Taking over someone's mortgage

ncjharris

Hi there,

I am after a bit of advice - I've had a search on here, can't find anything.

Is it possible to step into and assume someone else's mortgage?

In a nutshell;

My Dad passed away recently and (amongst other things), left a large estate (in volume, not in value). However, the house and mortgage were in joint names with my mother - therefore these both transfer to her.

In the middle to long term future the estate plus the value in the house is enough to enable my Mum to move elsewhere. However, this won't be for quite a while. In the meantime she has little incomings to pay the monthly payments and general cost of living.

We are considering several ways to get over this, but one I thought of was me taking on the mortgage - therefore removing the risk of it affecting my mum (both emotionally and from a credit rating POV) and sorting out who gets what when the house is sold.

I am sure there is plenty of mechanics - ownership of the house, early repayment fees, CGT etc, but before I get into that I would just like to know if its possible.
I had a search online and in the forums but couldn't find anything specific to this action.

Any answers and suggestions would be welcome!

Cheers

Thrugelmir

Mortgage does not transfer automatically. You need to speak to the lender.

Or should I say the executor of the estate needs to.

kingstreet

The mortgage and the property, if joint tenancy, pass automatically to the mother, not into the estate, so the Executor will not be involved.

ncjharris

Perhaps should have added.

I am second executor, so have been doing most of the estate wrapping up.
Have spoken to the lender and they have confirmed that in the event of death, the mortgage will be continued in the name of the surviving spouse.

tanith

Have you checked whether your Dad had any insurance to cover the mortgage should one or other of them die?

ncjharris

tanith wrote: »

Have you checked whether your Dad had any insurance to cover the mortgage should one or other of them die?

We are checking. Nothing was held with the provider.
There is *a lot* to go through. He didn't throw anything away, but didn't really file it either!

paddedjohn

can you not just pay the mortgage for your mum?

ncjharris

paddedjohn wrote: »

can you not just pay the mortgage for your mum?

In the short term (i.e. next few months) thats what we will end up doing I think. Its more after that.

Long term the house will be sold, I know that. Its more that I want to do it on our terms, rather than the lenders terms if they know that the payments can't be kept up.

Plus, I am toying with the idea of seeing if the house can somehow work into my personal long term plans as an investment. It would (in theory), be left as inheritance along with other siblings (they would get part, rather than be inheritance too......;)). Obviously it would only be that whilst in my Mums name, so need to consider if there has to be any title change along with mortgage change.

kingstreet

Was the property held as a joint tenancy, or tenancy in common?

ncjharris

Joint tenancy; i.e. the house is now wholly in my mothers name.

Does this have a bearing on the mortgage (which was also in joint names)

kingstreet

If the property was TIC it might.

Tenancy in common would see the deceased share pass into their estate, but the joint and several nature of the mortgage would make the survivor responsible for all the mortgage, despite them not owning all the property.

A joint tenancy means the mortgage and property are 100% "owned" by the survivor.