Buying ex girlfriend out of jointly owned property

thesfm

Hi everyone, looking for some advice

I jointly own a property with my now ex girlfriend. Here's the figures:

Property bought for - £190k
Property now worth - £165k

Mortgage taken when new - £117k
Mortgage remaining - £99k

My deposit on the property - £73k
Her deposit on the property - £0

We lived jointly in the property for 2.5 years, sharing all costs, before relocating. A year later we split up. So, neither of us live in the property anymore, nor is either of us likely to again. It has been continually let for the past 5 years at a level which means I have to cover a monthly net loss of £12 - not breaking the bank but over a 5 year period it adds up. Mortgage is paid from my current account and rental income paid into same account.

Additionally, all other expenses for the property have been footed solely by me since it's been let, eg. covering the mortgage for the single month the property was not let during the period, capital expense of £1k for central heating repairs, occasional deductions from the monthly rental income for various expenses (eg. landlord gas certificate inspection etc), the £31 monthly landlord insurance premium and so on.

It would be simpler for both of us if one or the other party was to walk away. As I'm the one with the large capital investment, realistically it has to be her. Given the numbers set out above, a sale would see me out of pocket, especially once fees, expenses etc are added in.

What I'd like to do then is reach an agreement with my ex and continue to run the property as a buy to let until such time as I can sell the house and break even.

We remain on good terms and should be able to amicably come to an agreement on this without the need for mediation, solicitors etc.

My question then is what would be a fair monetary offer to her in this scenario?

Thanks in advance

booksurr

what , if anything, was agreed in writing when you put up the deposit?

on paper she is entitled to 50% of 66 (ie 165 - 99)
whether your 73 is deducted from the 165 before splitting the remainder 50/50 (so you each get -7/2 = -3.5k each) or from your 33k share so you end up bearing all of the lost value and bears none is a moot point if you did not agree that before now

TBagpuss

do you own as tenants in common? If so, you may have defined, when you bought the proeprty, what % share you would each have. If not, then your partner could potentially be entitled to up to 50% of the equity.

However, assuming that she doesn't seek to make that claim, one way to look at it is mathmatical.

Originally, you put in £73K towards the £190K , or 38% of the value.
38% of £165K is £63.4K.

So one option would be to say:
165
- 63.4
- 99
net = £2.6K

So you pay her half of that - £1,300.

This doesn't take into account the mortgage shortfall, but equally doesn't take account of the fact that might be entitled to more if she chose to push for it,, if you own the property as joint tenants.

xylophone

Surely you will need to agree this with the mortgagee?

thesfm

Thanks for the responses.

Yes we are tenants in common. The doc we both signed states 40% solely my share and the rest split 50:50.

Appreciate the comments about the mortgagee. I understand the mortgage company will need to approve all this - if the current lender won't do it, I'll look into remortgaging elsewhere.

Caz3121

thesfm wrote: »

Thanks for the responses.

Yes we are tenants in common. The doc we both signed states 40% solely my share and the rest split 50:50.

Appreciate the comments about the mortgagee. I understand the mortgage company will need to approve all this - if the current lender won't do it, I'll look into remortgaging elsewhere.

40% of £165k is £66k leaving £99k...which is the same as the mortgage
I assume the lender has given to consent to let or is it a BTL mortgage
Has she been paying tax on her share of the rental income

thesfm

Caz3121 wrote: »

40% of £165k is £66k leaving £99k...which is the same as the mortgage
I assume the lender has given to consent to let or is it a BTL mortgage
Has she been paying tax on her share of the rental income

It's a 'normal' mortgage (ie. not BTL), but with the lenders consent to let. It's on the SVR at the moment, the fixed term having ended, so my intention is to move it to a BTL product having bought out the ex.