Separation help please! Complex situation

Househelpplease

Hi all,

I’ve joined today to ask for some advice please. I have friends who have had fantastic advice on here and am hoping for the same.

I have a difficult situation here which I know needs legal advice and am waiting to hear back from law firms on this but as yet haven’t managed to speak to anyone.

I bought a house with my wife 10 years ago. It was a shared ownership basis with the developers retaining 25% which would need to be repaid at a later date. The mortgage was taken on an interest only basis but this was to be changed over the coming years.

We separated 2 years later and agreed that I would no longer contribute to the mortgage due to having to pay my own rent but that my ex wife would remain living in the house due to us having children. I paid child maintenance of course.

I have been asking my ex to sort out the situation and she insisted the 25% was no longer payable due to a breach in the contract with the developers. It has been over a year and nothing has been done (I admit I should have taken action long ago but believed her promises that she would deal with it).

She now has a new partner living in the property with her.

I have to be honest just got on with my life and allowed her to live in the house as her own as I was there so briefly (only one fifth of the time the house has been owned). I was taken off any mailing lists and just allowed her to pay the mortgage trusting all was well. I knew the time to repay was nearing and began to put pressure on her to let me know what was happening. She kept promising it was all ok but I was worried. It all came to a head and I now know that my ex has continued to only pay the interest on the mortgage despite telling me it would be ‘sorted’.

The house is now in negative equity and the developers want their 25% this year. My ex is insisting I owe half of this. I understand that as my name continues to be on the mortgage the legal stance is that we are jointly and severally liable but considering she has had use of this house as her own for 8 years, and me having to rent (obviously I can’t buy another property due to this mortgage), her having chosen to only pay the interest and not taking any responsibility for actually repaying this or dealing with it despite promises, that she now has a new partner living there, I don’t feel this is right.

Would I have a case to counter this request for half of the money? I absolutely do not have this and it would probably force me into bankruptcy.

Red-Squirrel_2

This is a financial issue rather than a relationship issue, you might be better off posting on the house buying, renting & selling board or perhaps in Debt Free Wannabe.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Legal advice would be the best course of action.

If you're prepared to see who blinks first, she might feel slightly less confident about this if your solicitor feels it's reasonable/not illegal for you to point out that you aren't going to be the one who is going to end up homeless if the house gets repossessed.

Comms69

Househelpplease wrote: »

Hi all,

I’ve joined today to ask for some advice please. I have friends who have had fantastic advice on here and am hoping for the same.

I have a difficult situation here which I know needs legal advice and am waiting to hear back from law firms on this but as yet haven’t managed to speak to anyone.

I bought a house with my wife 10 years ago. It was a shared ownership basis with the developers retaining 25% which would need to be repaid at a later date. The mortgage was taken on an interest only basis but this was to be changed over the coming years.

We separated 2 years later and agreed that I would no longer contribute to the mortgage due to having to pay my own rent but that my ex wife would remain living in the house due to us having children. I paid child maintenance of course.

I have been asking my ex to sort out the situation and she insisted the 25% was no longer payable due to a breach in the contract with the developers. It has been over a year and nothing has been done (I admit I should have taken action long ago but believed her promises that she would deal with it).

She now has a new partner living in the property with her.

I have to be honest just got on with my life and allowed her to live in the house as her own as I was there so briefly (only one fifth of the time the house has been owned). I was taken off any mailing lists and just allowed her to pay the mortgage trusting all was well. I knew the time to repay was nearing and began to put pressure on her to let me know what was happening. She kept promising it was all ok but I was worried. It all came to a head and I now know that my ex has continued to only pay the interest on the mortgage despite telling me it would be ‘sorted’.

The house is now in negative equity and the developers want their 25% this year. My ex is insisting I owe half of this. I understand that as my name continues to be on the mortgage the legal stance is that we are jointly and severally liable but considering she has had use of this house as her own for 8 years, and me having to rent (obviously I can’t buy another property due to this mortgage), her having chosen to only pay the interest and not taking any responsibility for actually repaying this or dealing with it despite promises, that she now has a new partner living there, I don’t feel this is right.

Would I have a case to counter this request for half of the money? I absolutely do not have this and it would probably force me into bankruptcy.

It's this simple:


You agreement with the developer does NOT mean you each owe half. It means you each owe the full amount.


How you and your ex split that is down to you both.


You could ofcourse force a sale, or return to the property if she insists you pay half.

TBagpuss

Comms is right.

You and your wife have a legal contract with the developer. You&She jointly owe them a lump sum equal to 25% of the value of the property, and it is irrelevant whether you each pay half, one of you pays it all , or you split it in another way.

You and your (ex?) wife then have a completely separate legal relationship with each other. Are you divorced? Did you have a court order?
Assuming that you don't, then you could now divorce her and make a financial application, and a court would have to decide what would be a fair outcome. The court cannot change the legal relationship between You&YourWife and the lender, but they can adjust the finances as between the two of you.

If there are no assets at all, then there isn't much a court can do, as even if they ordered her to reimburse you for the money paid to the developer your chanves of getting the mony are not high. But if there are any other assets a court might decide it was fair for you to have thoe, or for your ex to pay you back in installments if you end up paying.

Are you sure that the house is in negative equity? Do you mean with regard to the mortgage, or do you mean that the mortgage + sum due to the developer is more than the value of the house? If t is the latter, than you could push for the house to be sold, to clear the mortgage and as much of the debt to the developer as possible. Depending on the figures, you might be able to negotiate for the developer to accept this in full and final settlement, and even if you can't, you would reduce the debt and might then be able to come to an arrangement to clear the rest.

The developer may well be entitled to repossess if the money isn't paid so if you do nothing the decision may be taken out of your hands.