Splitting up advice appreciated

chesta

I'm really not sure this should go here but I couldn't find anywhere better and could do with some impartial advice.

So me and my husband have split up. We own a house and I would love to stay living in it and he is happy for me to do that and cover all costs of the house, and try to save some extra money so that in a couple of years I can hopefully buy him out.

He has a decent amount of equity in this place and feels he should receive some benefit for this if he is allowing me to stay here. Though the fact that every month I’m covering the mortgage means he is benefitting because he will get a larger share when we do split the finances, and more gets paid off the mortgage capital each month than we would ever get in interest on the money if it were in the bank.

In order to save some more money I am planning on renting out 2 rooms in my house which will more than cover the mortgage and my husband thinks he has a right to half of this rent money and wants me to set up a regular payment to him. But if I’m sharing my living space with 2 other people surely it should be me that benefits and not him?

He says that as we are still married that when we do finalise everything all money either of us has will be split 50:50 anyway. Is this true – even for money that is accrued after we separate?
If he insists we sell I couldn’t buy anywhere decent with the amount of mortgage I could get on my own, and if I rented somewhere it would cost me a lot more each month than it would cost me to stay living here.

Am I being unreasonable? Or is he asking too much?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

heartbreak_star

Speak to a solicitor.

HBS x

chesta

Thanks. Unfortunately if I do this things will go from being pretty friendly to becoming awkward and if things aren't amicable then me staying in a house that he has money tied up in won't be a possibility

Lance

Not if you get advice without telling your Ex. All money will be taken into account when the divorce actually starts unless some contract is in place so you will need legal advice about your options and preferably something in writing about ex's permission to rent out property / rooms and for how long etc.

Kayalana99

I would say that even tho you are sharing with two other people that he is still entitled to 50:50 spilt of the rent as he owns 50% of the property. If he is not paying his half of the mortage I would consider using his 50% share to take half the mortgage payment that way techinally he is paying his half anyway for when you actally sell the house.

Think of it this way - if you were to move out and rent all three rooms and use the money to pay off the mortgage just because you have done all the running round to set it up wouldn't mean he was less entitled to half that way.

Edit: And if your living thier rent free without renting the other two rooms out I wouldn't consider the fact your paying the mortage to be of benifit to him in the long run as *techinally* you should be paying him 50% of rent which would probally be more then the mortage payment

Just looking at things financally sorry

Mojisola

chesta wrote: »

He has a decent amount of equity in this place and feels he should receive some benefit for this if he is allowing me to stay here. Though the fact that every month I’m covering the mortgage means he is benefitting because he will get a larger share when we do split the finances, and more gets paid off the mortgage capital each month than we would ever get in interest on the money if it were in the bank.

In order to save some more money I am planning on renting out 2 rooms in my house which will more than cover the mortgage and my husband thinks he has a right to half of this rent money and wants me to set up a regular payment to him. But if I’m sharing my living space with 2 other people surely it should be me that benefits and not him?

He says that as we are still married that when we do finalise everything all money either of us has will be split 50:50 anyway. Is this true – even for money that is accrued after we separate?

I think that if he wants half the rent, he's got to pay half the mortgage.

krlyr

Kayalana99 wrote: »

I would say that even tho you are sharing with two other people that he is still entitled to 50:50 spilt of the rent as he owns 50% of the property. If he is not paying his half of the mortage I would consider using his 50% share to take half the mortgage payment that way techinally he is paying his half anyway for when you actally sell the house.

Think of it this way - if you were to move out and rent all three rooms and use the money to pay off the mortgage just because you have done all the running round to set it up wouldn't mean he was less entitled to half that way.

I agree. Think of yourself as a tennant.
So if your mortgage was, say, £1000 a month
You decide to rent the house out for £1500 a month to cover mortgage and bills (look around at other room ads for an idea of what's reasonable to charge though). This means you and husband get £750 each, splitting it half and half.
Everyone pays £500 (or you could scale it on room size, e.g. largest room £600, medium £500, smallest £400) - so you're paying £500 for your room (which you can put straight to the mortgage as your half) and pocketing £250 from the other two tennants, and the remaining £750 from the two tennants goes to your husband. However, he needs to contribute his £500 to the mortgage (if he wants the benefits from keeping the house, he needs to cough up for the mortgage too), so out of the deal he only gets £250 too.

Just bear in mind whether you'd have to change your mortgage to a BTL to rent it out - with you living there, they'd likely be classed as lodgers, but you might be charging enough that it becomes a taxable income.

Also consider things like expenses - say the boiler needs replacing, do you pay for it or does he pay half? As landlord to the other two tennants, it's his duty to maintain the property too - and as I said, he wants the benefits he has to take the responsibilities alongside it too. If either (or both) tennants move out, will he make up half the shortfall until the rooms are filled? Lots of issues to complicate the matter so definately put a lot of thought into it, and consider some kind of formal tennancy agreement of some kind to cover your back.

chesta

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Edit: And if your living thier rent free without renting the other two rooms out I wouldn't consider the fact your paying the mortage to be of benifit to him in the long run as *techinally* you should be paying him 50% of rent which would probally be more then the mortage payment

Just looking at things financally sorry

Thanks, I hadn't thought of it this way at all and it's good to get opinions from all sides. I do realise that I'll be lucky to live cheaply here regardless of whether he actually got half the rent or not.

To clarify though, the amount I would get from renting out two rooms is almost exactly the same as the total mortgage payment. So if I use his half of the rent to cover his half of the mortgage then the other half of the mortgage would be covered by the other half of the rent. This still means that I'm living there cost free and he is having to pay for somewhere else himself which I think is what he mainly objects to.

Mojisola wrote: »

I think that if he wants half the rent, he's got to pay half the mortgage.

This sounds fair - the thing is if he does this he will be spending every penny he earns and probably more, while I'll be living effectively rent/mortgage free. This means I'll be able to save a lot while he can't, but then until we get divorced all money is split equally anyway so does it make a difference?

I know I could probably get something drawn up in writing and get it done officially but I know this will annoy him and he'll demand we sell, which I don't really want. It benefits me so I don't mind being a bit lenient but I don't want to end up being walked all over

Errata

if I use his half of the rent to cover his half of the mortgage then the other half of the mortgage would be covered by the other half of the rent.

There will be tax implications for both of you. Are you currently declaring the rental income to HMRC?

DS4215

From the sounds of it there are no kids involved - is this the case?

Without kids it heads towards 50:50 depending on the length of the marriage and the assets you brought into the marriage, but you need legal advice.

Kayalana99

Ok so say mortgage is £2000

and your saying renting out two rooms would get you £2000

Which means that he needs to pay £1000 and you need to pay £1000. But he wants compensation for you living in his house so...

Imgaine your renting every room so total rent is £3000 coming in with a £2000 mortgage you would both get £500 each out of the house.

So techinally you should be paying him £500 which is half of your rent for your 50% but whilst the others are paying the mortage payment