Buying house from divorcing couple

molenpad

After some negotiations, we had an offer accepted on a house £10k under asking price, which is no chain and currently empty.

We originally believed the owner had moved into her mothers house who had sadly recently died, which is not untrue - it's just not the whole story. We bought the land registry title for this property and saw what it was bought for last and noted there was no lender. There is one name on the title.

Since we had the offer accepted all has gone smoothly. The survey has been done and very quickly the mortgage has gone to offer. We were just about to tell the solicitor to proceed with searches when we got a phone call from the estate agent.

Don't worry about it, they said, but the vendor has asked that we remove the sold board and the sold stc from the property on rightmove because her soon to be ex-husband is hassling her about taking a low offer and thinks she should stick it out to get the max possible sale price. They will not show the house to anyone else and the vendor is still proceeding with the sale to you, they tell us.

Honestly, this is the first we've heard about the house being part of a divorce. The house is being sold by the wife, the estate agent tells us. But how can the husband have no say? Surely if its being sold as part of a divorce then both parties need to agree the sale price? The title document only has the wifes name.

Should alarm bells be ringing for us and should we postpone the searches? What could be going on here?

middleclassbutpoor

Remove the emotion and background noise from this. Whilst the story for moving may not be ringing true - it may be down to a difficult relationship breakup.

You have made an offer and had it accepted. You need to proceed with the conveyancing.

Let them remove the boards etc and from their website etc. Keeping the board and listing up only helps promote the EA's business and that they can sell properties. Not advertising this hurts them more than you.

chunkytfg

Who are you actually buying the house from? is it the wife or the white AND husband?

If its the wife then crack on as he doesn't matter, but if it's both of them he doesn't have to sign anything and could make things very awkward!

Clarify this before doing anything else i'd think?

molenpad

The only person that has been mentioned so far is the wife. Her name is the only name on the title and the memo. of sale. The only reason we found out a husband exists and the house is empty due to divorce, is because the wife doesn't want the husband to know she has accepted an offer and is proceeding with it. The estate agent says he is pressuring her to take a better offer but what sort of say does he actually have?

I can tell you that the difference between the last sold price (in 2014) and our offer means someone is getting a very handsome lump sum...

They've both moved out of the property. It's currently empty.

AnotherJoe

It's not your problem what she sells it for . Do what the seller asks and hope it goes through quickly.

Thrugelmir

The husband could apply for a restriction to be put on the property. To protect his interests. Without this there's nothing to stop the wife selling the property and utilising the proceeds.

There's no reason to believe that the sale won't go through. Just be prepared for the unexpected.

molenpad

Thanks all, I suppose what I don't understand is how the husband can have no say in the sale. I understood that in a divorce everything is usually split 50 50 even if the house was purchased in one person's name. From what I can work the house was bought shortly before the couple married so it's not like it was the wife's house for years before they met. Really seems odd.

As there is no lender, could it be that the wife bought it with all her own cash, therefore it is legally hers to sell on?

da_rule

Probably quite a simple explanation. Property was ordered to be transferred into the wife’s sole name as part of the court order following divorce. She either cannot afford to live there anymore or no longer wants to live there (bad memories from the failed marriage etc.) so is selling.

Without seeing the court order you have no way of knowing what assets were in the marriage or what assets the husband left with (there could have been another house etc). You also have no way of knowing whose (if anyones) fault the divorce was.

If there’s no restriction and only the wifes name on the title then stop worrying. If there was an issue your solicitor would find it.

AnotherJoe

molenpad wrote: »

Thanks all, I suppose what I don't understand is how the husband can have no say in the sale. I understood that in a divorce everything is usually split 50 50 even if the house was purchased in one person's name. From what I can work the house was bought shortly before the couple married so it's not like it was the wife's house for years before they met. Really seems odd.

As there is no lender, could it be that the wife bought it with all her own cash, therefore it is legally hers to sell on?

I think your understanding of what's split means is incorrect. The assets may be split in any ratio but let's say it's 50/50 in this case. That doesn't mean every asset is individually split 50/50. Assets A&B may be £50k each and asset C £100k so far simpler then to have A&B assigned to one of the couple and C to the other. Also some assets predating the marriage which were individually held may continue to be.


And of course, which seems likely here, it may be that the value of some assets in a split will be counted as to their sale price and it may work in her favour to have a low sale price (or maybe its spite. A bit like these tales you read of woman who sold husbands vintage wine collection at a fiver a bottle or his sports car for fifty quid. In which case its all in your favour but you need to buy that figurative sports car before husband gets wind and gets the courts involved.)
P.s. it could also be the woman is being realistic about the sale price and the husband unrealistic / malicious and will make her hang on for a higher price which may never happen.

molenpad

Popped into the estate agents on the way to work today and it transpires that 'they believe' the wife owns the house outright and it's only her name on it therefore she is selling it herself. The have been separated a while and the house has been empty for a couple of months with both of them moved out.

The husband has no stake in the property and the reason she doesn't want it showing as sold is because if he sees it's sold he will contact her and pester her about what she sold it for. I guess while it's still showing as for sale he has no reason to contact her.

My worry is if he is so concerned then why not register his interest in it and demand a share. That would complicate for us, as he may not agree to the price we have had accepted, for example. When could he actually do that if he wants to? I am sure his divorce lawyer will be asking about the house and what's happening with it in terms of the sale price and equity.

Not sure if it matters but for context, they both own their own separate businesses and the husband, I am led to believe, is in the process of moving abroad.

molenpad

Also, just wondering if it's possible one half of the couple could have agreed to getting a certain %age of the property sale, yet have no say in what it sells for. Is that possible?