seaparation and property

Red_Dinki

About 12 years ago I left my husband of over 30 years. We never divorced as his mental health was poor and I did not feel it was fair to stress him further. I had paid to ourjoint mortgage and all our finances during our time together. At the time I did not want him to sell the property and I took nothing at all from it although half of everything was mine to take. I resolved to let him live in the house until he died, then reclaim it and sell it as my 'pension'. (He is in very poor health) I know there is a chance I may wait years or in fact died first but that is a chance I am willing to take.
I recently found out that he had re-mortaged the property taking me off the mortgage. I no longer contributed to it, he is in receipt of benefits for incapacity. I also suspect that he has had me removed from the deeds. I have never signed anything to allow this. I am still his legal partner.
What is my position? Am I still entitled to the house on his death? We have a son who is in his 30's who lives with his dad. He pays only his food money. any advice would be appreciated.

Skintski

When my boyfriend and I went our separate ways, I bought him out and he had to sign a transfer of equity form and have it witnessed so you may find you are still on the deeds.

FBaby

You can't be removed from the deeds without you signing a consent form. I removed my partner from our mortgage and deeds, and I had to go through sollicitors and do the above. Something doesn't sound right at all....

Are you sure someone hasn't been added to the deeds as I also find it strange that the lender would have agreed on the transfer with his income being only from benefits.

zzzLazyDaisy

Have you checked the deeds at the land registry?

http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/

(Note: be careful when googling for the land registry) as a number of fee charging services come up before the official government website)

This will show you whether your name has in fact been removed from the deeds, so it is the place to start.

Unless he has fraudulently forged your signature, he cannot have your name removed from the deeds without your knowledge, as your signature is required. Even adding someone to the deeds, or changing the mortgage, would require your signature. So do check with the land registry first, if you have not already done so.

However, even if the deeds are still in joint names, this does not automatically mean that you are entitled to the house on his death, as this requires the house to be held as 'joint tenants'. If it is held as 'tenants in common' he can gift his 'share' to anyone he wishes in his will. However if the house was originally bought as joint tenants, he would have to 'sever the tenancy' in order to have this changed to tenants in common and you should be notified of this. One thing, though - you should notify the Land Registry of your change of address, if you have not already done so, otherwise any official notifications would just go to the house, instead of to you at your current address.

sharon4adam

he cant remove you unless u sign it over get advice

Land_Registry

zzzLazyDaisy is quite correct

You may have already checked the land register as you mention that you are aware that he has remortgaged - if that was simply through communication from a third party though it may be worth confirming what is actually registered via the link provided.

If the title appears to have been changed and you believe this has been done fraudulently or without your knowledge then contact our Customer Support with details of the property and title number as well as detailing your concerns.

If the title is still in joint names but your contact address (we refer to it as an address for service) is no longer correct then use our FAQs to apply to have a new address (up to 3 may be applied for inc an email address).