Mortgage advice needed: equity division after split up

christinasmummy

Hello everyone

Can anyone advise please?
I bought a house with my ex in 2008, both names on mortgage and deeds and paying an interest only mortgage since. He paid the mortgage between 2008-2012 then we split up and I was forced to move out with our 18 month old baby due to DV. The agreement was he would continue to pay the mortgage. In 2013 I called the Mortgage company to check the mortgage is up to date as I was refused something on credit, it turned out he wasn't paying the mortgage at all and was infact renting our house out and pocketing the money. Meanwhile refusing us access to our family home and we had to live in a poxy little flat privately renting. Long story cut short, I threatened him with an occupation order if he didn't hand the keys back, he managed to evict the tenants and handed the keys back before court stage..
I moved back in, paid the back log of mortgage he didn't and have paid the mortgage myself since.
I am now married and have requested my ex to take his name off the mortgage and Myself and husband reapply with him on the mortgage. He refused. He won't agree to sell, he can't force a sale anyway if he wanted to be awkward as our daughter is 5 and a minor.
He said he no way getting his name off the house as its his pension...... My question is:
If I get the house valued now, when I force a sale when our daughter leaves full time education, will he then be entitled to half the equity in the house (house has already gained 50k in value from what we paid in 7years) even though he's not paying a penny towards the mortgage.
We are wary to pay any capital off the house I case he can be entitled to any.
He's just trying to be as difficult as possible.

Foxy-Stoat_3

As the mortgage is in joint names then he will be entitled to the equity as well as you. Dont make any overpayments until you can get him to agree to remove his name off the mortgage and deeds.

Is there any way you can raise £25K to pay him off now or will he just wait until its sold at some point in the future?

christinasmummy

So let's say for arguments sake the house is worth £300,000 in 15 years time, he's not paid a penny towards the house/mortgage in 18 years but if the house is sold he will be entitled to 50% of the profit made on the house? Surely this would be arguable in court?

Thrugelmir

Seek professional advice. As you need to formalise an agreement to buy your ex out. Communicating through a solicitor will remove the emotional heat from the situation. Ultimately you both need to compromise in order to move on with your lives. As you've a daughter you don't want her caught in the cross fire either.

Foxy-Stoat_3

christinasmummy wrote: »

So let's say for arguments sake the house is worth £300,000 in 15 years time, he's not paid a penny towards the house/mortgage in 18 years but if the house is sold he will be entitled to 50% of the profit made on the house? Surely this would be arguable in court?

As previous post seek proffession advice about try and negociate with a smile. On the flip side....say the house was bought for £300,000 5 years ago and its worth £200,000 in 15 years time due to the market or whatever, would you still think that the other party who is still named on the mortgage who stopped paying would not be liable for the shortfall?

By all means test your theory in a court where the only real winners are the solicitors. A Judge may take into account repairs and maintenance on the property over that amount of time but it will not be a concern of the lender when/if its sold. Thats why its a good idea to have an exit stradegy agreed now with the Ex.

andyfromotley

You dont need advice from internet strangers. You need legal advice. If you had had it early on you would not have found yourself in quite this position. I know thats easy to say with hindsight, however you are where you are now, so don't make the same error twice, get thee to a solicitor, pronto.

KRB2725

I would sell up and move rather than have that kind of tie to an ex. Aside from the clean break, there's no way I would pay a mortgage for somebody who left the property in arrears to then take half the profit.

silvercar

emmatthews wrote: »

I would sell up and move rather than have that kind of tie to an ex. Aside from the clean break, there's no way I would pay a mortgage for somebody who left the property in arrears to then take half the profit.

OP said he won't agree to a sale.

If OP is living in the property with new husband, then the ex is getting no rental income.

There are some who would say that paying all the mortgage balances out the rental income from half the property. Not a long term solution to being financially tied, but a balance on current income levels.

christinasmummy

I have spoken to three solicitors who have advised me different...
One says is he is not paying anything into the mortgage/maintainance to the house then when I come to sell in 15 years time he will only be entitled to the profit for the proportion of when he was paying the mortgage and suggested I get the house valued ASAP as any equity gained in the property from now on would be mine as I'm solely paying the mortgage.

Another said its a 50/50 split and doesn't matter who is paying the mortgage. (Seems rather unfair to me)

The third suggested I spend money to take him to court to force the sale on the house and privately rent somewhere or buy another property.... Problem with this is 1) the year he didn't pay the mortgage has crippled my credit score and I cannot even get a bank account!! My husband hasn't got any credit at all, and no credit is just as bad as bad credit so the chances of getting another mortgage with a decent rate is highly unlikely if at all!
2) our mortgage is currently £330 per month.... We are newly weds and expecting a baby etc... £330 is absolutely affordable for us to manage with me being a full time mummy until I go back to work... Renting a 2 bedroom house in our area is around £850-900 per month.
My ex is happily living in his currents gf's council house rent free as she's not claimed he's living there. He really is just being a controlling person. I even found out today head cancelled our life insurance which was included in our mortgage! He did this 2 years ago! Jeeeeeez!
I'm in the process of waiting for a court date for an occupation order as he continually threatens to change the locks on our house if I persue with attempting to get maintainance for our daughter which he does not pay through the CSA. He's just trying everyday he can to control me to do as he wishes... It's rather unfair.... I'm married and very happy to move on.

Enterprise_1701C

If it is interest only then someone is going to have to find the capital at the end of the term, either by selling or another mortgage. How can this possibly be his pension if he pays nothing towards it?

As for him living with his girlfriend, they could well find themselves anonymously reported, after you have the occupation order of course.

In the meantime, don't allow him to continue, perhaps put everything else on the back burner until you get the occupation order.

King_Slayer

Sounds like a right mess tbh. Due to affordability, as suggested, it would be best to stay put and wait on the occupation order. However when you can afford I would suggest you hire yourself a SOL and take the matter to court to force a sale ASAP.

This doesn't sound like a situation you want to be tangled in. The more money invested in the property, he would then be entitled to a share and it sounds like he's bitter. Put it this way although he isn't contributing to mortgage payment and house maintenance, he has however contributed to the purchase of the home and rightfully so, entitled to his due (I wouldn't say a pension tho lol). Shame he insisted taking his daughter into consideration, but not everyone is a saint unfortunately.

Try to concentrate on your expected arrival for the minute. Hope you manage to get it resolved soon