Parents mortgage dispute

Imodar0609

So I have a dispute between parent and step parents regarding a house they bought together. They where together for 15 years and in that time they bought a property together. It was paid for jointly whilst together for many years then the split up (never married) the mortgage is in joint names and there is no sole owner.

When they split up the mother stayed in the property and paid the mortgage and the upkeep. This was approx 5 years. This is where it gets tricky. The step father then wanted to move in and the mother wanted a smaller place so they agreed to swap. Mother moved to a rented property and step father moved into the owner property.

There was a verbal agreement made that there would be a transaction of £8000 to hand over the keys. I must stress nothing was done legally involving solicitors or anything. There was apparently a scrap piece of paper signed agreeing to the deal but again nothing official/legal.

Step father has now been there a year or 2 and has decided he wants to sell the property so the mother mother said that she would agree on the basis that the house was sold for value (approx £90k) they then pay off the rest of the mortgage (approx £50k) and they split the rest 50/50 (approx 40k) then the mother would hand back the £8000 so I’m effect the step father would get £28k and the mother would get £12k.

The step father is refusing to do that and wants the entire lot but the mother will not agree to the sale on that basis. I agree its a little vague but does anyone know anything about this and give advice about where each party stands legally?

Thanks in advance.

AnotherJoe

Too messy. They need to get solicitors involved. And the costs of that may bring them to their senses.

Thrugelmir

Legally. Both are entitled to a share of the property. Neither can sell without the others agreement. Legal bills will soon run away. Compromise is the only solution.

AnotherJoe

Here's an idea. They find an accountant or similar person that they both agree whose judgement they will accept. And ask that person to come up with a solution they will both have to follow. They make that agreement binding.
They place all their information to this person, who then rules. Kind of a Judge Rinder type thing they pay for themselves. Will be much cheaper than a protracted legal battle even if one thinks they are losing out.

Eg let's say the mother walks away with an extra five thousand after splitting , not eight. Better that than getting the eight, but also having a legal bill for ten or twenty.

foxy-stoat

Just a simply 50/50 split + give back the £8K of the equity after fees and legal costs - mother lived in the property rent free (but paid the mortgage), father had to pay rent for 5 years not sure why £8K needed to change hands.

When Father moved back in and assuming paid the mortgage for 2 years the Mother needed to pay rent somewhere else.

I cant see that why the Father thinks he wants all the equity after the sale.

PattyF

So your Stepfather gave your mother £8k to 'refund' her mortgage payments for the 5 years she paid it alone?

He clearly thinks the £8k was intended to buy her out of the property, which is why he now things hes entitles to all the equity.
Fortunately for your mother, that isn't legal.

The simplest way to fix this is for your mother to pay him back the £8k so they are even.
BUT then your mother will have paid the mortgage for 5 years while he has only paid it for two.
So the fairest thing would be to split the £8k, that way they have both paid the mortgate equally.
Then they can sell the house and split the equity 50/50.

But this will all need to sorted out by a solicitor if he is unwilling to sort it out fairly.

Imodar0609

Thanks for responding, pattyF that’s the most accurate account of the situation.

Yes she solely paid the mortgage for 5 years and he has done so for 2. They where both in private rent the time that they wernt in the property. I think the 8k was assumed to be a buy out (of which wasn’t done legally) under the pretence that he was staying in the property meaning that it was still in the family in case of unfortunate events.

He has now however decided that he wants to sell it and was going to do that (secretly, thinking mother wouldn’t know) she found out and said that’s not what was agreed so suggest to mention deal above. He carried out a roof repair recently but it cost around the £5/600 mark yet insisted that because he had done this he was entitled to 16k of mother’s half (meaning he would get £36k inc the £8k and she would get £4K) naturally she feels he is taking the mick and refused the deal saying she would not sign anything under that basis.

Now regarding the £8k nothing official was done (stupid on both parts) he basically handed the money over for the keys and got a bit of scrap paper out of the van and wrote it down as a sort of receipt. Very stupid. I’ve told her to contact the mortgage company to explain the situation but how does it work if they decide to sell? Would 1 person be in charge of funds or would the mortgage company do the splitting of funds or is that down to a solicitor?

AnotherJoe

They cannot sell without both signing.
The solicitor will distribute the funds.
They will need to agree the split beforehand.