Splitting share of house

carohf

My brother and I shared a house in which we both have a 50/50 share of the purchase.

I would like my brother to buy me out of my share as I have moved out of the property due to a new job out of the area and need the money.

We each paid £10,000 towards deposit. Our parents gifted £50,000 and the mortage was £175,000.

The mortgage is now £126,000 and the house is valued at around £300,000.

We both made extra mortgage payments - I paid £16,377 and my brother paid £4,000.

My brother's salary does not enable him to remortgage on his own and he does not want anyone else to take on the 50% share of the house.

Selling the property and splitting the money is not something he wants to do either as he wishes to continue living there.

Can anyone tell me what the options are for approaching this situation as I'm finding it very difficult and confusing?

Annisele

carohf wrote: »

My brother's salary does not enable him to remortgage on his own and he does not want anyone else to take on the 50% share of the house.

Selling the property and splitting the money is not something he wants to do either as he wishes to continue living there.

In that case, he can't afford to buy you out. Buying you out would generally involve him increasing the mortgage (or getting cash from elsewhere) to pay you off - but he can't even afford to take on the existing mortgage.

So...you could try and force a sale. You'd probably succeed, though the lawyers would get richer off you, and it'd hurt your relationship with your brother (and probably other family members - your really want to be the guy who evicted your brother?).

Or, you could wait until your brother is able to take on the whole mortgage on his own. That could be a long time, and you'd be liable for the entire mortgage payment in the meantime - which would restrict the amount you could borrow if you wanted a house of your own.

Can your brother afford the current mortgage payment on his own? If not, then I'd suggest it's unreasonable for him to expect to stay in the house indefinitely. Could he take in a lodger to cover your half of the outgoings?

Would your parents be prepared to buy your half of the house?

Best option is probably to negotiate with your brother with a view to getting him to agree to selling - possibly giving him a cash sweetener to do so.

carohf

Many thanks for your feedback.

Our verbal agreement prior to purchase had always been that if one of us moved out we would still be responsible for our share of mortgage payments but could have the option to have a lodger in the room to cover that share.

I did have a lodger in my room but my brother doesn't like sharing and said he could afford to take on the current mortgage payments himself as it's well within his means so I agreed to this.

I can't help but feel if a lodger was still there it would at least enable some income to be put aside to help pay back what I invested, but this may be me feeling frustrated with what seems to be a situation in which I have little to know options.

I am trying to address this without causing family rifts which is what makes it even more difficult!

Thanks again for your response!