Transferring mortgage/deeds into sole name

SameMeDifferentName

Hi all,
I was hoping there is someone out there who can tell me what to do.

I have a joint mortgage with what is now, my ex-partner. She moved out of the house back in January and has also stopped contributing to the mortgage and bills.
She is laughing at me, she said the only way she would leave me in peace and stop hassling me was if she didn't have to pay anything towards the upkeep of the house any more so for a quiet and normal life I had to agree to taking full responsibility for the mortgage repayments. She probably knew full well that I wouldn't be accepted for this mortgage on my own.

I can't ask anyone to take her place.
My parents are too old to be guarantors.
If I sell, she will be legally entitled to half of the profits despite me always paying more into it, doing all of the DIY and paying for repairs.

I thought it would be easy to apply for the mortgage to be transferred into my own name and get her name removed from the deeds but NRAM have point blank refused. They claim that I do not satisfy the financial criteria despite me already handling this mortgage and household bills by myself already.

Is there anything else I can do except hand her all of my possessions and wages on a plate? Please help.

kingstreet

No. If you can't afford to take the mortgage on alone, the only other option is to sell the property.

Gary123456790

Sounds like selling may be better for everyone.

She may not realise that if you do not pay then it will ruin her credit rating as well. This may make her wake up a bit and agree to selling. She is also very unlikely to be able to get another mortgage whilst still on this one.

What did you each put in to the property at the start, is there any equity and did you draw anything up at the outset with your solicitor stating who would get what in this kind of situation?

Gary.

SameMeDifferentName

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.
I can technically afford to make the monthly repayments alone, and I have already demonstrated this for the last 3 repayments.
If I sell, and her name is on the deeds/mortgage, she still gets half of any profit made doesn't she? Even though she has walked away, started a new life and abandoned all of her financial responsibilities?
Doesn't seem fair.

We didn't put any deposit down on the house but there is roughly around £13000 equity in the house now. Stupidly, we didn't come up with any agreements when we entered into this...never again!

kingstreet

You need to take legal advice on what the split should be of any equity.

Frankly, the fact you are paying the mortgage does not indicate you would, or should, be granted a similar sized mortgage now if you were a new borrower. The affordability rules have changed and no lender would increase its risk by removing a party to the mortgage it may wish to pursue for payment in the event of you stopping paying.

Lenders are also careful not to get the tag of "irresponsible lender" from the FSA by making bad decisions.

Presumably, you needed your partner's income to justify the level of borrowing you needed at the outset and you are not in a position to do that on your own income alone now.

Dave_Ham

How much is the property worth, trying to ascertain the loan to value.

Just because NRAM do not think you can afford on your own, does not mean every lender will treat as such.

Are you tied in, is all of the balance on the mortgage/secured (and not an added unsecured loan)

What is your income and what commitments financially do you have.

Will be able to tell pretty quickly if you have a chance, or if we should all just rant about the women folk...!

Cheers

SameMeDifferentName

kingstreet wrote: »

You need to take legal advice on what the split should be of any equity.

Frankly, the fact you are paying the mortgage does not indicate you would, or should, be granted a similar sized mortgage now if you were a new borrower. The affordability rules have changed and no lender would increase its risk by removing a party to the mortgage it may wish to pursue for payment in the event of you stopping paying.

Lenders are also careful not to get the tag of "irresponsible lender" from the FSA by making bad decisions.

Presumably, you needed your partner's income to justify the level of borrowing you needed at the outset and you are not in a position to do that on your own income alone now.

That's exactly why NRAM refused to transfer the mortgage into my sole name, they said I didn't earn enough and I'm pretty sure if I go elsewhere I would also be declined as a new customer.

Dave_Ham wrote: »

How much is the property worth, trying to ascertain the loan to value.

Just because NRAM do not think you can afford on your own, does not mean every lender will treat as such.

Are you tied in, is all of the balance on the mortgage/secured (and not an added unsecured loan)

What is your income and what commitments financially do you have.

Will be able to tell pretty quickly if you have a chance, or if we should all just rant about the women folk...!

Cheers

The house has been recently valued at £120,000 and there is currently £85,000 left outstanding on the mortgage, £20,000 of this is an unsecured loan.

I don't want to list my exact wages and outgoings but lets just say I am just about scraping through, which is why I would consider selling up if I know she's not going to benefit from it.

If I were to sell up (she would agree to this) would I be able to ask the conveyors to deduct what she hasn't paid from the profits?

We could all rant about women folk if you wanted but that would mean I was having a rant about myself! :think:

Goldiegirl

I used to do a lot of Transfer of Equity work when I was at the Halifax.

It was a few years ago, but sometimes a Transfer was agreed where, on paper, it appeared that the remaining borrower didn't meet the income criteria for new applicants

In these cases, the underwriters would want to see six months bank statements, to show that the borrower was meeting the monthly mortgage payments, all utility bills and other commitments from their earned income, and not relying on credit cards to get by - i.e. not running up new credit card bills for day to day living expenses.

However, that was then, and this is now.

If NRAM won't consider a Transfer application, I can't see any other solution than to sell up, and move on with your life

Dave_Ham

Cant say much to that eh!

If you can afford current commitment and earn approximately £17k ish, may be worth you getting some advice to see what is out there with another lender.

It is very unlikely legally you will get anywhere with the you paid most and therefore get a bigger share of the return if it is not formalised anywhere.

All the best

SameMeDifferentName

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I used to do a lot of Transfer of Equity work when I was at the Halifax.

It was a few years ago, but sometimes a Transfer was agreed where, on paper, it appeared that the remaining borrower didn't meet the income criteria for new applicants

In these cases, the underwriters would want to see six months bank statements, to show that the borrower was meeting the monthly mortgage payments, all utility bills and other commitments from their earned income, and not relying on credit cards to get by - i.e. not running up new credit card bills for day to day living expenses.

However, that was then, and this is now.

If NRAM won't consider a Transfer application, I can't see any other solution than to sell up, and move on with your life

Thank you for the suggestion, I asked NRAM about this option as it was mentioned in their application pack. However they informed me that this only applies to borderline cases, which I am not apparently.

I asked them if there was any other option, they said, find a new joint applicant to take her place or pay a lump sum off the balance...neither of which is going to happen so I'm b@ggerd!

kingstreet

Frankly, if you sell, NRAM gets its money back.

If you manage to remortgage elsewhere, NRAM gets its money back.

Its existence is predicated on getting borrowers to go elsewhere and there is no commercial pressure on it, unlike other lenders who care about their image.

Sadly, you do not matter.