I want to sell the house but the ex does not

SometimesIDespair

Hi All,

I am really hoping someone can offer some advice on this tricky situation. I hope I explain everything clearly.

My ex-partner and I (not married) currently own a property in England which I would like to sell but he does not.
We have jointly owned the property for over 10 years and were both living in it until August 2011.
In August 2011 we bought a property in the south of France and both moved out there. We kept the house in England and my son and his partner moved in and started renting it from us.

To fund the property purchase in France my ex-partner re-mortgaged the England property and released almost all of the equity to pay the deposit required for the French property.
This roughly doubled our mortgage on the England house leaving about £20k in equity.
The French property is in my ex partners name only!

We broke up earlier this year and I moved back to England. My ex verbally agreed to sell the England property to me for whatever the balance was on the mortgage.
Turns out I cannot fund this myself so my son is willing to buy the house instead and carry on living there. I have alternative living arrangements sorted.
My ex also agreed (verbally) to this.

We are now at the stage where my son has instructed his solicitor and paid all his fees and arranged a mortgage and I have instructed my solicitor to draft the contracts.
My ex partner came over from France to sign the papers as well but on arrival decided he did not want to sell the property after all and has not signed anything.

We are now left in a rather awkward limbo.
I want to sell the house to my son but the ex does not want to sell at all.

I am going to speak to a solicitor for legal advice but I was hoping some others out there in MoneySavingExpert world might be able to offer some advice as well.

What rights do I have on the England property?
What rights does the ex have on the England property?
Do I have any rights to the France property given that my name is not on the mortgage?
Is it fair that our England house was remortgaged by such a large amount to fund another property that I have received no benefit from?
Where does my son stand?

Any thoughts or advice is welcome on this.

Thanks

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Unfortunately is extremely difficult to force a sale if one party does not want to sell. Everyone whose name is on the deeds/ mortgage of the England property has the right to live in the house, assuming you have a residential mortgage and it is not tenanted. If your son is classed as a tenant and is not in the fixed term of an AST he has the right to two months notice to quit coinciding with a rent period as any tenant, assuming you have a buy to let mortgage or consent to lease. If you are also living in the house he has the same rights as any lodger.

We don't deal with French law here, you would need to find an appropriately qualified legal professional. I suspect you have few rights if the France house is not in your name and you are deemed to have gifted the money to your partner. If you were badly advised at the time about putting the house into a single name you might have a claim there, fair doesn't really come into it.

cramg

Unfortunately, it sounds like you ex clearly had this planned for sometime. Take equity from your joint UK property to pay for HIS property in France. Sadly, he has done nothing illegal or wrong. It is immoral but in the eyes of the law, it is a closed case.
Speak to a GOOD solicitor asap and see what their take on it is.
It may cost to have a good solicitor advise you on this but could prove invaluable further down the line.

zzzLazyDaisy

SometimesIDespair wrote: »

Is it fair that our England house was remortgaged by such a large amount to fund another property that I have received no benefit from?

I think you have been well and truly turned over.

You had a house with a considerable amount of equity of which you would have been entitled to half, and with a low manageable mortgage.

You now have a house with little equity and a large mortgage, for which you are jointly and severally liable, and a joint owner who lives in france, and is probably not worth pursuing. I doubt that your ex will have any incentive to pay the mortgage - after all what is in it for him, he has already got all the money out of that house. Which means that in real terms, if you default on the mortgage, the chances are that you are the one who the lender will go after.

As far as the house in France is concerned, you will need to consult a lawyer who understands french law, as that is the law that applies.

If the house was in England, an unmarried couple with the house in the sole name of one partner would mean that the other partner would have no claim on the property. The fact that your money went into buying the new house would/should raise a beneficial interest if the house was in england, although this could result in lengthy and expensive legal proceedings - but had you bought in england in these circumstances, the solicitor would/should have advised you about your options and the potential consequences.

As it is , the house is in france. French law applies. I have no idea what that means for you, but I would imagine there is a fairly high risk that you may have lost your money.

As far as the english house is concerned and what it means for your son - a seller can withdraw at anytime up to exchange of contracts. That is what has happened. Your son cannot force your ex (or you) to sell.

You may be able to get a court order forcing your ex to sell, but again the legal proceedings will be lengthy and expensive. Or your son could just go and buy somewhere else.

This is a right mess and you have my sympathies.