Transfer of deeds

mydogberyl

Hope I'm in the right place as I'm new to this.
My house was signed over to me by my ex husband due to a court order. I then went on to another relationship which didn't work out.
Stupidly I put him on the mortgage and against my solicitors advice, the deeds. 50/50. This was to enable him to buy a boat with an 2nd mortgage.
When the relationship ended five years ago he said he would only come off the deeds if I paid him £10000.( He has never paid a penny towards the mortgage) I then contacted him in March this year and he said he still wants the money.
I'm now in a position to pay him the £10000 and called him this morning with the offer. He now says he wants more although he doesn't know how much.
There is about £275000 equity and I have still have three children in full time education from my marriage.
I have tried to go through a solicitor and ran up a £400 bill with letters that he just didn't answer.
Does anyone have any advice as to how I can get myself out of this mess?

BitterAndTwisted

No-one can advise you on how to get another person to act in the way that it would suit you and your circumstances. You can either stand firm on the original amount and wait until Doomsday for him to agree or decide to negotiate.

Legally, he's entitled to half of that £275,000 of equity and you should fully expect him to fight tooth-and-nail for as much of it as he can get his hands on, regardless of whether you have kids to support or not.

You didn't "put him on the mortgage" you gifted him half-ownership of the property and against your solicitor's advice, too. A person can't "come off the deeds" while there is a mortgage on the property: it will have to be remortgaged and the possibility of that happening depends on the earning-power of the remaining party. Keep calm and negotiate as if your life depended on it.

To be honest, when there is so much much equity I would accept that a couple of grand in solicitor's fees to draw up the agreement, but not to carry out any negotiations, would be money well-spent.

DylanO

You may want to just pay whatever amount he's asking for to get him off the deeds. Depending on how the house is held, should you die, he will get it all.

FBaby

What was the equity when you added him on the deeds? Was toot name put on the boat? If most of the equity was accumulated before his name was added and you can show he contributed nothing to the mortgage you might have a case but it could be a costly one through the courts. I still think it would be worth paying at least one solicitor session.

mydogberyl

I know he will ignore any letters from solicitors so I really don't know how to proceed. Selling the house isn't a option at the moment.
When I pointed it out that if I die he'll get everything he replied with 'I'd never do that to the kids' If that is so why won't he settle now? Which has made me even more worried.
I simply don't have any more money to give him!
If I go through a solicitor and he ignores all correspondence would this go in my favour at court? There was only about £50000 equity when he came on the mortgage and I can prove that I have always made the repayments, including upkeep.

mydogberyl

The boat at time of purchase was around £45000 and I own half. However the boats value has declined I expect it is now worth £30000. When I have mentioned this in the past he has said ok, I'll have half the house :-(

DylanO

mydogberyl wrote: »

I know he will ignore any letters from solicitors so I really don't know how to proceed. Selling the house isn't a option at the moment.
When I pointed it out that if I die he'll get everything he replied with 'I'd never do that to the kids' If that is so why won't he settle now? Which has made me even more worried.
I simply don't have any more money to give him!
If I go through a solicitor and he ignores all correspondence would this go in my favour at court? There was only about £50000 equity when he came on the mortgage and I can prove that I have always made the repayments, including upkeep.

So during the time that you gave him half the house, the value of the equity has gone from £50,000 to £275,000?

It doesn't matter that you've made the repayments - you gave him half the house. Freely, and after specialist advice.

I suggest you remortgage and get him out of your life. Flog the boat too.

mydogberyl

My income isn't enough to remortgage

DylanO

mydogberyl wrote: »

My income isn't enough to remortgage

Increase it? If you don't, then you'll have to sell the house. What advice are you hoping for? No one can control what your ex does.

BitterAndTwisted

mydogberyl wrote: »

My income isn't enough to remortgage

If you are certain that that is the case then you and your children are well and truly scuppered.

In the first instance I would wait for him to decide exactly what his price is. I would not prompt him or chase him about it. I would offer no more than the original ten grand you mentioned. He must know that you don't have access to endless funds and you've being paying the mortgage alone since whenever.

In order to get his hands on that shared equity he is going to have to take you to court if you can't reach a compromise and unless he has substantial funds, he can't. You might be able to delay the inevitable until your children are living independently. Of one thing you can be certain: that he's keeping a very close eye on local selling-prices and may have an extremely good idea of just how much he owns.

mrsb83_2

Given the potential risks here you need to take further legal advice. Sending letters which he can ignore isn't the only thing you could be doing.

Agree with others that a figure needs to be agreed upon.