Mortgage Problems

Dave_Barry

Man and a Woman going through a divorce. The woman is currently living in the house with child paying the mortgage but interest only. The mortgage on the house is still joint. The house is in negative equity by roughly £15000.

As part of the divorce agreement the woman could ask the man to get his name taken off the mortgage. Is this possible? The follow on to this question, would it be wise for the woman to do get his name taken off? The woman would like to move out the house in the next few years anyway. At the moment she is a bit trapped.

There are a few options she could do;

1. Start paying the mortgage off which would leave no money left at the end of the month. The worry with this option is that if interest rates go up she would not be able to afford this.

2. Carry on as she is and just pay interest only until the NRAM tell her she cant do it no more

3. Move out and rent the house out. She could not rent the house out and cover all cost inc Mortgage, insurance, management fees etc.

4. Sell the house. This would mean biting the bullet and taking on the £15000 worth of debt herself. Also she would then have rent another place.

The problem with the man is that he will not help with paying back the debt. He will not even have a civil conversation about it. We do not know what he is legally bound to pay, in my research I can only tell that the mortgage company will just take the money from where they can get it?

Also can he still take loans etc against the house even though he does not live in it? Is there any way to stop this?

From a legal stand point we do not know where we are and are finding it hard to get any decent information. Can anybody offer any advice from the above?

Thank You

kingstreet

He can only be removed from the mortgage and deeds with the approval of the lender and the other party's ability to demonstrate continued affordability alone.

If he is a party to the mortgage he is joint and severally liable for the payments, so the lender can come after him if the payment isn't made.

They need to legally sort this out. Leaving it is in no-one's interests. Get them to seek legal advice.

Thrugelmir

Consult a solicitor.

From the Courts perspective the primary concern will be the welfare of the child until they leave full time education.

A full mortgage application will need to be made to the lender. Not merely a question of removing names from the mortgage.

Being in negative equity on interest only basis gives little options.

At the end of the mortgage term the property would have to be sold to discharge the mortgage. So long term planning needs to be made.