Ex won't sell the house although she has moved on...

Superdupa

My ex wife won't sell the house she and her 4 kids (only 2 are mine) lived in before she moved in with her new partner.
I am desperate to sell the house as I want to buy a house with my new girlfriend. I am paying CSA and my name is still on the deeds.I am struggling financially as it is and won't get a new mortgage if she doesn't sell. She now wants to rent it out to make more money. She is paying the mortgage and she will get 100% of rental income once it is rented out. Is there anything I can do to make her sell the house?

Many Thanks

sabretoothtigger

If she pays the mortgage I'd guess that means more then 50% of the sale price goes to her as she is the majority owner of that asset.
Sounds like you'd need to ask in the CSA part of the forum for measures to take if any

Superdupa

thanks. Maybe I should have explained that I am not after any sale proceeds of the house. I just want to be able to have a new mortgage with my girlfriend. Being tied into the old one it will be almost impossible for me to move on...:(

kingstreet

Was the property part of a legal separation or other agreement?

If it wasn't and you are part owner, you could seek the legal right to sell the property.

This may prompt your former partner to consider having you removed from the deeds and the mortgage.

Otherwise, there are lenders who will accept a let property in the background and not "tax" you the cost of the mortgage, provided there is a reasonable amount of equity and the rental income exceeds the monthly mortgage interest by 25%.

Superdupa

THanks for that. That's quite interesting to know. The house wasn't part of any agreement, because at time of divorce she was still living there with my kids...Do you have any idea how much it would cost to to obtain legal right to sell the property and what does this exactly mean? :think:

xylophone

How is the property owned?
(Joint tenants/tenants in common?)

Superdupa

It's Joint Tenants.

kingstreet

I suggest discussing this in a free half hour with a solicitor.

I feel the order of sale would be more difficult to obtain if it involved your former family home in which your children were residing.

As this is now effectively an investment property, it's appropriate that your former partner sells it, or at least has you removed from the mortgage and the deeds via a transfer of equity.

You could offer to pay the fees attached to a TofE, between £400 and £600.

xylophone

It's Joint Tenants.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question513739.html the answer given by sissimarissa might be worth checking out?

Superdupa

If I sign over the deeds but not the mortgage (because that is not possible as she is a stay at home mum) would that worsen my position? (she did request this in the past..)

kingstreet

It certainly wouldn't help.

You'd end up in the worst of both worlds. You'd still have the mortgage commitment, but not the security of ownership. If she fancied keeping the rent, you'd be on the hook for the mortgage payment - all of it!

Stop thinking of this like a residential situation. It's an investment property. She can remortgage it onto a sole BTL mortgage product and have you transferred off the deeds by transfer of equity. There are lenders who don't need BTL applicants to have a high personal income, although she may want it joint with her new partner anyway.

Presumably, you don't actually care about any equity in the property. Messing about making it tenants in common is only necessary if you are trying to claim a portion of the equity. A judge would, once you've done that make a ruling to determine what proportion the equity should be split, based on how long you've been separated, how much you've paid etc.

What do you actually want here? Is the issue what you stated in the first post, or is there more to this?

Is there anything I can do to make her sell the house?

If this is it, you threaten to get an order of sale from the court unless she remortgages to release you from the current mortgage.