Joint Mortgage & Separation from Partner

JazzManJohn

Hello.

First post, desperately need some advice before anything happens.

Unmarried, joint mortgage, no kids.

• House bought for £178,000.
• Mortgage is £120,000.
• House now worth £240,000.
• Ex owes me £25,000 for deposit, repayments & building work.

Upon separation, I wish to keep the house. Despite me paying the deposit/fees, making all repayments and paying for all remedial work, from my research, I understand she is legally entitled to 50%.

1) How do I slice the cake (how much do I owe her)?
2) What are my routes for transferring to sole ownership and settling shares/entitlements?

Many thanks, MUCH appreciated

RAS

What arrangements did you agree in the deed of trust when you bought the house?

JazzManJohn

I'm not entirely sure. It was all as standard, no exceptions etc. 50/50 joint ownership I would imagine.

In hindsight, I really wish I'd been more scrupulous with it, however, at the time, it didn't feel like the romantic thing to do, and when buying, there are enough worries as it is

Let's assume that in writing, all is 50/50. If I've covered £25,000 for her towards deposit, repayments, bills, living costs, furniture, am I basically still only legally entitled to a clear cut 50%?

Can I simply remove her name off the mortgage and give her a lump sum? If so, how much?

So confused!

Pixie5740

Are you married or just living together?

JazzManJohn

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Are you married or just living together?

We are a couple living together, but not married.

xylophone

See a solicitor?

JazzManJohn

xylophone wrote: »

See a solicitor?

Yeah, I kinda knew I would need to at some point, but just wanted to rough out the figures and get a heads up on how these things compute.

Many thanks

ChopperST

The key here is whether you bought the house as joint tenants or tenants in common?

As joint tenants you generally own a 50/50 share of the property

As tenants in common you can define a % split each of the property based upon what share each of you contributed to the initial deposit.

You really need site of the title deed and the advice of a solicitor.

GL

Gwhiz

One thing to rememeber - in UK law there is no such thing as a common law wife. That's a complete myth.

The 'fair' thing would be for you to take your original deposit and then effectively 'share' the equity. However this all depends on what your ex partner feels she deserves.

These things can get nasty so if I can give advice it is this: TRY to stay calm and act like adults at all times. As soon as you get into slanging matches then you know solicitors will be needed and that can be expensive,

If you can do this amicably, and come to the financial agreement that you are both happy with, then all you need a solicitor for is the agreement to sign (theoretically you could do this without a solicitor - but having one makes sure it's all done properly with no chance of comeback).. That will save a lot of money.

I had a divorce where we managed all this as I have outlined and it was quite painless.

Best of luck.

RAS

ChopperST wrote: »

The key here is whether you bought the house as joint tenants or tenants in common?

As joint tenants you generally own a 50/50 share of the property

As tenants in common you can define a % split each of the property based upon what share each of you contributed to the initial deposit.

You really need site of the title deed and the advice of a solicitor.

GL

No.

As joint tenants you both own a 100% share of the property, which is why it is not included in an estate for inheritance purposes.

As tenants in common you generally own a 50/50 share of the property unless you define a different % split each of the property based upon any set of calculations that you can agree.

OP - if you do not have the paperwork to hand you need to download the deeds from the Land Registry to find out (£3).

Bear in mind that unless you defined the shares on purchase, how this splits after separation is entirely to do with what you negoitiate between you.

JazzManJohn

ChopperST wrote: »

The key here is whether you bought the house as joint tenants or tenants in common?

As joint tenants you generally own a 50/50 share of the property

As tenants in common you can define a % split each of the property based upon what share each of you contributed to the initial deposit.

You really need site of the title deed and the advice of a solicitor.

GL

It is held as joint tenants. Thanks chopper.

If I wish to keep the property, is it not possible to just calculate the fair sum that she is owed?

I think I will arrange to see a solicitor sooner rather than later. Somehow not as straightforward as I thought!