Can I be forced into selling to my ex?

artfulldodger86

Oakdene wrote: »

Was it written as a condition of the deposit that it was repayable upon sale of the house or upon termination of the relationship? If not then, I guess if you really wanted to play hardball, you're entitled to more...

Its repayable on the sale. She gets the first £23k then 50/50 after that

itchyfeet123

artfulldodger86 wrote: »

I would rather sell on the open market even if I take a loss.

Why? Is screwing over your ex -- by which I mean making sure she can't have what she wants -- really that important to you?

Niv

artfulldodger86 wrote: »

This is never about the me being Spitefull. She can only raise £2500 to buy me out.

Basically her parents gave us the deposit, which at the time of signing all the paperwork i made sure that she gets the depot back before i get anything. So basically she gets the first £23k from any sale then its 50/50 after that. of which i want to pay her parents back materials and things..

As i earn the most I pay over 60% of the bills and have always done that. She moved career and took a pay cut so the only fair way of paying bills was to do it over a percentage. Part of which was £150 a month to pay her parents back.

I am afraid that it is from where I am sitting

Nostrus

As you haven't mentioned your location, it is possible to do this in Scotland, don't know about England.

Niv

Penitent wrote: »

It sound like you want to split the increase in value 50/50 between you and the ex, but you said her parents gave £30k, so 27.27% of the cost of the house. It would therefore be fair to give them £30k + 27.27% of the increase in value (£34090.40). This would leave you two with £3909.60 between you, so £1954.80 each.

However, you said in your most recent post that you've been paying the parents back £150 a month, so deduct the amount you've paid back from the £34090.40.

It's up to you whether you want to haggle over the % of bills you each paid.

In my opinion the OP should not even consider this, they were in a relationship and in a relationship these things happen (I pay approx. 70% of bills - so what? I earn more), when that relationship breaks down you cant 'charge' for your generosity over the years, next I guess the cost of all gifts should be considered...

david1951

artfulldodger86 wrote: »

we currently own a home together but she wants to buy me out and I would rather sell on the open market even if I take a loss sounds like you're being spiteful. Can she force me to sell it to her? maybe, but as others have said only after a long and expensive legal battle

she has offered £2.5k to walk away sounds reasonable based on Penitent's calculations
the house is valued at £125k,
£87k outstanding on mortgage,
£23k deposit from her parents plus building work so around £30k
We brought the house for £110k

It's not about the money for me what is it about?, but I just want to know if she can force me to sell it to her.

Thanks in advance

Why don't you want her to have the house? Surely the sensible thing is to let her have it, take what you can from this unfortunate situation and get it over with as quickly as possible. In other words, take the £2.5K and be done.

AnotherJoe

artfulldodger86 wrote: »

This is never about the me being Spitefull.

"I would rather sell on the open market even if I take a loss"

Really? What does that sound like then?

If its not, then for goodness sake accept the £2500 and move on, because you certainly do come across as being spiteful with that opening comment.

Maybe its fully justified but the spite will burn you up as much as her. Clean break, move on.

TBagpuss

If she can pay as much or more than you would get if you sold on the open market then yes.
It would be open to you to apply or a sale, there woul then be nothing to stop her making an offer and unless you had a difernt buyer offering more, it would be unreasonable to reject her offer. And being unreasonsbl in court proceedings is likely toresult in you paying her costs.

If you do have a secondbuyer offering more then of course it is reasonable to say you want to sell to them instead, but bear in mind you would have state agents fees etc in that scenario.

The figures should be based on what you are each legally entitled to, not on what she (or you) can afford - if she can afford £2,500 but you would be entitled to more, then it is reasonable to say no.

If the agreement that you had when youbought was that she would get her cash deposit back, then after that and the mortage the equity is about £8K. If you sell on the open market then you are probably looking at costs of sale of £2,500 - £3,000 so the available equity would be about £5K, and she is offering you half of that.

If there was no agreement about repaying her parents for the materials then you could argue that that figure should be a bit higher, if the agreement was that the deposit would go back to her a s a % then the £23K is now 'worth' £26k so net equity taking ionto account the materials is £2K, excluding itis around £9K, so you would be entitled to between 1K & 4.5K.

I think you would be OK to try to negotiate a slightly higher lumpo sum bearing in mind you have been making higher contributions to the mortgage (afeter all, if you are taking into account her contributions, it is not unreasonable to take into account yours as well) but it is not reasonable to try to prevent her buying the property, if she can afford it and can get you released from the mortgage.

PasturesNew

You're just being awkward and spiteful to not wish to sell to her.

Think of your children - every minute you spend letting this gnaw at you is time you could've spent thinking of them or doing something with them.

Every £ you spend "fighting" this pointless fight is cash you're robbing from your kids who could've had a nice holiday or meals out or fun days out.

Use your time/energy/cash to spend on your kids/yourself, not on some futile and spiteful point scoring exercise.

Fosterdog

You have two choices, refuse to sell to her and have a potentially lengthy and costly legal battle with bitterness building and the whole thing taking over your life.

Or sell to her, be the bigger person and move on with your life happy with the fact that you are not a deliberately vindictive and bitter person. In a years time you will realise how petty it all is and be a much happier person for just letting it go.

I would though as suggested above work out the calculations properly to make sure you're not being financially shafted by only getting £2500, with the parents money included you may be better off with that or you may be worse off.

I guess the other thing would be, who's name is on the mortgage? Would she qualify for it on her own if you say she has taken a pay cut in work? She may not even get a mortgage on her own so it would have to go on the open market.