Obtaining Court Order to force sale

CathieCh

I have a friend who was kicked out of the house he shared with his ex, 4 years ago. His ex refused to buy him out or sell the house, until suddenly at the beginning of last year she announced that she was desperate to sell. He signed all the papers, they had buyers, but she delayed until they finally pulled out. She then decided to take the house off the market in December (without his consent) and is refusing to put it back on the market until he agrees to pay half the mortgage for the past 4 years.
In the meantime, he is very ill and was on ESA highest rate, but it has been suspended because the house has been taken off the market (as far as they are concerned it is now a Capital Asset). He is now penniless and sleeping on my couch.
He has a solicitor involved but things seem to be moving very slowly.
I know he can get a Court Order to force her out of the house (no children involved) but how much is that likely to cost and is there an emergency route?
I'd be grateful for any advice.

foxy-stoat

Forcing a sale is very slow and very expensive - the only real winners are the solicitors.

Whos name is on the mortgage, if its joint then he needs to move back or come to a compromise with the Ex.

Get the approximate balance, and likey sale value and work out the best course of action.

Guest101

move back in...

mrginge

What was the plan to divide the equity (if any) ?

pimento

I think the best advise is to move back in to the house he owns half of and make life uncomfortable for his ex.

Marvel1

With everyone else, he is joint owner, so move back in.

steampowered

I know he can get a Court Order to force her out of the house (no children involved) but how much is that likely to cost and is there an emergency route?

These are questions he should be asking his solicitor.

If there are no children involved, and this has been dragging for 4 years, I wouldn't have thought it should be too difficult to get a court order.

He can talk to the solicitor about the options here and instruct the solicitor to issue proceedings. Of course this will cost.

theartfullodger

Indeed: Move back in.

Good advice here....
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/relationship-problems/relationship-breakdown-and-housing/if-you-live-with-your-partner-relationship-breakdown-and-housing/if-you-live-with-your-partner-and-you-own-your-home-relationship-breakdown-and-housing/

Which country is property in - England, Wales, NI, Scotland?? (The law varies.,,)

agrinnall

When you say ex do you mean ex-wife or ex-partner? If it's wife then the property should have been dealt with as part of the divorce settlement.

How is he paying the solicitor if he is currently penniless?

rockingbilly

What a situation!!
I have something similar but thank goodness not in the same position.
My wife of 37 years owns our home. Her name only is on the deeds and she had a small mortgage which she paid off using her own money. I have never contributed to the purchase of the home although I have paid for the maintenance of it.

It seems that she can throw me out and change the locks as I do not have any beneficial interest in the property. I set up a discretionary trust in which a few years ago she passed over 50% of the value to the property.

No one can come to me for anything as I don't even have a pot to p*** in! What debt we have (£2000) on a credit card is in my name as is the car finance. but she actually owns the car as she paid £19000 as the deposit.

I think I had better behave or I will be homeless!!

mrginge

All this about moving back in is all very well, but I'd still like to know what the equity split is going to be.

After all, if the OPs friend is demanding 50% of current equity for a house they haven't lived in or contributed to for four years then I'd say the ex asking for half the mortgage payments is fair game TBH.

But we don't know do we.

And of course, if the friend is indeed penniless, then moving back in presumably puts them back on the hook for the mortgage, bills etc.

There's more to this story.