Transfer of Equity, who pays the fees?

getmore4less

Stoke wrote: »

Well I guess I paid my solicitors to do a job and they didn't do a good one.

What did the independent advice your ex took at the time say about the agreement?

Tom99

Stoke wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't mind so much if it was 250, but it's actually 500. She's not budging on it though, so unless I deduct it from her part of the settlement (which I could, I suppose), then I'll have to cover it.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You say the whole process costs £500 so is that not £250 each?[/FONT]

Stoke

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You say the whole process costs £500 so is that not £250 each?[/FONT]

Yes. She's refusing to pay though.

Stoke

getmore4less wrote: »

What did the independent advice your ex took at the time say about the agreement?

Uhmmmmm. :rotfl:

bowlhead99

Stoke wrote: »

I don't know if this is the same thing, but I got a declaration of trust written up before we bought the house. I invested a lot more than her and I simply wasn't willing to let myself get mugged off.

So the declaration of trust that protects you from getting mugged off would set out what would happen in the event that one person decides they can't or won't pay anything towards the mortgage and don't have any desire to fund any costs of getting themselves out of the mortgage...

That could be something like, your ongoing mortgage contributions buy you an increasing share in the house until she takes action to force a sale of the house or agree a value to sell her piece to you. Or some other solution. Or it may be silent on the matter...

Thanks for your reply. You say she can't..... well she has. I've had to cover her contribution as I am not willing to let the house get into arrears and utterly destroy my good credit rating.

I think you misunderstand what was being said due to typo.

It wasn't that she can not just stop paying the mortgage, it was that she can just not pay the mortgage, ie just stop.

The reason for that is she doesn't have an agreement with the bank to keep funding her proportionate share of the mortgage. Instead, you collectively have an agreement with the bank to fund all the mortgage. If she doesn't pay, and you don't want to lose the house, you will probably pay

If you don't collectively keep to the joint agreement you have with the bank, the bank can trash (both) your credit ratings, pursue you both for the debt, force a sale - because you are both 100% up for being chased. If there is equity in the property and they sell your property at a low value that will cost you both, and if proceeds are lower than the debt they could pursue you both, though practically may "go after" the one who is most likely to be able to pay them back, especially if the other person just shrugs and says "bankrupt me then, see if I care".

But it sounds like you get all that and like any sensible person you want to go ahead and get her off the mortgage and deeds ASAP so she doesn't persist in being silly and causing you a personal financial loss or bad credit.

Thanks for your reply though, this does help a lot. I'm glad that I'm not the only one thinking that we both should be paying.

I agree totally that you *should* both be paying but unfortunately the way to enforce your legal rights is to use the court system which would likely cost you in time and hassle and cash outlay, more than £250.

Practically if she wants to cause you grief she can just say "well I'm not living there so I ain't paying" and flounce off, leaving you covering the shortfall if you want to avoid the mortgage going into arrears which of course you do. Depending on the terms and complexity of your deed of trust that might cost her some equity - but maybe she doesn't care if her share is quite substantial (because she's wealthy), or quite small (because there's not much equity so she isn't going to get a big payout anyway so isn't bothered), or she's just naive and hadn't thought it through.

It would be nice to just engage a solicitor, get the documentation done, get her to sign, and take her share of the costs out of her net proceeds and let her chase you in small claims if she wants to get 'her' £250 back. But as she would have to sign the paperwork and won't sign anything she doesn't want to sign for whatever reason (either a sensible reason or an idiotic reason), you may struggle to do that.

It's true that if she doesn't get off the house deeds and mortgage she won't be able to get another residential mortgage, won't be able to buy another property even without a mortgage without paying extra stamp duty for multiple homes, and will be on the hook with the bank if *you* decide to just stop paying as well. However, depending on her circumstances she might be ok with that.

There is a phrase in investing, don't make a decision just because of what you think the market *should* do - the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. It is the same with ex-partners. The right thing morally is for her to pay her fair share of the costs of the 'exit' process (and maybe her fair share of the cost may not be 50:50, if your share of equity is greater than hers and it's felt that you benefit more from anything to do with the property so you should pay more of the costs of financing and buying and selling it). But if the ex wants to be obstinate and irrational, in a belief (rational or not) that it will be better for them if they behave that way, then they may well get away with it because the other party can't afford to wait it out forever.

Thanks for the reply. I wouldn't mind so much if it was 250, but it's actually 500. She's not budging on it though, so unless I deduct it from her part of the settlement (which I could, I suppose), then I'll have to cover it.

At the end of the day, you want the whole property in your name and to not have her having an interest in the property for years to come and credit ratings tangled together.

So, I think you've rightly concluded it might be best to pay up yourself rather than argue the toss over who pays for the settlement you came up with. She might be hoping you will eventually see it that way, and may just be playing dumb because she knows you'll eventually cave. Or maybe she's not that smart and is just naive. Either way, you can get on with your life of you pay, and can't (yet) if you hold out to try to change her mind. I'd probably pay and move on.

Stoke

Thanks for that excellent reply bowlhead. Very very thorough.

I have resigned myself to the fact I'll pay. Ultimately, come the end of this process, I will be in my own house, with my own mortgage, with a good credit rating, and she won't be able to mess with that. The money will pale into insignificance over the next few months.

Thank you