advice on putting money into a property when not on mortgage or deeds

hellybelly001

Not quite sure how to lay this out as I'm in a very complicated situation but here goes:

I am currently the joint owner of a flat with an ex partner. I have been separated from him for several years. It is a one bedroom flat which we bought in 2007 for 86,000. It is on the market to be sold but as yet has had no offers.
To cut a long story short it was an abusive relationship so I now only have contact via a solicitor. I have recently been contacted by the mortgage to let me know he has put the property in arrears so I have ended up paying a month of the mortgage to help him get back to normal (apparently he was out of work).
I have also now reduced the price to 70,000 for a quick sale in an attempt to cut my losses as the mortgage is at 76,000.

The fact that I am a joint owner and within the last year he has put the mortgage in arrears on two separate occasions is causing me great concern esspecially as it coincides with me buying a property with my new partner.

Myself and my new partner have put an offer in on a 3 bedroom detached house which has been agreed. We have made the decision to purchase the property solely in my partners name as I am only in a casual contract at work and also becuase of the issues I currently have with my other property.
So the new property will be purchased by my partner, his name will be on the deeds, and mine will not. His name will also be on the mortgage and mine will not.
We are purchasing the property for £200,000. I have written a letter to the mortgage to say i shall gift him 30,000 for the deposit in order for him to purchase this property. (I have been told the mortgage can not continue without it.) My partner is putting in 55,000 towards the deposit so he has taken out a mortgage solely in his name for 115000.
We will have a joint account and both put money in every month to cover mortgage and bills etc. We will also be taking out life insurance and a will to state what needs to happen upon death.

My concern at the moment is that if i do not own the property through the deeds and we unfortunately end our relationship where do i stand? I assume that as I do not own the property and I'm not on the mortgage I would be the one to have to leave? but if Im not named on the property would I have a right to force a sale to get back a percentage of the money I put in? What would I do if he wanted to stay there and didnt want to move? He could possibly stay there for another 10 years and I could possibly have no means to stop him doing so and no money to move on with my life?? Obviously this is a situation i really do not wish to find myself in but I have been made more aware of the realities in life through my current situation with the Flat and feel i need to cover all possibilites and prepare myself for the worst!

any advice/help would be greatly appreciated

Fire_Fox

Welcome. Your ex has not put the mortgage in arrears, you are jointly and severally liable for the full debt, any private arrangement between the two of you that he will live there is just that. It's up to you to check every month that YOUR loan is paid. My worry would be your ex defaulting on the mortgage again, leaving you to pay since he now knows you will, refusing to move out and refusing to sell. Forcing a sale trough the courts is very difficult.

Are you really gifting your current partner £30K? Are there no strings whatsoever, he can keep it even if you split up and don't live there? If you want a percentage back it's not a gift it is a conditional loan, I really don't understand why your conveyancing solicitor permitted you to lie to the lender. Not even sure that is not potential mortgage fraud!

If you are not a named owner you have no right to live there. A will is no guarantee, they can be changed. Presumably the lender would want full access to that £30K in the event that the property is repossessed? You could ask your solicitor about a Deed of Trust but the lender would (rightly) be made aware of this and could block it. If your conveyancer advised you to write this letter under the circumstances you outline frankly I'd find a new solicitor sharpish.

Kynthia

Who is looking out for your interests as the solicitor isn't?

Kayalana99

My dad has loaned me 10k for a new house & he has also HAD to sign a letter saying it was a gift.

You have no leg to stand on.

Basicly if you were to spilt you are not entitled to a penny of the new house because you have signed it away as a gift(although I know this is the mortage company not your current partners fault!)

The only way you will be legally entitled to this property is

A) Living with partner 5+ years (this is overall not the property you are buying

Married.

Thiers nothing you can do to get out of it other then get your name on the deed orignally.

Tbf its just a leap of trust. End day if my partner and me were to spilt our oral agreement is to pay my dad his 10k out of the property then spilt rest between us....but if my OH says he wants 5k out of the 10k thiers nothing I can do legally....I doubt a solcitor can draw anything up to sign when my dad has already signed it as a gift!

somethingcorporate

Kayalana99 wrote: »

My dad has loaned me 10k for a new house & he has also HAD to sign a letter saying it was a gift.

So was it a loan or a gift?

If a loan you have a document testifying it wasn't and have potentially committed fraud on your loan application.

Kayalana99

It was a loan. They know perfectly well it was, but they just want thier piece of paper incase of repossion they don't actally care if its a loan or a gift its just for thier secuity that my dad has no right to the house.

Edit: Anyway this isnt my thread and this isnt helping the OP.

G_M

Sort out your existing financial mess before embarking on another financial venture.

If the new property is going to be owned by current partner, then he should bear the costs. Pay him a reasonable rent as a lodger if living with him, plus shared costs (food etc) but don't put cash into the property till

a) you've sorted out your existing mess and
b) you've bought into the new property (ie you are a shared owner)

as I've recently said on another thread, joint ownership is a bigger commitment (and more complex to untangle!) than marriage. Are you that commited to new partner?

hellybelly001

firstly thank you to everyone that has responded!

my partner and i along with our parents have discussed the dilemma with new property and have decided that as my partners parents are (luckily) very wealthy they will write me a letter via solicitor to say that if my partner and I feel we need to separate they will personally return my £30,000 deposit to me. I have 100% commitment to my partner and feel very happy trusting confident about our relationship it is purely peace of mind and the obvious alarm bells ringing with this situation which his father particularly has complete understanding of hence the letter. I feel much better about the situation now not sure what other view are??

in regards to the previous property yes i know it needs to be sorted but im at a loss at what to do! fingers crossed for a successfull viewing this weekend but i wouldnt put my money on it! ex partner has not paid again this month and has apparently cancelled his direct debit now too! arrears is current £820 now. im speaking to solicitor tomorrow but feel i may need to seek further legal advice. the last time i paid it was only to buy myself time to think about what to do as he had reached the 3 month of no payments i refuse to pay anymore as he is the type of idiot that will just stay there and refuse to move to be quite honest i am considering letting it go and facing a long 7 years of bad credit! ive never needed credit in my life as dont believe in it personally (apart from the mortgage of course) but i dont own a credit card and ive never bought anything on finance (i probably dont have a credit rating to ruin when i think about it) i believe in spending my own money from my bank account not borrowing other peoples so i hope that if it comes to it and i do get a big fat black mark on my name it doesnt effect my everyday life! wishfull thinking??

getmore4less

So the plan is you lend him £30k interest free and have no interest in the house for that £30k

if you you paying towards the mortgage what interest in the property will that give you?

this is creating another mess it has not been thought through.

why does it need this 30k is there a shortage on the income side?

Will you be able to afford the old mortgage and a share of the new one?
Do you have more cash funds to cover any shortfall.

Annisele

hellybelly001 wrote: »

my partner and i along with our parents have discussed the dilemma with new property and have decided that as my partners parents are (luckily) very wealthy they will write me a letter via solicitor to say that if my partner and I feel we need to separate they will personally return my £30,000 deposit to me.

OK, so let's say you and your partner split up, and his parents decide not to pay you £30k after all (or they can't pay you £30k, for example if they've died or aren't able to manage their own affairs). What are you going to do then?

If you try to sue, you may well find the parents' letter is worth nothing at all. A promise to give someone a gift in future can be taken back at any time.

If the parents are so wealthy they can afford to float £30k around, why don't they just give your partner £30k now so you can keep hold of your own money?

hellybelly001 wrote: »

i hope that if it comes to it and i do get a big fat black mark on my name it doesnt effect my everyday life! wishfull thinking??

Yes, wishful thinking. At worse it could end in your bankruptcy - and that would affect you for longer than seven years. It would restrict the jobs you are able to do (though depending on your occupation that might not be an issue), and it's generally a horrible experience.

I think that your financial interests are your partner's financial interests are conflicting horribly here, and you should get some legal advice of your own.

steppevos

Would it be a possibility to jointly own the property? You then also have to go on the mortgage, which shouldn't be a problem: it may not help towards the amount for which the mortgage can be taken out (because of your irregular income and even more important commitments on the flat's mortgage), but it shouldn't detract.
Or are there other reason why your partner (or you) don't want you on the deeds of the house?
A solicitor should be able to work how the unequal contribution towards the house purchase and mortgage can be written into a Deed of Trust.
I am sorry if I overlooked something in the original post.