What a mess

samjg_3

My ex partner and myself split up 9 years ago. At the time the endowment was cashed in, and the building society wouldn't let me have a mortgage on my own as I worked part time, due to our children being young, and I couldnt afford to buy my ex out. Therefore I have only being paying the interest on the mortgage. My ex partner died 3 weeks ago, he is the first name on the mortgage I dont know what to do. I have checked and there isn't life insurance on the mortgage so I owe the full amount. He didnt have a will so our daughters are his beneficaries ..............so worried we are now going to lose our home when I tell the building society.

happycamel_2

You don't owe the full amount. He did and as far as I know the house would now be sold to satisfy the mortgage and any equity distributed to your daughters. From what you are saying you have been paying the interest cost on a debt belonging to him in return for living in the associated asset (house).

You need to get proper legal advice on this immediately, speak to a solicitor.

kingstreet

Can you confirm that the mortgage was in both names and the property was jointly owned on a joint tenancy?

Simon_gloster

Reading between the lines and awairing response to ks's question, if it is jointly owned the lender will remove any name from the mortgage paperwork (to avoid further correspondence in a difficult time) upon receipt of the original death certificate to the relevant department. It will then be up to the solicitor to finalise the legal ownership of that property.

On the death of a borrower no affordability checks are carried out.

You do however has an issue in that interest only is being paid currently, therefore should the term expire you will need to repay the loan or be forced to sell.

Should you not be on the mortgage then tje solicitors will inform the lender and set tje account up as for eg 'The pers representatives of Mr xxxx', who would he your daughters (if its left to them).

The underlying problem of the debt being repaid is a ticking timebomb and you need legal advice immediately.

kingstreet

Simon_gloster wrote: »

Reading between the lines and awairing response to ks's question, if it is jointly owned the lender will remove any name from the mortgage paperwork (to avoid further correspondence in a difficult time) upon receipt of the original death certificate to the relevant department. It will then be up to the solicitor to finalise the legal ownership of that property.

On the death of a borrower no affordability checks are carried out.

You do however has an issue in that interest only is being paid currently, therefore should the term expire you will need to repay the loan or be forced to sell.

Should you not be on the mortgage then tje solicitors will inform the lender and set tje account up as for eg 'The pers representatives of Mr xxxx', who would he your daughters (if its left to them).

The underlying problem of the debt being repaid is a ticking timebomb and you need legal advice immediately.

I wrote a long post about intestacy, administration etc, then re-read the opening post again. It sounds (hopefully) like a joint mortgage. I just hope the property was held as a joint tenancy if it was.

samjg_3

thank you all so much, the mortgage is in both our names and I am now finacially in a position to re-mortgage, if need be, we where about to go into the building society to sort all this out, he worked off shore so timings were difficult. I have made an appointment to get some legal advice today as you all suggested, fore warned is fore armed I guess before going to the building society. Again thank you all.

kingstreet

It is VERY important that you establish if the property was jointly owned under a joint tenancy or under tenants in common.

You may be able to discover this by talking to the solicitor who handled the property purchase, or the Land Registry.

It has MASSIVE implications for you and your future.

Land_Registry

You can consider the joint tenancy aspect by taking a look at our Public Guide 18 re joint property ownership.

If you need to check the actual registered title then you can also do this online

The guide and land register will help provide information and understanding but, as all other posters have advised, you should also be seeking legal advice to cover all aspects.

samjg_3

wow your help is fantastic (thanks for the links etc) I have established that we are both registered owners for the address so I hope that makes things a bit better for me. Thank you

kingstreet

It is the nature of the ownership which is important.

If the property is held as a joint tenancy, the deceased share automatically passes to you.

If it was held as a tenancy in common, it passes into the estate of the deceased and is distributed according to a will, or to the rules of intestacy.

It is vital you establish which route was used for the ownership when the property was purchased, or what it became if it was changed at any point.

Wherever you go for professional advice, this is one of the first questions you will need to answer.

samjg_3

looking through solicitor letters from the time of buying i have found one requiring both our signitures on the Transfer, which was then returned to them, is this a indication of joint tenancy? oh my goodness this is so difficult... thanks again