What rights do I have...?

natg83_2

So basically about 12 years ago I bought a house with a boyfriend. We split shortly after. He wanted to stay in the house, we discussed selling, he didn't want to.
It was an Interest only mortgage so he said he would change it to repayment and take my name off it when he could. He continued to pay it he's never asked for a penny.
I asked him every couple of years what was happening and he still wanted to stay but was struggling to get a mortgage in his name alone so it just kind of dragged on.
Since this he's met someone else and moved in with her. He rented the house out for a short while and through that the tenant wanted to buy it. So he told me he had a buyer and we needed to sell it and both move on with our lives kind of thing.

There was roughly 20k of negative equity as the balance hasn't reduced any cos of the type of mortgage being interest only - we still owed as much now as the day we took it on.
He asked me for half of the shortfall, so 10k. I told him straight that I didn't have that kind of money and for me, the only option would be to stop paying the mortgage and let it fall into repossession. I knew that would affect both our futures but it was the only option I could see.
He said he didn't want to do that and the long and short is that he's stumped up the money himself, I don't know the exact details of where it came from.
Everything completed a few weeks ago and from my side, that was it done.

He's now hit me with a letter saying he's taking me to a small claims court for my half of the negative equity.
I know my name was on the mortgage but would it be upheld in court? I told him i didnt have the cash and from my point of view hes willingly put the money in himself. No one forced him to? I don't know if I've got a biased opinion and im not looking for the moral opinions, I just want to know if he's got a case or not?
Thank you for any helpful comments.

ACG

I would say your opinion is very biased.
Handing the keys back does not mean its done and dusted. There is every chance the bank would have taken you to court and banged on a load of fees/interest in the meantime.

You are/were both 100% liable for the full mortgage balance. If it goes to court you can argue your case.

natg83_2

Yes, I understand what you are saying.
All I want to clarify is that if hes chosen to put his own money in to pay off a joint debt, does he have a case in a court?

ACG

Thats why you go to court, you can both put your case forward.
You could invest in a solicitor and get their opinion.

You gave him the option of covering a debt you both signed for or messing up his credit report for the next 6 years plus. The potential outcome could have been a bigger debt (through fees) or bankruptcy if the lender would have decided to take it that far.

dimbo61

12 years ago!
This is a very long time
Tell him you will see him in court
Hope he has declared all the income to HMRC ( From renting ) and also had permission of the lender ( Consent to Let)
Gas safe certificate, Landlord Insurance??
He had use of the property for 12 years while you did not
What would have happened if it the property had gone up by £20,000 or £200,000 in the last 12 years ?

natg83_2

12 years, yep!

I just feel like I've always tried to do the right thing by not pushing the sale when we first separated and I've never asked for a penny of the rent money (although I don't think he was even breaking even to be honest).
I've gone along with everything he wanted and now I've got this threat of legal action.

ACG

dimbo61 wrote: »

12 years ago!
This is a very long time
Tell him you will see him in court
Hope he has declared all the income to HMRC ( From renting ) I think you can let it out for 2 year without paying tax on the rental income? (I could be wrong) and also had permission of the lender ( Consent to Let) (Not illegal and also a double edged sword)
Gas safe certificate, Landlord Insurance?? (Also a double edged sword, both liable. I cant see ignorance being an excuse)
He had use of the property for 12 years while you did not
What would have happened if it the property had gone up by £20,000 or £200,000 in the last 12 years ? (That will be his argument surely? Would our poster have wanted some of the profits?)

I would get advice from someone qualified, it seems your ex is.
Small claims will not really be interested in landlords insurance, gas certificates etc it has nothing to do with the case. Your argument is about the finances. But as you were named as one of the owners if there was no insurance/gas certificate and something happened I suspect you would have been jointly liable for that. So be careful about trying to land someone in it as you may find yourself there with him.

Thrugelmir

natg83 wrote: »

He's now hit me with a letter saying he's taking me to a small claims court for my half of the negative equity.

From a solicitor?

Let him.

He wanted to stay in the house, we discussed selling, he didn't want to.

There's your defence. (I assume the property wasn't in negative equity at the time).

iammumtoone

was the house not in negative equity at any time over the 12 years? If yes could you argue he should have sold then? if no at any point was the negative equity less than £20K? again could you argue that you are only liable to the least amount of negative equity it was over the time frame he refused to sell.

If any point the house held equity clutching at straws could you claim he owes you half of that equity as he refused to sell at that point?

I think you need paid legal advise.

iammumtoone

You must have agreed to the sale at the negative equity price, what was the agreement between you both at that point about the shortfall.

You could have not agreed to sell, you had every right seeing as he had been doing this for long enough.

natg83_2

We bought just before the big property crash, it was a new build property and we paid just short of 110k. I've kept an eye on the for sale sites and the most I've seen an identical property sell for is 97k. I don't think it's ever not been in negative equity.
But the point I've always made to him is that at the time of our separation we could have put it straight up for sale and we would both have had to sort out whatever may have been. To leave it 12 years to sort it out just seems a ridiculous amount of time.