Divorced and trying to get off the mortgage

foxy-stoat

kcv684 wrote: »

I would love to do that however, she is refusing to sell the house.

Refusing to sell but cannot afford the mortgage - this will not end well. If you were not on the mortgage and deeds and she got into arrears then the lender would look to repossess depending on the equity. How much the property worth and whats left on the mortgage + arrears?

She needs a wake up call - and you need to have a clean break with the divorce as you are still tie and will be tied financially.

Larac

foxy-stoat wrote: »

Refusing to sell but cannot afford the mortgage - this will not end well. If you were not on the mortgage and deeds and she got into arrears then the lender would look to repossess depending on the equity. How much the property worth and whats left on the mortgage + arrears?

She needs a wake up call - and you need to have a clean break with the divorce as you are still tie and will be tied financially.

Would have to agree - having been through a divorce, you do need some sort of exit strategy. I had to buy' my ex out and then his name was removed from the title deeds. Otherwise we would have had to sold the house and share the proceeds.

kcv684

Thank you all for your replies. There is about 15k equity in the property that I have told her I am happy to walk away from if she could just get things moving with taking me off the property and going through the process with Halifax. I also fear that this will not end well! Solicitors have drawn up letters for me to her, with me offering to clear the arrears and take over the property, but again she is refusing to do this.
I find it difficult that lenders are understanding to a degree but in situations like this, I am completely stuck!

elsien

You haven't answered the question as to why she has gone into arrears.

To take your name off the mortgage would need the lender to be satisfied she can afford to take on the repayments on her own. Something that she is clearly not doing at the moment, and they will want two people to be able to chase instead of one as currently you are both liable.
So have her circumstances changed and does she earn enough to pass their affordability checks?

kcv684

If anything her circumstances have improved since the time that she fell into arrears. Her not paying simply came down to spending the money elsewhere on holidays and other luxuries. All things she has freely admitted knowing that I can't do anything about it. I am hoping that as her situation financially has improved, she will pass the lenders affordability check. My only concern however is whether they will allow her to take on the mortgage with existing arrears money being owed.

foxy-stoat

kcv684 wrote: »

If anything her circumstances have improved since the time that she fell into arrears. Her not paying simply came down to spending the money elsewhere on holidays and other luxuries. All things she has freely admitted knowing that I can't do anything about it. I am hoping that as her situation financially has improved, she will pass the lenders affordability check. My only concern however is whether they will allow her to take on the mortgage with existing arrears money being owed.

Not paying the mortgage in favour of a holiday and luxuries because your name is on the door as a back up, doesn't sound like she will have a mortgage on her own any time soon. How old are the children?

kcv684

The children are 5 and 9 so I still have a way to go if I am to wait or be able to push for the sale of the property if I am forced to wait until they have left full time education.

foxy-stoat

The equity will be gone soon if mortgage isn't paid - dont know how long Halifax will wait until they start repossession process.

She must know that if the mortgage isnt paid she will be out - can you house the children full time now? Your credit history is probably already trashed for the moment so doubt you have much to lose by not paying the mortgage.

kcv684

My credit is trashed yes. The issue with this is that Halifax keep agreeing for her to go through payment arrangements despite me having conversations with them. Whilst nearly 7k arrears are now on account, she has made full payments for the last 6 months but has made them late which has again affected both of our credits. Whilst I can see she is making the payments and this is better than none at all, I could go on like this for years, especially if she decides to not pay for any reason again.

foxy-stoat

I doubt they will kick her out to be honest, as they are getting money and adding fees - trouble is she will have zero chance of getting a mortgage on her own with this history of late payments and arrears.

Damage limitation for you really from now until the youngest is 18 and even then you are not off the mortgage. Maybe stooze as much as you can on credit cards for the next 10 years and hide the cash - keep doing to zero % shuffle for as long as possible. So when Halifax come after you for the negative equity you can go Bankrupt. If you keep the cash in a whole in the ground you will be ahead of the game when it all dies down.

Best get some proper paid legal advice.