Protecting myself against secured loans on our property

Annsdil

I have an errant husband who appears to be going through a mid life crisis.

I am hoping in the next few weeks after the birth of our third child, to be able to get finances sorted so that his money is his responsibility and I can take care of the finances I need to. This will hopefuly mean the joint current account and joint offset mortgage are transferred into my sole name. I will probably need to pay the mortgage with the help of benefits once I can start claiming (i.e. when DH decides he is definitely leaving!). I am hoping the lender will agree to this as we have a very small mortgage with about 8 years remaining and a lot of equity - roughly 8% LTV!

However, his spending from what is currently our joint current account, is giving me cause for concern that once he thinks he is FREE to spend his money how he likes, he is going to get very silly and get himself into debt. I have always taken care that other than the mortgage we have been debt free, comfortable and in a position to buy what we want.

I need to ensure that he has no means of placing a secured charge on our property (i.e. any debt he may incur in the future is his and I don't bear any responsibility). Can this be done with just having him removed from the mortgage or do we need to go through the process of transferring the title on the property itself into my sole name?

Any advice would be appreciated - thanks!

ACG

Im not sure if its just the post or not, but you seem to be pretty strong minded, most people would crumble knowing they have a kid on the way and a husband being a pain in the..... Well done on keeping it all together.

The property needs to be placed in your name only, not just the mortgage as far as im aware.

holly_hobby

The title would have to be transferred out of his name, which would ordinarilly mean he is taken off the mge, BUT this is not a pre-requisite. As the lender can be quite happy to have an individual on the mge whom is NOT on the deeds, but NEVER the other way round !

Should this not occur for various reasons (apart of course from the status requirements of the lender relating to a TOE) i.e he being unhappy to remain party to the mge obligations, without any benefit of the property so to speak is quite another thing, possibly sorted via formal separation/divorce proceedings. In the meantime lets discuss secured loans.

If he applies for a secured loan on the property, the 1st chargee (the mortgagee aka your lender) has to give permission to LR for such a registration to occur.

Furthermore the secured loan must be signed by all property owners, although I give you he may not be adverse to being a bit creative with your signature ... which hasn't been unknown in other similir circs.

My advice, before you can get him off the deeds, would be to ensure that there is a note put on your mge file, re the marital situation you have, that ex is no longer resident, and that no 2nd charges should be agreed to without their directly contacting you for verification of your authority to the app, with whomever your ex has submitted it for finance provision.

If you are talking about, him taking unsecured debt, and subsequent charging orders - the application of one, is only following the registration of a CCJ, and the debtors failure to maintain the order.

The creditor may take the matter back to court, to have a charging order applied in respect of the unsatisifed CCJ - BUT any charge is not automatic by the Judge, there would need to be sufficient equity etc.

A charging order is not a possession order i.e can't force sale, but will be applied to his split of any equity on sale - so should not impact on your share.

Should things not work out and he vacate the property - just give the lender notification to put them in the picture and alert them to any 2nd charges that may be applied for, then start looking at when, how, and if you can get him off the deeds.

Hope this helps

Holly