Mortgaged house, splitting up with partner

martyn1978

Apologies in advance if this makes the Jeremy Kyle show look tame, I'm new to the forum and would like some advice, please.

My situation is, I am a male, aged 36, and have just split with my common law partner, who is aged 33. We have two children, aged 6 and 3.

We have a mortgage on our house, with around £115,000 left to pay, at around £605 per month, and the property would probably fetch around £140,000 if it needed to be sold, though I'm hoping it won't need to be.

In the ideal world, my ex partner, who does not work, would be able to remain in the house, however we have no idea at all how to make this possible.

My current earnings are around £30,000 per annum - which is not enough to keep that house going and live somewhere myself, and obviously with my ex partner not earning, she is unable to pay the mortgage and bills.

Obviously I am happy and willing to give whatever I can to my ex partner, but this still wouldn't be enough to keep the house on. It would be a real wrench to risk moving them, as it is on the doorstep for school/nursery, their friends, and so on, and if there's any way of keeping that house on, we would like to do it.

So, if anyone can offer any advice as to where we start and what we need to do, I would be really grateful

Thanks in advance

Guest101

martyn1978 wrote: »

Apologies in advance if this makes the Jeremy Kyle show look tame, I'm new to the forum and would like some advice, please.

My situation is, I am a male, aged 36, and have just split with my common law partner, who is aged 33. We have two children, aged 6 and 3.

We have a mortgage on our house, with around £115,000 left to pay, at around £605 per month, and the property would probably fetch around £140,000 if it needed to be sold, though I'm hoping it won't need to be.

In the ideal world, my ex partner, who does not work, would be able to remain in the house, however we have no idea at all how to make this possible.

My current earnings are around £30,000 per annum - which is not enough to keep that house going and live somewhere myself, and obviously with my ex partner not earning, she is unable to pay the mortgage and bills.

Obviously I am happy and willing to give whatever I can to my ex partner, but this still wouldn't be enough to keep the house on. It would be a real wrench to risk moving them, as it is on the doorstep for school/nursery, their friends, and so on, and if there's any way of keeping that house on, we would like to do it.

So, if anyone can offer any advice as to where we start and what we need to do, I would be really grateful

Thanks in advance

Just quick FYI, England? No such thing as common law partner

U need to sell, move on. Why does she not work? Do u have kids??

martyn1978

Yes, we are in England.

The problem with selling is that where does she and the boys go then, with no or certainly very little money? I need to know if there's a way of keeping the house on.

We also have a debt of around £6,000. So, if we did have to sell the house, after fees etc, we wouldn't have masses of money each. We have no savings either.

And, though there would be enough money for her to use as a deposit for a rental property, there isn't enough money coming in to pay for the rent and bills going forwards, even with me paying maintenance.

globalds

can you live separately in the house you currently share ? are there enough rooms to sleep separately ?

might be an option until you have more savings

shoe*diva79

Guest101 wrote: »

Just quick FYI, England? No such thing as common law partner

U need to sell, move on. Why does she not work? Do u have kids??

Clearly didnt read the OP post as it states 2 kids and not wanting them to leave the house!

OP, your ex would be entitled to Income Support, Child tax credits, child benefit, council tax benefit and child maintenance from yourself. You can use the online CSA calc to work out what your minimum obligation would be.

Her benefits alone would come to around £957 per month plus the child maintenance you would give her means she might be able to afford to stay in the house for the time being.

shoe*diva79

I just did a quick calc and your child maintenance would be around £340 per month.

millysg1

Can she look for a part time job?

HappyMJ

If you sold and she rented a property with the kids then she'd get housing benefit to pay the rent. I can't see any way around it. She won't be able to take out a mortgage to buy you out so it will always be your property and you being liable for the mortgage repayments until she sells or buys you out.

warmhands.coldheart

Is mortgage in both your names (joint)?
Just curious (maybe someone could answer this)
If the mortgage is in one partners name and they split, could they in theory "rent" the house to the other who keeps the kids so they don't have to move and thus would be eligible for Housing Benefit to pay the rent? Probably not very ethical but is it illegal? not very clued up on all this stuff..

getmore4less

Keeping the house is a very risky long term commitment, mortgage and maintenance are things you don't want hanging round your neck for 20 years.

martyn1978

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

Is mortgage in both your names (joint)?
Just curious (maybe someone could answer this)
If the mortgage is in one partners name and they split, could they in theory "rent" the house to the other who keeps the kids so they don't have to move and thus would be eligible for Housing Benefit to pay the rent? Probably not very ethical but is it illegal? not very clued up on all this stuff..

Mortgage is in both our names (she basically gave up working to raise the children)

For me, the above scenario is ideal - move the mortgage to my name and she rent the house off me. Ethical? Definitely not. Illegal? I absolutely don't know.

I think we are going to take legal advice, but wanted to post on here to tap into the knowledge and expertise of you guys who post on here