We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Help! Need advise on breakup finances and house sale.
Options

philco_uk
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hi Everyone,
Thanks in advance for reading this, and offering any useful help.
Quick version is I own a house with my ex (I wont be the last guy to be in this position in sure). We owned a house previous to this one and sold it to buy this place. We just had it valued as we want to sell, but we need to work out who owns what exactly. At the start of all of this we put our money together to but the first house, she put in 62, I put in 12, which covered all the costs. And 60 of which was used as deposit. So who paid the stamp duty then in an equal 50:50 split? Did we both pay half? and half the legal fees? She is under the impression that 100% of that original deposit is hers, whereas I think that its the stamp duty and fees, divided by 2, is taken off both our contributions, and whatever is left is our owned percentage of the deposit, which we will get back.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Phil.
Thanks in advance for reading this, and offering any useful help.
Quick version is I own a house with my ex (I wont be the last guy to be in this position in sure). We owned a house previous to this one and sold it to buy this place. We just had it valued as we want to sell, but we need to work out who owns what exactly. At the start of all of this we put our money together to but the first house, she put in 62, I put in 12, which covered all the costs. And 60 of which was used as deposit. So who paid the stamp duty then in an equal 50:50 split? Did we both pay half? and half the legal fees? She is under the impression that 100% of that original deposit is hers, whereas I think that its the stamp duty and fees, divided by 2, is taken off both our contributions, and whatever is left is our owned percentage of the deposit, which we will get back.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Phil.
0
Comments
-
If there is no agreement in place saying how money raised from the sale of the house following a parting of the ways should be divided and you can't agree between yourselves then you need to see a solicitor.If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales0
-
To be honest, none of the questions you are asking have any relevance to the current situation, and who owns what share of the house now.
The only questions of relevance are:
1 is the house jointly owned as joint tenants or tenants in common?
2 if held as tenants in common, was a deed of trust signed setting out your respective shares in the house?
3 are you married or cohabiting?
4 if married, are there any children?
Come back with this information and we will be able to point you in the right direction.I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
ok so its joint tenancy (50:50),
no deed of trust was signed.
we are cohabiting (not married),
no children.
Thanks.0 -
Okay then its simple.
You legally own the house 50/50. The time to protect deposits or register the house in unequal shares was when the house was purchased. It is too late now to go back once the relationship has failed and say 'oh but it is only fair that...'
So as things stand, you sell the house and the solicitor remits the net proceeds, half to each of you.
The only things to say, from a more pragmatic point of view, is if the person who feels they are losing out then decides to be difficult and obstruct the sale, it might be better to come to some sort of amicable agreement.
Either way, I do suggest that you each take independent legal advice as it will save a lot of argument in the long run.
Edit - who paid the bills/stamp duty/etc on the house is completely irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the equity in the house and how it should be distributed.I'm a retired employment solicitor. Hopefully some of my comments might be useful, but they are only my opinion and not intended as legal advice.0 -
Think there might be a 3 year rule - when I split with my husband last year (married so might be different), it wasn't classed as 50/50. I could take the money I'd put in at the beginning (over £130k) and he took the £28k he'd put in. We presumed that all the expenses in buying the house was 50/50 from that money. Luckily we had enough profit, and had paid off enough mortgage, to recoup what we put in (and more).
We also said that all profit and all money we'd paid off should be split 50/50 (ie I wouldn't take a bigger chunk even though I'd put more in at the beginning).
If we'd been married for more than 3 years, I think he could have got 50/50 and I'd have been gutted, but then you always think these things will last... If you have owned the house for more than 3 years, you'll probably find the above 50/50 rule does apply. They might base it on the length of your relationship or previous house ownership as well as just this one. Time for legal advice.
Is there any chance you could still have the £62k and £12k after selling the house and paying fees? I would personally try to give back the same amounts (or as near to), but that's me.
Jx2024 wins: *must start comping again!*0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards