Ex Partner on Mortgage - Advice Needed

Waltz391

Just looking for some advice

Ex partner and I split up some 7 years ago. At time of split the house was in negative equity so was unable to remortgage or remove name. On several occasion he asked for name to be removed and I still have messages relating to this. Over the past 7 years he has not contributed to any aspect of mortgage, household bills etc. I have spent a lot if money refurbishing the house and have now decided to sell with a possible £10000 equity. After telling ex this he has said will be seeking legal advice.

My question really is where do I stand, does he have a claim over any equity?

Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

Of course he does, he's the co-owner.

Your own position is that his share is what the property was worth when he ceased to contribute towards the mortgage-payments. i.e. he owes you money. Either half the negative equity at the time, or half of the mortgage payments you have made since.

Of course, he's not likely to welcome this news, so expect a fight. Although half of ten grand could be eaten up by legal fees quite quickly as he has the ability to block a sale if he feels like it.

Pixie5740

If he wanted his name removed why didn't you get a mortgage in your name only? Why don't you do that now? As currently you both jointly own the property so he does have a beneficial interest in the property.

Annisele

And his position might be that OP owed him rent for his half of the house for the last 7 years. She could have paid the money to him, for him to forward to the lender - but quite sensibly they dispensed with that bit. (FWIW I don't agree with that position, but I don't think it's a completely daft argument).

Presumably there's no Deed of Trust specifying what happens in this situation? If not, the starting position is that you each get half the equity. Courts can move a very long way from the starting position if that's the fair thing to do, but if we're only talking about £10k B&T is right to say you could lose most of that in legal fees.

If you can negotiate this yourself, it will be far cheaper in the long run that getting lawyers involved. Was there originally a deposit, and if so who paid it?

antrobus

Annisele wrote: »

And his position might be that OP owed him rent for his half of the house for the last 7 years.....

Occupation rent. Equitable accounting. TOLATA.
http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed1746

Annisele wrote: »

...If you can negotiate this yourself, it will be far cheaper in the long run that getting lawyers involved. .....

OP may need to make an offer.

pinkshoes

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Of course he does, he's the co-owner.

Your own position is that his share is what the property was worth when he ceased to contribute towards the mortgage-payments. i.e. he owes you money. Either half the negative equity at the time, or half of the mortgage payments you have made since.

Of course, he's not likely to welcome this news, so expect a fight. Although half of ten grand could be eaten up by legal fees quite quickly as he has the ability to block a sale if he feels like it.

If he wants half the £10k equity, then work out how much he owes you for half his mortgage payments for the past 7 years plus half of all improvement work done. I will assume that this will be more than his share.

Then point out (as above) that his share is half the equity when he left, so if it had negative equity, he owes YOU money.

This would be a good time to COMPROMISE, and say that if he agrees to get the house sold, then you will not come after him for what he owes you, and wipe out his debt.

Talc1234

pinkshoes wrote: »

If he wants half the £10k equity, then work out how much he owes you for half his mortgage payments for the past 7 years plus half of all improvement work done. I will assume that this will be more than his share.

Then point out (as above) that his share is half the equity when he left, so if it had negative equity, he owes YOU money.

This would be a good time to COMPROMISE, and say that if he agrees to get the house sold, then you will not come after him for what he owes you, and wipe out his debt.

Nice bit of fantasy pinkshoes but it doesn't work that way

The reality is that the ex owns a 50% share in the equity of the house he jointly owns with the OP.

The mortgage would have been held jointly and severely so he would have shared the risk. Maybe he had an obligation to pay half the mortgage but he would also have had an entitlement to receive rent for his share. Those two figures should pretty much cancel each other out. Did he agree to the home improvements?

The OP would do best to offer 50% share in equity in exchange for a quick and easy sale. And both of you can get on with your lives.

motherbored21

To remove his name, OP would have to get a mortgage independently and pay other half 50%.

Don't forget all expenses in doing this too, survey etc.

TBagpuss

the start point is that he is entited to half the equity.

You may be able to negotiate, if you can show (by reference to other similar properties, advice from a valuer or surveyor etc) that part of the equity is due to your improvements (remember that the value of the improvements is the amount they add to the house price, *not* what you spent doing them) rather than to passive growth (i.e. house prices generally going up).

Was the amount you were paying towards the mortgage more or less than what it would have cost for you to rent a similar property?

If it cost you more, than you could argue that you should be given credit for the amount you have paid off the capital.(I t would not normally be reasonable for you to get credit for interest paid given you have had the benefit of living in the house, and you haven't)

Fighting over it could very easily end up costing you well over £5,000 so be practical. Agree a deal if you possibly can.

kingstreet

Jones v Kernott appears to be exactly on point here, moreso as the OP has seen out a period where there was negative equity.

http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2011/53.html

Waltz391

When he first left the mortgage payments were extortionate double market rent value. Currently the mortgage is around £100 more per month than rental value.

Like I said before the property was in negative equity so was unable to remortgage to remove the name.

Thanks for all your responses