Selling the house, need permission from other adult occupants

somuchindebt

Hi, I wonder if you could give me some advice. I am selling the house that I own jointly with my ex husband. We are both in the agreement about this. Solicitors sent us forms and it states that any person over 17 living in this house will have to sign the agreement. I remarried and my new husband does not support the idea of sale. We have been arguing a lot and are probably at the verge of separation / divorce. But I am worried that he will not want to sign the papers or move out. Where would I stand legally should this happen?

marksoton

You need proper legal representation.

Thrugelmir

Ideally you need to convince your husband to agree to signing otherwise the sale may collapse.

You need to speak to your solicitor to discuss your options if he doesn't.

AdrianC

You jointly own the house with Husband 1.
You live in the house with Husband 2.
You don't want Husband 2 to know that his home is for sale, and he might not agree to move out...

At some stage, this subject's going to have to be broached, because otherwise he's going to come home one day and find somebody else's furniture in the place. Of course he's got to agree to provide vacant possession on completion of the sale. He doesn't have any direct stake in the sale, but he is still a resident.

Frankly, if he's got THAT big an issue with it, then it sounds like separation might not be the worst plan, long-term. But this isn't the right part of the forum for that...

somuchindebt

Thank you for your responses.

Adrian C, I said my husband does not support the idea, but never said he does not know. He does know, and has known since decision was made. Well, at some point he told me to do it (probably because he did not believe house would sell). I agree that this is not right part of the forum for discussing the separation and our personal problems, but I can assure you he will not end up on the streets...
I am trying to find out about his rights as resident and if it could potentially stop the sale as Thrugelmir suggested.

marksoton

somuchindebt wrote: »

I am trying to find out about his rights as resident and if it could potentially stop the sale as Thrugelmir suggested.

Potentially yes. But that would be fully dependent on your circumstance.

It's not a question this forum can answer as there's too many details.

G_M

somuchindebt wrote: »

I am trying to find out about his rights as resident and if it could potentially stop the sale as Thrugelmir suggested.

Probobly.

Even though the property is not in his name

a) he is a resident and could refuse to move out
and on top of that
b) as you are married to him, it is the marital home, giving him further rights.

Best solution is to persuade him to sign.

You could even 'buy him off' ("sign here and I'll give you £500" or whatever).

An alternative is to seperate/divorce, and the property will be thrown into the mix when it comes to dividing up the marital assets.

eddddy

somuchindebt wrote: »

I am trying to find out about his rights as resident and if it could potentially stop the sale as Thrugelmir suggested.

I don't think the question is concerned so much with the occupants' rights - it's more the practicalities.

An occupant who doesn't support the sale might refuse to move out on completion of the sale.

The occupant might even have no legal right to stay in the property, but it may still take a court order and bailiffs to evict them as a trespasser.

Bonfire_Bride

All marriages go through tricky times. Why is he not happy to sell?

somuchindebt

Oh ok, I will just have to see how it goes then and seek legal advise if necessary. Thank you for your thoughts....
Bonfire, he is not happy to sell as it's convenient for him, he has his own bedroom, does not pay anything towards the bills. He buys the food and we should all be grateful for that... Unless of course we have an argument then I have to buy food as well. Yes, all marriages go through tricky times, but mine is just very tricky one..

glasgowdan

Are you sure this is a husband and not a teenage son?