then we can sell the property.
Sorry if its hard to understand - and i now it looks very silly now, my parrents are very angry on me how i could trust her and didnt asked to sign any paperwork prooving this agreement.
Please can someone advice in what situation i am now? Is it possible for me to get that £5000 back and sell the property even if she dont want to do that? Any suggestions what to do?
I would realy appreciate any advice.
Thank You for Your time.
Tomas

hunnie · 25 March 2012 at 6:45PM

It sounds like you are both still owners.
You both have the same rights to the property.
Selling and getting 50% of any profit might be the way to go.
'Proving' you have paid more might be costly with solicitors and courts.

Regards
Hunnie