Helping out a friend...

SniperMonkey

Hi all

I have a quick question that I'm hoping you can answer for a friend of mine, yes, actually is a friend lol

they bought a house together in April this year. He put down 5k and she put down 3. She is not on the mortgage at all but they did sign a declaration of trust stating that she is entitled to her deposit back and half of the profit should they sell.
They bought it about 5 months ago.

Since then, she admitted to sleeping with lots of other men and left the house. It's also come about that she's took all the money out of the joint account and didn't pay any bills for months.

Now she's demanding her 3k back and he's now worried that he's gonna have to sell to give her back the 3k back.

Am I right in thinking he only has to give it her back IF he sells? Is there anything he can do to get out if giving it her back seeing as she cheated on him and stole money.

Anything I can tell him would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Depends totally on the content of the document.


A well written Deed of Trust lays out the rules for one buying out the other and/or how the sale can be forced.


Even a well written one rarely lays out penalties for promiscuity !! - and on a more serious note - the 'theft' of money and money's due under the Deed of Trust are not offsetable.

Foxy-Stoat_3

What about selling costs? £3K would be enough to pay the EA fees on an average house.

As she is not on the mortgage then very much doubt she can force a sale, even if she could it would cost her more than £3K.

kingstreet

If she is not party to the mortgage nor the ownership, she would usually be expected to provide a gifted deposit letter confirming she would have no interest in the property.

Did this happen?

Who drew up the deed of trust?

Wh05apk

Presumably the lender was not aware she was providing part of the deposit but living in the property? as they would not have allowed this, I suspect as there is a declaration of trust, she may have created a claim over the property and can therefore force a sale.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

I missed the 'not on the mortgage bit' - as other contributors have indicated, this could be a 'can of worms' - the devil will be in the detail


Frankly the only sensible solution is that they 'shake hands' and agree that she keeps the money she had away and he keeps her contribution - any other approach/result is probably going to cost more than is involved.

SniperMonkey

I've just messaged him to find out who drew up the declaration.

SniperMonkey

He said the solicitor wrote it out.

I've now asked if he's had any paperwork forcing a sale or anything from anyone else or just word of mouth.

Thrugelmir

As she's not on the mortgage then your friend holds all the aces. As she'll find it very difficult to force a sale of the property. The major bar being the expense of court action which could run into £'000's.

Sit tight for the time being. Do not enter into any conversations on the matter. Would be my personal stance.

lonestarfan

If it were me then I would not pay the £3k today just because she's asking for it. I would try to negotiate deducting the money she cleared out of the bank account and her share of the bills she didn't pay. I would also make sure I close the joint account as she could run up a £3k debt on that depending on the level of overdraft they are allowed if any and how sophisticated the banks transaction processing and authorisation is.