Loaned money for deposit

Pixie5740

designamouse wrote: »

Hi all and thanks for the prompt replies.
Firstly no formal agreement about repaying the money exists, however it was given to my partners parents not ourselves. He doesn’t want any profit on the money - just the same value returned
During the time I lived at the property I paid the “rent” / mortgage money to her parents.
As the mortgage was in her parents name I’ve no idea what they said, whether it was even acknowledge as a gift or anything

If I were your father I would send a Letter Before Action to the parents requesting the money back. Why her parents think that your father should contribute towards their tax bill I don't know but that's a moral issue rather than a legal one. If the parents tell your father to jog on, which I suspect they might, I don't fancy your father's chances in court since he has diddly squat in terms of evidence that this was a loan to the parents.

In the meantime you should find out if you can establish some kind of beneficial ownership in the property. Were there ever discussions about what the money you paid was for i.e. paying off the mortgage or was it rent? If they claim they were your landlords did they comply with the relevant legislation i.e. if there are gas appliances in the property did they provide annual gas safety certificates, were you given a "how to rent" booklet, were you provided with an EPC for the property, how was your tenancy ended? With a bit of luck you could demonstrate that you are/were a beneficial owner of the property and can therefore make yourself enough of a PITA that the parents think paying your dad back is the lesser of two evils.

caprikid1

I should add , did you get Gas Safety Certificates ?

lisyloo

Both of these could be userful leverage as clearly they have stopped being reasonable.

I don't agree with this (on moral or legal grounds).
The agreement was (again see post #1) was that it was a loan until a specific event - that being when the couple purchased the house.
That event has not happened AFAIK.


The couple splitting up was never considered but it certainly does not mean that the loan can be just be re-called from an illliquid asset.

tlc678910

If we put aside all the plans for selling on/paying back which didn't/won't happen because you as a couple have split up.

We have
Parents of Jane - buy a house
Parents of John - contribute money

The agreement was for parent of John to pay the stamp duty (to help Jane and John) but Jane and John didn't buy a house at all. The parents of Jane bought a house.

As such a house was bought with let's say 200k coming from Jane's parents and 6k from Johns parent. Jane's parents now own 2 houses and John's parent has contributed an amount equivalent to paying their stamp duty.

John's parent should sue them (now) at small claims court (money claims online) for the return of his money or a charge put on the house for the money. They should not wait as time will only muddy the waters. The plan was ill thought out to begin with unfortunately as no one could pay the stamp duty for Jane and John as Jane and John did not buy a house but I think it is worth hoping for a common sense approach in court that John's father has no wish to pay stamp duty for Jane's parents never to see it again or to retain a share of the property.

I hope you can evidence the movement of money from your dad's account to your partners parents. In this case her parents will be trying to justify why your dad's contribution came with no benefit but their contribution resulted in them owning a property.

If your dad paid for the stamp duty directly without the money going into your ex partner's parents account then I think this weakens the case as stamp duty is not refundable.

Good luck
Tlc

Comms69

OR it could be a loan to Jane and John, which went to their account and they are (presumably) jointly liable for it's return.


So John's dad sues Jane.


But it is very complicated unfortunately

designamouse

Thanks for all the feedback - will try and answer as man questions as possible.
The money was gifted to her parents, by cheque I believe, at no point did he / we specifically say the money was for the stamp duty. They are saying that’s how it was used.
The agreement was to repay when we purchased the house, there is capital in the house, and it took a lot of renovating to bring it up to a decent standard
No formal tenancy agreement existed, there is text message / written documents that reference is living there but no actual agreement.
We aren’t expecting a cheque for the money, just acknowledgment that it will be paid back if/when the house is sold.
For those concerned I am repaying my dad back, it’ll take me a couple of years and a lot of hard work but he doesn’t deserve to be out of pocket, however once that’s repaid the money he lent will them should come back to me.
We didn’t lend the money for it never to be seen again.
I think I will arrange a meeting with a solicitor...