joint mortgage but ex paying nothing

Kieranlouise

Hi all, I am new to this site & to posting in forums in general so i apologise if i've posted in the wrong place or if i ramble on a wee bit.

I have recently found myself in what seems to be a nightmare situation & i would be very grateful for any advice from those a bit less daft than myself. I'll start from the beginning....

I bought a flat outright as a cash buyer on my own for myself & then 6 year old daughter in 2006. using money i'd inherited following the death of my parents. Fast forward a few years & in 2011 i met a lovely man( you can judge his loveliness at the end) & fell madly in love, soon after he moved into our flat. We decided to purchase a larger property together to set about having lots of babies & live happily ever after.

We purchased a house in april 2012. The purchase price was £78,660. ( Scotland you get a lot for your money if you can cope with the cold). I sold my flat & put some of the proceeds £15,510. as the deposit. The mortgage on the property was £63,960. This mortgage was in joint names. Mr lovely put nothing towards the deposit because he had no cash & no assets but who needs cash when you are so lovely.

Myself & Mr lovely agreed to put the same amount each week, as we were both weekly paid, into a joint bank account to cover the mortgage & any bills. The food was always bought by me because lovely people it seems feel no need to buy food, not when more important things like buckfast ( a scottish delicacy), cigarettes & funny smelling smoking stuff need buying. The joint account was sometimes paid into by Mr lovely but more often than not wasn't or was paid in then dipped out a couple days later.

Anyway the dipping in & the consumption of buckfast & other stuff became wearing for me & i realised that Mr lovely wasn't as lovely as i'd first thought. Luckily the plan of babies didn't materialise.

This is turning into a bit of a novel so i do apologise.

In february 2014 i decided that things between me & Mr lovely were over. I was working full time at the time but for a lowish wage so was unable to take on the mortgage myself in the eyes of the bank that is. but Mr lovely wanted cash & he wanted it now. So stupidly being the fool that i am i made a little handwritten note that we both signed, stating that i would take full responsibility for any future mortgage payments & that in return he would walk away from any interest in the property but be available for any future solicitors/bank appointments with regards to signing over the property for a cash sum of £7500. I then transferred said amount into his account, both happy. Mr lovely more so having walked into a relationship with only the clothes on his back & walked out £7500 richer after contributing virtually nowt. I was also happy to not have to hear pitbull or any other poor music tastes blaring from the stereo on a Saturday night.

All good till now. I have been working full time at my current place for nearly 2 years. 18months with the agency & then took on, on a 6 month contract basis in july this year. 2 weeks ago i was delighted to be informed that i was going to be kept on full time & offered a permanent contract. I jumped for joy.

I went for an appointment at the bank last week to discuss taking the mortgage on myself & Mr bank man had no problem in offering me a mortgage based on my current earnings. so again i jumped for joy & celebrated with a cheese & onion pasty.

I contacted Mr lovely & informed him about the great news that i could now sort out the mortgage stuff so to let me know when is convenient for him & i'd be in touch at no cost to him. Mr lovely replied saying he would sign but he wanted paid for signing but did not specify any amount.I replied, using only the very mildest of swear words reminding him that he had indeed been paid £7500 & had agreed to this. To which he shot back that our agreement wasn't worth the paper it was written on & he doesn't see why i should get everything while he has nothing. Everything, i'm assuming being a house that only i have ever contributed to.

At this point i panicked & contacted the legal department of the union i am a member of who then put me in touch with a glasgow based solicitors. I spoke to said solicitor last night & after telling him this whole sorry tale informed me that Mr lovely is legally entitled to 50% of the equity in this property & that my solo deposit & subsequent solo mortgage payments count for nothing. The house is worth around 86K with around 55K remaining on the mortgage. i have never missed a payment.

I feel more foolisher than a fool from fool town but i have no desire to line mr lovleys pockets any further with my hard earned cash. I have a meeting with mcdoom & gloom solicitor on tuesday but his phone call hasn't exactly filled me full of hope & being a natural worrier my stress levels are through the roof.

Any advice or offers of hitmen would be muchly appreciated & if any points in my not so eloquent rant need clarified then i am happy to do so.

Kind regards
the foolish one

Thrugelmir

Kieranlouise wrote: »

I have a meeting with mcdoom & gloom solicitor on tuesday but his phone call hasn't exactly filled me full of hope

Would you prefer that your solicitor filled you with false hope. At least you know the bottom line from a legal perspective. Perhaps best to communicate via your solicitor in future. So as to avoid direct confrontation.

ACG

I would speak to another solicitor - a good one with some teeth.

Kieranlouise

No, not at all I don't wish for false hope & I totally understand that he is reacting from a legal standpoint but I wish for him to act for me so would have hoped that he could have been a little more positive about the likely outcome & any legal ways around it taking into consideration the amount I have put in. i wish to have no further contact with mr lovely except through a solicitor but contact was always amicable up until the dropping of his wanting more cash bombshell.

Kieranlouise

Yes you're not wrong agc, I'll put the feelers out on this one on tuesday but I'm really looking for a who called saul type solicitor. Someone to tell him to beat it & stop being a chancer. A big guy who owns a baseball bat & Rottweilers & is just the right side of staying out of jail is the kind of legal guy I'm after

Thrugelmir

Kieranlouise wrote: »

I wish for him to act for me so would have hoped that he could have been a little more positive about the likely outcome & any legal ways around it taking into consideration the amount I have put in.

Any legal routes would involve a considerable expense. The only winners then being the solicitors themselves. A good solicitor will also be practical. Thinking through what's best for their client. When you meet your solicitor you'll have an opportunity to run through everything in more detail. They should explain the reasoning behind their advice.

Perhaps your ex will settle for far less than 50%. If they have haven't the money to fund or have access to legal advice themselves. Then the fact you have. May be a factor in influencing the eventual outcome.

Thrugelmir

Kieranlouise wrote: »

A big guy who owns a baseball bat & Rottweilers & is just the right side of staying out of jail is the kind of legal guy I'm after

Works if you are chasing an outstanding debt and need a minder. Not if you are trying to unpick a legal matter.

ACG

I do not think the solicitor is correct.

Can you not sue the ex for the monthly repayments?
I would say spend some money on a good firm of solicitors int he city centre, not your local family law solicitors.

Thrugelmir

ACG wrote: »

Can you not sue the ex for the monthly repayments?

On what grounds? Onus was on the OP to remove the other party from the mortgage or resolve the issue several years ago.

Kieranlouise

I'm hopeful as he isn't working that he won't have the money to fund any legal advice himself but I'm not sure how legal aid comes into play with this type of thing. I'm not entitled to it myself. I have thought about offering him another token amount of cash with the threat of court action & claiming back 50% of my solo mortgage payments & buildings insurance etc if he rejects this but I'm worried about threatening him in case he calls my bluff & employs a no win solicitor to take on his case. I'm about as clued up on the law as I am on posting on forums but give me a butternut squash & I could dice it to within an inch of its life

Kieranlouise

These are a firm of solicitors recommended & used by unite union. I am hopeful agc that if it all goes to shhhhh I will be able to claim back the mortgage payments I have made & the money I have paid him, given that he has reneged on our written agreement but the law is a funny thing & he seems to have me over a barrel.