Split from ex - Tenants in common advice please!

GoldyR

Hi I would like some advice if possible please.

I split with my ex & moved out of our joint mortgaged home. He carried on paying the mortgage for a few months & i continued to contribute (a verbal agreement i made when i left). Unbeknownst to me, he then changed the mortgage to interest only & rented it out - pocketing the money i contributed each month. I found out & he now pays me the profit each month. I'm sure he changed the mortgage through a mate as he used to work there, as i was not party to the change.

The property is in negative equity so difficult to sell it at the moment, however i am going to demand he changes it back to repayment & also up's the rent (he rents it to a mate & should be charging more). I am also scared that his slippery attitude & all the lies he's told may affect me if he doesn't keep up payments - if i changed it to tenants in common, would this put me in a better position legally? i don't want his poor credit history affecting me & my future - ideally i'd cut my right off to be rid of any connection to him but at the moment it would mean approx a £10k loss - i'd be happy to take on a £5k unsecured debt but i would have to go through the courts to force him to do it & this would be costly.

I would really appreciate peoples advice on this, i seem to be stuck with this connection to this complete idiot!

Many Thanks in advance.

RAS

Do you have a joint mortgage?

If so, how did he manage to change anythign to do with iot without your written consent?

Have you asked your mortgage provider?

GoldyR

Yes it is a joint mortgage & i have no idea. He said he just rang them up & they changed it for him over the phone. He said he told them it was just for a few months as he was struggling with the payments, this was well over a year ago. I know he has done something sneaky, but equally i've known about it for a few months now so don't feel in a position to do something. I haven't asked the mortgage provider as they will surely wonder why i'm asking?? & it doesn't help my position now unfortunately

RAS

Look - assuming you are in England or Wales....

You are jointly liable for this debt which is not reducing because he has changed the terms of the loan.

Do you have a buy to let mortgage or permission from the mortgage provider to rent out? Have you seen it?

If not expect the mortgage provider to go ape.

Have you both declared the income from the rental to HMRC?

Do you have landlord's insurance, because anything else you do have is invalid?

Do you have a gas safety certificate?

Is there a deposit? if so, is it protected? In which scheme?

Do you understand how hard it is to evict a tenant?

Do you understand that if his mate wrecks the place, your losses will be a lot more than £5,000?

GoldyR

Yes there is permission to let, yes there is landlords insurance & a gas safety cert - the income covers the mortgage & secured loan payments but we will both have to contribute to it when it switches back to repayment. No idea about a deposit, i doubt it. As i said, this was all done without my knowledge - i found out through a mutual acquiantance that he had moved out & let it out! I feel completely useless, there isn't much i can do other than make sure the rental side of things is concrete - & it's really the question of whether switching to tenants in common will protect me more? I hope that in 12 months time we will back breaking even & i will be in a position to sell the house.

RAS

You need to be asking some very serious questions then, about how he acheived all this. Did he forge your consent?

At the very least you need a lawyer and a restriction on the deeds preventing any further action without your consent.

Panda78

He has surely broken the law if you had a joint mortgage and not given consent to any changes? I would see a solicitor for advice or go to CAB first and then pay for a solicitor to send a letter to him, if it's confirmed that the changes made were illegal and therefore invalid.

GoldyR

Thanks for your advice - i am sure they were illegal, but that doesn't help me now. The mortgage has been interest only for a while, all that would happen is that they would want the difference between that and the repayment between then & now. Going forward what are my options in terms of tenants in common/getting my name away from his? Experian have disassociated us.

RAS

Your mortgage provider will want to keep you on the mortgage so they can chase you both for the debt.

Basically you need to sell and you need save enough to cover the shortfall. that is the only way to sever the link between you.

So you need to get the tenant out and get the sale board up.

GoldyR

Ok thank you, that isn't an option - i cannot afford to save up £10k as well as cover the mortgage & pay to live elsewhere. Also, my ex will not entertain selling without court action, which costs more - to affect a sale & get out of it i would need clear funds of approx £15k, which i don't have. I therefore need to remain in the agreement for the time being - but want some advice on joint mortgage v's tenants in common.

Richard_Webster

Switching to tenants in common means that if you die he has to appoint someone else to sell with him and has an obligation to pay your personal representative your proportion of the proceeds (if there are any and if they can show much they should be!)

So not much help at all in your case now!

Certainly I would be asking the lender why they agreed to change the basis of the loan without your agreement - don't just phone them though - get it all in writing.

A trust deed setting out your proportions might have helped a bit but with negative equity even that is of limited benefit because there is no money available to pay the costs of the argument over who gets/pays what.

Unfortunately the only real cure to this problem is not to go there - i.e. buy together - in the first place.