Selling a house after divorce. Whereabouts of ex-wife unknown.

Peteroverseas

Hi All,

I've owned a house since 1993 which was bought together with my ex-wife for 55,000 pounds. My ex-wife is not a UK national and since divorcing has now re-married and lives in America. I last had contact with her about 10 years ago but since then her whereabouts are unknown to me and I have no way to contact her.

After divorcing in 1996, I gave to her a sum of 15,000 pounds as her share of the house. This was despite there having been no real capital appreciation of the house and no financial contribution from her towards the mortgage. I wanted her to go on and have a good start in life as 15,000 pounds in her home country (Brazil) was a considerable sum at the time.

I did not change the joint mortgage arrangement and ownership to my name only (foolish I know), and now am in the situation of a fully paid up house in both our names valued at approximately 220,000 pounds.

At the time when we were in communication my ex-wife always said that she wanted nothing from the house and I have in fact rented it out for the best part of 18 years whilst living overseas.

My question is, if I want to sell the house, what would happen as both our names are on the title deeds?

If I cannot locate her how can any sale proceed?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

davidmcn

Easiest way would be to find her. Private investigators can often do so reasonably quickly/cheaply. If that fails you'll need a court order.

macman

How did you rent it out without her involvement? The mortgage company would have needed to consent to it being let, or switched you to a BTL mortgage.
Is it owned as joint tenants, or tenants in common? If the latter, you cannot sell the property without her consent. If the former, you can only sell your share.
Did you have a formal and valid legal agreement drawn up saying that she relinquished her share of the property, or did you just bung her £15K? Assuming this was an informal arrangement, you may well find that she will expect 50% of the sale proceeds minus £15K once she becomes aware of its current value.

Aylesbury_Duck

Yes, I think you’re stuck. If you track her down, she may well insist on receiving her share of 18 years of rental income plus 50% of the sale value minus the £15k you gave her. If you don’t or can’t track her down, you can’t sell.

Peteroverseas

In reply to Macman,

I rented out for many years in a private agreement with the tenant. Mortgage company were never informed.

It is owned as joint tenants.

There was no formal or legal agreement drawn up regarding her relinquishing her share of the property for the 15k I gave her. At the time I was just happy to not have to sell the property, have a friend as a private tenant and receive rental income.

Living and working overseas for the last 18 years I didn't really keep my eye on house prices. Certainly couldn't have foreseen the recent tripling of prices in the last 7-10 years.

In reply to Davidmcm,

If after failing to find her whether by private instigator or otherwise, what does a court order involve?

Thanks to Aylesbury Duck for your input.

skintpaul

have you looked on facebook, twitter, instagram?

Post a pic, asking for contact. Tag with last known location - #town name etc.

bobobski

macman wrote: »

Is it owned as joint tenants, or tenants in common? If the latter, you cannot sell the property without her consent. If the former, you can only sell your share.

Other way around - joint tenants own the whole together; tenants in common own their own shares.