House sale and equity...advice needed

midget83

Hi

I am looking at selling my house and would like a bit of advice.

I have owned the house jointly with my ex husband for around 12 years. We are both still on the mortgage but when he moved out around 4 years ago he refused to pay the mortgage and I have paid everything solely since this time. We then came to a financial agreement in that I would continue to pay off a joint loan we had and in return he would forfeit any equity on the property in lieu of this. I also paid the original deposit when we purchased the property from money a family member left me in their will. I have a consent order which outlines this and he agreed to this in court. Since we split up I have worked really hard at renovating the house and he has contributed nothing.

I am now in a new relationship and my partner is looking at buying a new home. Unfortunately, I am on a debt management plan and as a result cannot get a mortgage so he will be buying the property and we will be living there together. I did try to transfer the mortgage into my sole name when me and my ex separated but the mortgage company refused due to the DMP. Because of this I want to sell the house once and for all so that I can start afresh. This will be the final thing that links me and my ex financially (I have since paid off the joint loan in full).

To cut a long story short, I now have around £15k equity in my property and have decided to sell and use some of the equity to pay off my debts so that I can start repairing my credit history and look towards the future. The rest will be kept in savings until such a time where hopefully down the line myself and my partner can actually get a mortgage together, although I appreciate this is a long way off. I have thought about renting it out but I just want to get rid of it.

I just have a couple of questions about the sale.
Firstly, I understand that because the house is still in joint names my partner will have to sign any paperwork when I sell the property. This may cause difficulties in itself as we have nothing more to do with each other now and although we are amicable, I dont particuarly want to see him again.

My main concern though is what happens to the equity in the property (around £15k) once my mortgage has been paid off and fees paid? I have no idea if the mortgage company pays this directly to me or if the money goes to my solicitor and they then pass it onto me??
Will it have to be paid into a joint bank account because the mortgage was a joint one? I am really concerned about this because I no longer have a joint bank account with my ex for obvious reasons (we did have one but it was closed years ago) and I have no idea if I will be forced to open one again? (This means my ex would have to open it with me I assume, and then there is a risk he would have access to the money??)

Please can anyone offer any advice about this? I would be so grateful if anyone could. I may be worrying about nothing but has anyone been in this situation?


EDIT.....
Oh..... I have just remembered that I have a joint bank account with my mortgage (for some reason when my mortgage was taken over by Barclays they opened one automatically, I tried to close it but they said I couldnt) but could I withdraw the money myself if paid in there or would I need my ex's signature/permission?? He has no access to this as I have both of the bank cards.

silvercar

Sales proceeds go to your solicitor. Your solicitor pays off the mortgage and usually the estate agent bill. Any remainder should then go to the owners. If your solicitor is happy with:

I have a consent order which outlines this and he agreed to this in court.

then he could pay the proceeds direct to you.

If not then you could get the money put in the joint bank account, withdraw it then close the account, assuming the account is set up with "either to withdraw".

I suspect that your ex's signature will be required to sell the house as he is still joint owner, even if no longer entitled to the proceeds.

enthusiasticsaver

Any equity in the property after it is sold and the mortgage repaid will go to the solicitor who should then pay it to you. It is the solicitor who distributes the proceeds so he/she would pay off the mortgage, pay estate agents and the solicitor costs and then send the rest to you. If the property is in joint names your husband will have to sign but I would imagine your solicitor could just send him the paperwork so you shouldn't need to see him.

dimbo61

Speak to a solicitor first and ask him/her to draw up the contract for your EX to sign before you put the property on the market if possible ?
Inform your EX that you are selling up and moving in with your new partner.
If he fails to sign you will stop paying the mortgage.
You are already on a DMP so have little to lose but he needs to protect his credit score

midget83

Thanks for the replies, that's very helpful.

Just as another matter, my ex is also on a DMP so his credit score is just as bad as mine!!