Division of house equity - is ex entitled to half?

Starfishroll

Me and my ex (unmarried) partner separated and he moved out of our joint mortgaged house 10 years ago which I am living in with our children to this date. To cut a long story short we didn’t settle and sell back then because he had an IVA so he didn’t want to sell at the time. There was also no equity in the house apart from the deposit I paid with my own money.
Fast forward to now, we would both like to sell, but my ex still wants half my deposit and half the equity.
During the 10 years of living in the property I spent around 20-30k on much needed home improvements, and subsequently turned the house from a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom to a 4 bed 2 bathroom, increasing the value.

I am looking for advice on my legal on standing on this.
Ideally I would like my deposit and the amount of money I spent on improving the house back. I would then be happy to split the equity 50/50. I know my ex won’t agree to this so I’m wondering if I could realistically win this if/when it goes to court.

Thrugelmir

Starfishroll wrote: »

Fast forward to now, we would both like to sell, but my ex still wants half my deposit and half the equity.

As you've occupancy you hold all the cards. Use it to negotiate a compromise. Court action is very costly. Neither of you will come out as winners.

middleclassbutpoor

You want to sell - you need your ex to agree.

If you don't need to sell then he will get nothing and cannot force you to sell without legal intervention.

You are unlikely to get away with moving without it costing you something - whether it be a payment to the ex or a payment to a court/solicitor.

You just need your ex to be convinced that any payment is a gesture of goodwill. As much as it may seem unfair - the error was not buying him out sooner before increasing the value of your property.