Tricky mortgage situation - in need of advice!

ellerose

Hi everyone,

I've never posted on this board before and have never had a mortgage, so I'm hoping for some advice/input from those more experienced than me in these matters! Please excuse the long post; I don't want to leave anything out that might be important.

My boyfriend bought a house with his ex-girlfriend in around 2008/9, shortly after which they split. She didn't put up any money to buy the house and has never paid anything into the mortgage, which my OH has since paid every month entirely independently without any late payments or defaults. He tried to remortgage on his own shortly after they split up, but was turned down, and so they left her name on the mortgage while he lived in the house and paid the mortgage on his own.


Today we are at a point when we would like to remortgage together, so that we can stay in this house and have our names on the mortgage rather than his and hers. I've never bought a house before so I'm a first time buyer. (Hence I'm not sure whether to read guides for remortgaging or first time buying!)

However I have some concerns about us being accepted together. OH has a CCJ from 2 years ago, which is settled, and has otherwise never had any other forms of credit (cards or loans, etc). He has no mortgage late payments or defaults. I have around £25k in unsecured debt, which, although high, I have never missed payments on and am making good progress in getting this cleared. We have a combined income of £58k and our joint account is well managed and always in credit. Does it sound like we'd be rejected everywhere immediately?

We were hoping to wait a little while before taking this step, but his ex has started to make noises that she is fed up of the situation (which is fair enough) and if we're not remortgaging, she wants to put the house on the market before the end of the year. Does OH need to seek legal advice here? Can she force his hand or is he entitled to say he doesn't want to move?

We'd need a mortgage of around 75-80k to be able to buy it ourselves. I'd really appreciate any input at all - is it worth us even approaching brokers/advisers and seeing if we can do it now?


Thanks in advance for any advice/thoughts.

Wh05apk

What is the property value, and how much was the CCJ for?

ellerose

The property is around 100K I think, thought we'd need to have it properly valued. The CCJ was for £333 in 2010.

happycamel_2

You've said you have debt of £25k but your signature says £44k, which is it? Is the £44k a joint figure? Your total amount of debt will have a big impact on the affordability calculations.

JimmyTheWig

ellerose wrote: »

We have a combined income of £58k
...
We'd need a mortgage of around 75-80k

I would imagine, despite the debt and CCJ issues, that this should be achievable.
I would definitely say it is worth seeing a broker.

ellerose

happycamel wrote: »

You've said you have debt of £25k but your signature says £44k, which is it? Is the £44k a joint figure? Your total amount of debt will have a big impact on the affordability calculations.

Fair question - it is 44K but only 25K unsecured if that makes sense as the remainder is owed to a family member and we have a payment arrangement that works for everyone. Would this be taken into account on a mortgage application, out of curiosity?

ellerose

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I would imagine, despite the debt and CCJ issues, that this should be achievable.
I would definitely say it is worth seeing a broker.

Thanks - I hope so! Any advice on how to find a decent broker?

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

ellerose wrote: »

Fair question - it is 44K but only 25K unsecured if that makes sense as the remainder is owed to a family member and we have a payment arrangement that works for everyone. Would this be taken into account on a mortgage application, out of curiosity?

Yes, you need to declare all debt as part of the application

ellerose

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat wrote: »

Yes, you need to declare all debt as part of the application

Thanks, that's really useful to know. I expect that may scupper things all the more!! I will look into finding a broker for further advice, I think.

JimmyTheWig

ellerose wrote: »

Thanks - I hope so! Any advice on how to find a decent broker?

I have no idea, I'm afraid.
We've always had quite simple cases and known which bank we want to go with, so haven't ever needed to find a decent broker.
As with everything, recomendations from friends and family are always a good start.

As a general rule, the mortgage advisors in estate agent branches are the worst ones!

danielanthony

I've used London and Country a couple of times for re-mortgaging and they're very good, I always spoke to the same broker (Nick Smith).