Second mortgage post divorce

wChad

Hi all,

I have to apologise in advance for this not-so-festive thread, but over the last year I have found myself in a very difficult situation and it is proving difficult to move on with my life.

In December last year me, my wife and our two daughters finally managed to save up enough money for a mortgage deposit and we moved into a house that was perfect and had everything we needed. Sadly only five months later my wife had an affair. In hindsight I believe she planned the whole thing but I guess that isn't relevant at this stage. To make things worse I was also made redundant after seven years in a job.

I managed to get another - and miles better - job again quite quickly and I am now also debt free. . The main problem though is that I am tied into a mortgage for a property I'm no longer living in as I am staying with my parents at the moment. The plan at first was to sell the house but that would mean uprooting and I don't want my kids to suffer in any way and have to move school again.

I have continued paying half the mortgage and soon after the split my wife approached the mortgage lender to see if she could take on the property by herself. She only works two days a week, but the lender advised that if she makes three consecutive payments and if she contacts them again then they will reassess her affordability - but this is still likely to be a "no" based on what she earns.

I myself am in contact with a financial adviser at the moment to see how much I can borrow on my own as I keen to move on with my life and to have a place again where my kids can stay with me. The good news is that I can borrow a very healthy amount for what will get you a decent property here. The bad news is that this amount will be 'significantly reduced' as I'm already on an existing mortgage.

The financial adviser said that if my wife contacts him then he will make every effort to remove me from the mortgage. She wants me off the mortgage as much as I want to be off it, but she has become very unreasonable post separation and doesn't want to contact him at least for a few weeks.

We are nearing the end of what has been a very stressful divorce and I've worked hard to clean up the huge mess my wife has caused, but I cannot truly move on until I have another place to call home. I wondered if anyone has been in a similar situation before where they are tied into a mortgage and desperately need to be removed for whatever reason?

I realise that my luck has been truly awful this year, but when I have a problem I will always try my hardest to fix it.

Few things I'm wondering:

Can I be removed as part of the financial settlement (divorce)?
Would a guarantor mortgage enable me to borrow the same amount without it being reduced?
Anything else I can do?

Thank you for any help you can provide I wish you all a Happy New Year

Chad

Pixie5740

You can't simply be removed from a mortgage, the mortgage account would have to be settled first either by selling the property or your soon-to-be-ex-wife buying you out. If you don't want the marital home to be sold because you believe it will uproot your children and your soon-to-be-ex-wife cannot afford to get a mortgage on her own then your chances of getting this mortgage account closed are slim to none. As well as reduced affordability for purchasing your next home you will face having to pay the higher rate of SDLT.

Has the financial order been finalised yet?

SDLT_Geek

Pixie5740 wrote: »

As well as reduced affordability for purchasing your next home you will face having to pay the higher rate of SDLT.

Has the financial order been finalised yet?

Little comfort, but changes to stamp duty land tax made in the Autumn Budget of 2017 with effect from 22 November 2017 mean that if there is a "property adjustment order" in divorce proceedings allowing your wife to stay in the property then at least that property does not "count against you" for the purposes of the higher rates of SDLT, so you should not have to pay the 3% surcharge if you do buy another property.

Thrugelmir

wChad wrote: »

I wondered if anyone has been in a similar situation before where they are tied into a mortgage and desperately need to be removed for whatever reason?

Plenty of people before you. As far as the Court is concerned the welfare of the children is the priority in such situations. The Court by default becomes the guardian of the children, acting in a neutral capacity between the warring parties. Therefore may result in one party remaining in the property until the children have reached the age of 18. You need to speak to your solicitor regarding this. As the matter may well require a Property Order to be drawn up. Which determines what happens to the property in the future.