Divorced - Need to Sell House

Mr_Mister

My friend is desperate to sell his house which his ex-wife and children are still in it. His solicitors is getting no response from the ex's in terms of the sale of the property which she verbally agreed to do.
The situation is, he is living in a rented accomodation at the moment, on low income and needs the funds from the sale to buy a small flat for himself.

The question is:
- Should he stop paying the mortgage so it will be repossessed? The ex doesnt pay any of the mortgage currently and does not have a job.

- Would he get any funds if it will be repossessed?

Theres about 30K mortgage left on the property and the house value is around £250K.

I know people will say its cruel because he has 2 kids under 10 still living there but he has no choice. Living in the house is no option.

Js_Other_Half

A neighbour of ours is living in the marital home with their two children. Her husband has moved out, and quit his job (after various affairs) - he is not paying anything for maintenance at this point. The mother is continuing to work a part time job - not full time due to child care costs etc for 2 under 10s, and is looking at having the house repossessed...

Your friends wife has probably has probably thought better of giving up her children's home when so much else is going on? If your friend makes his children homeless how will that help his relationship with them?

tanith

You say she verbally agreed to the sale maybe on reflection she has changed her mind and simply wants to keep a roof over her childrens head. I think he would have difficulty in insisting on a sale until the children are over school age. He needs to talk again to his solicitor and as it seems his wife is not responding it does not seem like a good sign for a sale of the house to be frank. How old are the children? The house may not be reposessed if your friend simply stops paying it may be that they can insist he keeps paying the mortgage.. I am sure there will be someone along soon with expert knowledge.

Mr_Mister

Basically he cant afford to pay the mortgage and rent and the CSA.
If he stops paying the mortgage surely it should get repossessed as the ex cannot pay?

liney

You say the mortage is only 30k, so i would hope the wife would be able to manage to pay this from her job(?) or benefits which she is now entitled to.

She could even change the mortgage to interest only for a short time until she is sorted.

This does not have to result in the children being turfed out of the family home, i'm sure.

Kimitatsu

If he is paying the CSA why is he also paying the mortage?

I would have thought that if there is only 30k left on the mortgage it cant be that huge surely?

If he has two children under the age of 10 and they are school age then in the majority of cases it will benefit her to go out to work on a part time basis. She would still not have to sell the property as she has a legal right to reside in the property until the youngest child is 17. Equally he does not have an automatic right to 50% of the proceeds of the sale and if she has taken legal advice then she is probably aware of that. However if he is paying the CSA then she remove his responsibility for the mortgage so enabling him the chance to get another one.

I dont think that not paying the mortgage would help either of them, and it would not neccessarily be repossesed but it would harm his credit rating.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but he needs to talk to his ex wife (calmly) and get a worst scenario from his solicitor so he is prepared for the worst.

loftus

There is no legal right to reside in a property until the youngest child finishes secondary education - although I would agree that, providing the property isn't bigger than is needed, that the courts would generally try to come a solution that enables that if it is what the PWC wants.
It probably isn't the case here - but where the PWC can not take on the mortgage and there is enough equity in the property to enable them to purchase a property they can afford and release some for the NRP then a sale would probably be ordered.
If this goes to court I would expect that as soon as both children are of secondary school age the ex wife would be expected to find at least part-time work, thus enabling her to claim WFTC as well as CTC and CB, which, together with her CM should enable her to take over the mortgage and release the husband from it. He would then get a mesher, probably of around 30%.

silvercar

Not paying the mortgage is not a good option. Firstly it will incur repossession charges from the lender. Secondly, with kids living in the home it will take at least a year, possibly two if the wife plays it well, before repossession will happen. Thirdly, the wife could get a court order that the payment of all bills should remain as at present until a financial settlement is agreed.

The best option is to move back in, if he can stomach doing this. If not he needs to persuade her to agree to sell the home. With that much equity, he needs his share in order to provide a home where he can have overnights stays for the children.

Kaz2904

If they are tenants in common on the deeds then one or other can force a sale. When they bought they would have signed a form and it may have said tenants in common or joint tenants- it depends how recently they bought it?

daisy_doughnut_2

hiya

my friend recently left the marital home with her youngest she saw a solicitor ect an the husband had said that he was not going to pay the mortgage an have it reposesed they to have a short time left

the solicitor said that if he stops paying then she should make a contribution toward it how ever small it will show she is trying an then when it does come to the crunch she will gain alot more than she should have done from the equity as effectivly the party not paying anything is showing that they are'nt bothered about the house

hope that made sence

Mr_Mister

So what would you suggest? Carry on paying the mortgage or not?
The house is in their joint names. Moving in is NOT an option.
Waiting till the Kids leave seconday school is at aleast another 10 years.
He will need to marry again and have his own property. Where will he get the money for the deposit?
As a man he gets no benefits living on his own as long as he has a job.