Tenants in Common mortgage, divorce and death.

Uk99

Hello all, long time reader, first time poster. Please be gentle!
This is no doubt one for the legal eagles out there, any fact based help would be very valuable. Apologies if this is posted in the wrong place but it covers a few areas!
My mother died last month, and I have just contacted her mortgage company who tell me her house was owned "tenants in common" 50/50 with her ex husband. He is long gone presumed to be abroad and certainly never paid anything towards the property. I'm assuming this was never changed as her income was fairly low from a part time job? Couldn't get the required credit? The mortgage company haven't exactly been helpful with details, one thing they have said is that, as executor, I cannot sell without his permission. How on earth would I go about contacting him? Not that I want to of course. I assume I will need to appoint a solicitor but does anyone here have any idea of what difficulties I can expect from this?

Many Thanks.

silvercar

Firstly sorry for your loss.

I cannot sell without his permission. How on earth would I go about contacting him? Not that I want to of course.

You have little choice as you can't sell without his permission or the permission of a court. To get a court to agree a sale I imagine they will require you to have made some efforts to find him.

The only other option would be to allow the lender to repossess. But they may drag their heals over this and it could take months for them to agree and then sell the property. You would also lose out on their charges.
The fact that he may stand to gain ££££ from the sale may lead him to come out of the woodwork.

Was their a life insurance policy or endowment tied to the mortgage?

Would you consider living in the property?

Is he aware your mother has passed away?

Thrugelmir

I would suggest using a tracing service. The costs of which would be borne by the estate

Uk99

Many thanks for your reply,

I'm not aware of any endowment policy as yet. I haven't started fully delving into financial affairs. This just came up as I was notifying them of the death having just registered it and got the certificates. Would such a policy be with the lender themselves or a third party? Sorry I'm not very knowledgeable on such things. Not having a mortgage myself yet.

Living in the property, I hadn't really considered it, It's not the most suitable property for me, area and size, but I suppose it would offer a leg up into property ownership. Wouldn't I find similar problems as wanting to sell though?

I did ask them briefly about repossession, as her ex husband isn't here to make the payments, they wouldn't give a length of time but did say something, sounding very rehearsed, along the lines of "we will have the right to re possess if continued payments are not made". Suffice to say this wasn't the visit I had planned to notify them of the death. I didn't know much about the mortgage, other than that there was one, and there was some way still to go on it. Wouldn't the bank repossessing the property result in the loss of everything? Would they be obliged to return the equity?

I think I am going to appoint a solicitor this week to deal with this. I thought it would be straight forward but it doesn't appear that is going to be the case.

Many Thanks.

Uk99

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I would suggest using a tracing service. The costs of which would be borne by the estate

A quick google reveals national archive and british library results? Is this the sort of thing? (Not sure if I can link to it here)

silvercar

I'm not aware of any endowment policy as yet. I haven't started fully delving into financial affairs. This just came up as I was notifying them of the death having just registered it and got the certificates. Would such a policy be with the lender themselves or a third party? Sorry I'm not very knowledgeable on such things. Not having a mortgage myself yet.

Years ago, most endowment policies were held by the lender. This practice stopped at a guess around the mid 1990s. They may still be aware if one was set up. The solicitor who handled the purchase may also be aware if there was one. The other thing is to look in her bank accounts for monthly direct debits to companies that sound like life insurance companies.

Living in the property, I hadn't really considered it, It's not the most suitable property for me, area and size, but I suppose it would offer a leg up into property ownership. Wouldn't I find similar problems as wanting to sell though?

I had a thought that paying the mortgage rather than your current rent would be cost effective. Also means you benefit from the future price increase of the property. If he can't be found and you are living in it, then I can't see an issue, assuming you inherit your mother's half.

Wouldn't the bank repossessing the property result in the loss of everything? Would they be obliged to return the equity?

They are obliged to return the equity. You lose out in that repossessions tend to go for a lower price, and the lender will add on their charges. The advantage would be that they return your mother's half of the equity to the estate and it is their problem to track down the ex- husband.

Thrugelmir

Uk99 wrote: »

A quick google reveals national archive and british library results? Is this the sort of thing? (Not sure if I can link to it here)

Been a while since I used any service like this. So I would be hesitant to make any particular suggestions. Make contact with a solicitor first and get the ball rolling. There might be an alternative route.

getmore4less

Living in the place won't be a problem as long as you can come to some agreement with the lender about paying the mortgage.

you just take over all the bills, utilities and council tax.

If tracing the other owners or getting the permission to sell from the court will take time then living in the place may be better than leaving it empty.