Breaking Up & Selling House (Fair & Square)

Kynthia

If you sell the house for the same amount you purchased it for then you are going to make a loss. The proceeds will need to pay off the mortgage and the early repayment charge, the estate agent fee, the solicitor fee and preferably the £40k gifted deposit. So unless either of you also put in a deposit it's likely that you'll need to use savings to cover some of the above costs. If there's any chance of getting a higher offer, perhaps marketing the property better than the previous owner did or doing the little jobs that can put some people off, or even hoping that spring means more determined buyers, then that would be great.


It's difficult to sell a property before 6 months of ownership but not impossible. If you sold to a cash buyer it wouldn't matter and not every mortgage lender has a problem with it. However buy the time you market the property, find a buyer and complete it's likely that the six months will be up.


How long is your early repayment charge valid for? If it's 5 years then you don't want to be tied financially for that long, but if it's 2 years then depending on how much it is you could decide to hold off on selling until then. You could move out and you partner could get a lodger in your room to cover your share of the mortgage. Then sell in 2 years without having to pay the erc and hoping that the property has increased in value, however there is a risk that prices could have fallen by then as there's no guarantees.

theartfullodger

This booklet (48 pages) from Shelter covers the legal position for you both given what is happening.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/23393/ShelterGuide_RelationshipBreakdown.pdf