Complicated House Situation..

crazyhorse1983

Hello,

Sorry for the long post here but I could do with a little bit of advice.. hope someone here could provide me with a bit of wisdom!

So. Where to start?

My estranged father has recently contacted me after radio silence of 10 years or so, stating that he is not very well and would like to make sure that "he sees me right" with some kind of inheritance.

Great - But as my Dad explains his ex wife is currently on the mortgage on his house, and for reasons I can't really go into, he has a restraining order on her and is legally not entitled to the property. However the mortgage lenders are not prepared to take her off the mortgage as he is considerably older than her.

His primary concern is that she is on the mortgage, his secondary is that she would make it very complicated to pass on the property to me when my Dad passes on.

My dad has paid around 27k off the property, and would like me to start a new one in my name only and the 27k collateral would be used on the new mortgage, I would have my name on the property and my dad would continue to live there until the time comes..

So..

Is this common practise? I am somewhat reluctant to take a mortgage out on a property that I have no real concern with. I currently rent in London, have a stable but not massively well paid job His financial advisor believes I earn enough to get a mortgage on the property even with my outgoings in London.

I am toying with the idea of doing as my dad wishes, and then installing myself as landlord with my dad covering the minimum cost of the mortgage and utilities. However I am not entirely confident of going down the landlord route. i really would not know where to start.

Unfortunately I am rather naive in financial matters such as these, and if I am honest I believe there is small chance that my dad would not keep up payments if he were my tenant or if my dad and I took out a joint mortgage.

So I am ultimately seeking a way that my father is able to continue living in his home, his ex wife to be off the mortgage, for me to be involved in some way with my father being liable for the mortgage and me not not being his landlord.

Ultimately I would plan to just sell the property and not make it available to rent.

Thanks for reading, if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.

A

Pixie5740

Your father can’t just sell you the property for £27k because he would need to agreement of his ex-wife since she jointly owns the property with him and I cannot see why she would agree to giving away her share of the equity. You would probably struggle to get a mortgage for as little as £27k and for a property you won’t be living in especially as you currently rent yourself.

Is your father’s ex-wife actually an ex-wife? Has the divorce been finalised? Is there a financial order in place?

How do they own the property, as joint tenants or tenants in common? If the former then your father needs to sever the joint tenancy and change to tenants in common then he is free to leave his share of the property to whomever he likes in his will.

There is no need for your father to involve you in his financial affairs whatsoever. All he has to do is write a will stating who gets what when the time comes.

anselld

The only way the Ex can make life difficult is if she is a joint owner on the deeds. So presumably she is.

You getting a mortgage would not change this. In fact you would find it virtually impossibly to get a mortgage unless you were the sole owner.

So if she is still on the title deeds then it isn’t going to happen.

If she is not on the title deeds then there is no point anyway. The mortgage is irrelevant and he can simply leave you the property in his will. The estate will sell the property, pay off the mortgage and you will receive the remainder.

So either way, no point you trying to take ownership at this time.

Cakeguts

I don't believe him. The father that is. I wonder what he really thinks he is trying to do? I expect he is trying to cut his ex wife out of inheriting any of his money. Not what he says he wants to do.

roger196

If the wife is on the mortgage, they own the property jointly. You will need to find out if they own as joint tenants (on his death, the property passes automatically to the surviving owner) or as tenants in common ( dad's half share can be left in his will to whoever he wants). You need to download the deeds from the official land registry site ( cost about £3) to see how the property is owned.
You will also need to see the terms of the divorce settlement which may dictate how the property is held and what happens to it on dads death. I suspect that dad has been allowed to live there for the rest of his life on condition that the ex gets it all on dads death. Whether dad will let you see the written terms is a matter of doubt.

moneyistooshorttomention

Cakeguts wrote: »

I don't believe him. The father that is. I wonder what he really thinks he is trying to do? I expect he is trying to cut his ex wife out of inheriting any of his money. Not what he says he wants to do.

That's my suspicion too.

Also I'm wondering why there has been "radio silence for 10 years" between them - as in who instigated that "radio silence" and why? It sounds as if its the father that started that and I wonder whether he would be back in touch at all if it wasnt for his attempt to make sure his ex-wife gets nothing.

People do do things specifically in order to keep others "out of the picture". I know that (as a single childless person) my main reason for making out a Will is to make sure it's left to someone other than my brother and his family. I'd guess that is what is happening here.

BrassicWoman

people who want to help people don't do it by lumbering them with debts and dragging them into messy divorces

tlc678910

I'm sorry it may be hurtful for you but it sounds like your dad has got in touch because he wants something. Don't get involved in complicated and potentially messy finances with someone that is clearly difficult to get along with. You will be left with the mortgage, insurance, gas safety cert, repairs and maintenance to pay for (as well as tax to calculate on any rent), for potentially many years. You already fear possibly not receiving rent - over the years this could easily add up to more than the equity you are being promised and be a huge burden to your own finances and plans.

If your dad wants to leave you an inheritance he is welcome to organise his finances and write a will leaving his estate including his share in any property to you. There is no reason for you to take a mortgage for him to do this. If he only wants to leave you the inheritance if you jump through his hoops then sadly that tells you everything you need to know.

Owning your dad's home would make it likely you would fail affordability for your own place in the future, not be entitled to any first time buyer schemes and bonuses/ no stamp duty for first time buyers and have to pay an extra 3% stamp duty on top of the normal rate if you bought your own home as it would be a second property.

I would tell him you are grateful that he might like to leave you something in his will but not in a position to take a mortgage or become his landlord and leave it at that.

Tlc

Margot123

OP if you have a barge pole handy, don't touch this situation with it!

There is no such thing as an estranged relative/friend suddenly wanting a re-connection for the other person's benefit. 'Been there, done that, got the T-shirt' as they say, and it has cost me dearly in time, stress, and money.

getmore4less

how much is the place worth?

how big is the mortgage?

Cakeguts

Your father is looking for someone who doesn't know him very well to buy him his house. He wants someone to do this probably because his ex is trying to force him to sell it so that she can get her money out and move on.

Don't expect him to pay you any rent. He has only managed to get £27k in equity and that may be all due to house price inflation. Don't forget his ex is on the mortgage.

When he says that the ex is not legally entitled to any of the property that can't be right if she is included on the mortgage. Her name is likely to be on the deeds as well.

Your father has most likely come to you because he can lie to you about the real situation. He hopes you will feel sorry for him that he is going to lose his home. However since you had no say in who he married or had as a partner you really shouldn't get involved in how they decide to split up.