Divorce but house in negative equity

joanne04

My husband and I separated in January and are about to start divorce proceedings.

We bought our house last year but borrowed 125%, mortgage is 157K with a 30k unsecured loan.

My ex wanted to leave (has a new girlfriend - now pregnant!) and was happy for me to keep the house but cannot grasp the concept that he has left me with a huge debt as the house is worth 180k and if we were to sell now due to early redemption fees we would need to pay back 191k.

My solicitor thinks he should pay at least some money towards the loan but I am afraid if I try to push for this in the divorce he will refuse to sign over the house to me and I am worried he would force me to sell. He has also agreed to foot all the costs for the divorce and transferring the morgage to my name, so I am concerned that he will back down on this if I push for more money.

We have no kids and no other assets and I am not claiming any stake on his pension or asking for any other money from him.

The 30k loan was used to pay our deposit, fees, a couple of credit cards and a car loan - ex has the car.

Can anyone offer advice on what they think I should do?

Jo

(apologies if this thread is in the wrong place)

Bossyboots

Your ex should definitely be repaying to you the costs of the car as he has the use of it. The other items from the loan should be split according to use. You have the house and if it remains yours then you should swallow the deposit. That leaves the credit card debts and if he racked up some of that then he should pay you something back for that as well.

He may be paying the costs of the divorce (which you could do yourselves anyway and save a lot of money) and the mortgage transfer, but that should not actually cost him very much. You will also need a clean break consent order.

Have you checked whether the mortgage company will allow the transfer? Many don't, especially when a property is in negative equity so you may have a problem with this.

kmeast

Think about how much it will cost you in solicitors fees, estate agent fees, stamp duty etc if you had to sell & buy something else. Also I assume your ex payed at least 1/2 towards the mortgage before he moved out which he is not asking to be reimbursed.

If you really want to stay in that house I would be inclined to accept that deal & keep things amicable. If things turned ugly by causing a fuss it could cost you a lot more, including the house!

I hope that helps!

Oldernotwiser

Do you have enough income to service a mortgage of £187,000? If not, your lender is unlikely to allow you to put the loans into your sole name.

MJMum

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MrsTinks

I wouldn't even worry about that until you know if the mortgage company will allow you to take on a £187k mortgage in your sole name... chances are they will say no...
If they say no there is not going to be any "deal" as you will have to sell the house and then you will have to split any remaining debts between you as well as assets. So if he keeps the car then he has to take on a proportional size of the debt to the value of the car...