Chance of success of court order to force sale ?

griff450

I have recently split from my partner.

We owned a property as joint tenants (recently severed to tenants in common)

My solicitor has written to ex partner offering to buy her share.

I have obtained 3 market valuations and made an offer based on the profit that would be made if sold on the open market but have discounted associated fees such as early mortgage repayment charges, estate agent fees and so on.

Despite this I have had no reply and ex partners Father seems to be insisting on putting on the open market.

I do not want to agree to this so I assume she would have to apply for a court order to force sale.

Would the fact that I have made a "fair" offer to buy her share influence a judges decision in any way ? or is this irrelevant.

Cheers in advance.

DoaM

Ex partner's father can go do one? What's he got to do with it?

Does he have an interest in the property? (e.g. in the form of a loan for the initial deposit)

griff450

Ex Partners father was involved in a lot of work in doing up the property (but this was done as a gift to the pair of us) the property was also in the family in the past, so there is an emotional attachment there.

The work did increase the value of the property significantly but as said, it was a gift so I dont think this can be taken into account.

However I also have an emotional attachment due to the 6 months I slaved my !!!! off doing it up as well.

She is refusing to deal with it herself and going via her father, my solicitor has made it clear we will not deal with him as her name is on the deeds, yet he continues.

I obviously think I may get to a point where it is better to sell but for now I wish to pursue the option of a buy out.

steampowered

griff450 wrote: »

Would the fact that I have made a "fair" offer to buy her share influence a judges decision in any way ? or is this irrelevant.

Yes, the judge has the option of ordering that the other party's interest in the property is sold to you.

Despite this I have had no reply and ex partners Father seems to be insisting on putting on the open market.

Of course he can't sell the property without agreement. Either both owners have to agree what to do; or somebody goes to court; or she gets left in limbo.

You don't have to pay them anything, nor do you have to co-operate with a sale. You will win at playing the waiting game. I would be tempted to just leave a reasonable offer on the table - if your ex wants to take it, great. If not, nothing will happen unless she appoints a solicitor and applies for an order for sale.

She is refusing to deal with it herself and going via her father, my solicitor has made it clear we will not deal with him as her name is on the deeds, yet he continues.

If the daughter has formally consented to the father dealing with this on her behalf, I don't see how you can object.

Your ex is entitled to appoint her father to deal with this if she wants. In the same way that you have appointed a solicitor to deal with it.

griff450

steampowered wrote: »

Your ex is entitled to appoint her father to deal with this if she wants. In the same way that you have appointed a solicitor to deal with it.

Yes, fair point, however we have received no actually acknowledgement of this so far, so I would at the very least expect a written a reply to my solicitor to detail this !

I agree on the waiting game.

AnotherJoe

If you wish to push her/him to the edge you can simply refuse to allow anyone else but you to buy. You might also have a word with the EA and point out that you wont be entertaining any sales unless its to you, so they may decide not to market it since they will be wasting time and money. Indeed without your signature on the contract they shouldn't proceed anyway. Should she fake your signature, then you should report her for fraud.

At the same time she might dig her heels in and refuse to sell to you (especially if your offer is below "open market value" which it appears it is. Then she might go to court, spend a shed load of money and both come out losers.

Finally, are they refusing to sell it to you at any price, or just at your current lowball price (albeit that might bring in more money eventually?)

In the meantime, both? of you are paying a mortgage and presumably one of you is renting as well I assume? You should both watch Wars of the Roses. Any chance of some sort of arbitration service to get you both to come to an agreement?


p.s. you might change your title to "Chance of success of court order to force sale to me?

Mossfarr

They may not agree that your offer is fair. She and her family have all invested in the property - in either financial terms or by the amount of work they have done.
How would you feel if your partner (via her Father) offered to buy you out instead on the same terms as you have offered? Would you still consider it to be fair ( I'm not judging you, I have no idea if your offer is fair or not, i'm just suggesting that you consider it from their perspective).

Its perfectly reasonable for your ex to appoint her Father to act for her. He will absolutely act in her best interests and will have more knowledge and experience without being as emotionally involved as she is.

You are probably better just allowing it to be sold, trying to force the issue through the courts will end up costing you substantially more.

griff450

AnotherJoe wrote: »

If you wish to push her/him to the edge you can simply refuse to allow anyone else but you to buy. You might also have a word with the EA and point out that you wont be entertaining any sales unless its to you, so they may decide not to market it since they will be wasting time and money. Indeed without your signature on the contract they shouldn't proceed anyway. Should she fake your signature, then you should report her for fraud.

At the same time she might dig her heels in and refuse to sell to you (especially if your offer is below "open market value" which it appears it is. Then she might go to court, spend a shed load of money and both come out losers.

Finally, are they refusing to sell it to you at any price, or just at your current lowball price (albeit that might bring in more money eventually?)

In the meantime, both? of you are paying a mortgage and presumably one of you is renting as well I assume? You should both watch Wars of the Roses. Any chance of some sort of arbitration service to get you both to come to an agreement?


p.s. you might change your title to "Chance of success of court order to force sale to me?

It's not a low ball price (obviously it is lower to an extent), there is room for negotiation and I have also offered to pay for a mediation service as I am flexible on what has been offered.

I have also had threatening behaviour which aimed at me (from the father) which I've reported to the police.

Part of me thinks it would save me a fair lot of stress to sell, but at the same time I do not like being bullied, especially when we would have substantial early repayment charges to pay.

Additionally I think we could obtain a better price in the future, all estate agents have said there is a small dip at present.

Finally, I would be looking to onward purchase which means it wont be a chain free sale ! which is only going to extend things even more.

I am currently living in the property still (she decided to leave and did not ask to stay) she is contributing her mortgage half and council tax and I am paying everything else.

Obviously if offer is accepted these can cease immediately, if this drags on then she is paying for somewhere she is not living.

The main problem seems to be emotion clouding everyones judgements ! which is why I thought a formal letter from a solicitor outlining option A) to option may clarify, but nothing as yet !

griff450

Mossfarr wrote: »

They may not agree that your offer is fair. She and her family have all invested in the property - in either financial terms or by the amount of work they have done.
How would you feel if your partner (via her Father) offered to buy you out instead on the same terms as you have offered? Would you still consider it to be fair ( I'm not judging you, I have no idea if your offer is fair or not, i'm just suggesting that you consider it from their perspective).

Its perfectly reasonable for your ex to appoint her Father to act for her. He will absolutely act in her best interests and will have more knowledge and experience without being as emotionally involved as she is.

You are probably better just allowing it to be sold, trying to force the issue through the courts will end up costing you substantially more.

Problem being he is probably even more emotionally involved !

I understand your point but she does not want to buy me out as is living away from the area now, nor could she afford the mortgage of which i have an AIP for.

I do feel it is only right to go via the official channels though and at least discuss formally.

My main question I am really after a response on is, If a court order was applied to for sale buy her, would the chance of success be diminished due to a "fair" offer being made to purchase her share ?

theartfullodger

It's worth a try to force a sale: In your shoes I would budget for two failed attempts, final successful & LOTS of legal fees ....

Artful (Now on 3rd successful marriage)

griff450

theartfullodger wrote: »

It's worth a try to force a sale: In your shoes I would budget for two failed attempts, final successful & LOTS of legal fees ....

Artful (Now on 3rd successful marriage)

Problem being I imagine this is going to cost..... a lot !

Same on the flip side for her.