Buying ex out of property or selling house altogether?

soysauce1245

Hi All,

I'm wondering what you would do in this situation, bearing in mind Brexit is happening soon. My ex and I split up in March 2018. He left the house and I've been living in and paying the full mortgage ever since. From the very beginning I was keen to buy him out of his share and sever ties completely. He is flat out refusing this and wants to continue joint owning for a considerable amount of time (he says until the property price has increase and would happily co-own for years and years...). Of course, I'm not happy with this so I'm speaking to him one last time and if he still disagrees I'll have to get my solicitor to threaten a court order. He can't afford to buy me out.

I was thinking about this the other day and these are my two options:

Option one: I buy him out. I'd have to give him a big chunk of money + pay stamp duty upfront, which will use all my savings. I'd then take on the full mortgage (Nationwide have agreed for me to do this) but the mortgage is quite a lot and money would be tight. This means that, while I can afford the house, I wouldn't be able to save very much extra each month. I have a lodger now but i'm not enjoying them being there and would rather live on my own. I do love the house and I will have paid off my student loan in Jan 2020 so will have a bit more money then. It's just this year that will be very tight.

Option two: We sell the house on the open market. I can then take the money and buy a less expensive flat. The mortgage payments would be super affordable, I could live on my own and I'd be away from the memories of the past relationship. However, with Brexit looming, is it a terrible idea to downsize? Will the house even sell! I live in London btw.

I know this is a lot of information, and it's all personal preference, but what would you do in my situation?

Thanks so much

Comms69

soysauce1245 wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm wondering what you would do in this situation, bearing in mind Brexit is happening soon. My ex and I split up in March 2018. He left the house and I've been living in and paying the full mortgage ever since. From the very beginning I was keen to buy him out of his share and sever ties completely. He is flat out refusing this and wants to continue joint owning for a considerable amount of time (he says until the property price has increase and would happily co-own for years and years...). Of course, I'm not happy with this so I'm speaking to him one last time and if he still disagrees I'll have to get my solicitor to threaten a court order. He can't afford to buy me out. - be mindful that such an order would likely cost you £10,000+ and could not force a buy out, ONLY a sale.

I was thinking about this the other day and these are my two options:

Option one: I buy him out. I'd have to give him a big chunk of money + pay stamp duty upfront, which will use all my savings. - Probably more than half would have to be paid, to be worthwhile for him I'd then take on the full mortgage (Nationwide have agreed for me to do this) but the mortgage is quite a lot and money would be tight. This means that, while I can afford the house, I wouldn't be able to save very much extra each month. I have a lodger now but i'm not enjoying them being there and would rather live on my own. I do love the house and I will have paid off my student loan in Jan 2020 so will have a bit more money then. It's just this year that will be very tight.

Option two: We sell the house on the open market. I can then take the money and buy a less expensive flat. The mortgage payments would be super affordable, I could live on my own and I'd be away from the memories of the past relationship. However, with Brexit looming, is it a terrible idea to downsize? Will the house even sell! I live in London btw. - not sure why people are panicking about brexit to be honest, but each to their own

I know this is a lot of information, and it's all personal preference, but what would you do in my situation?

Thanks so much

You can only force the second option

soysauce1245

Thank you for your reply. Surely he will also have to pay £10K+ if i force the sale, which will encourage him to avoid going down that route?

I'm interested that you're don't feel the need to panic about Brexit. But i guess if I can only force a sale then I don't have to make the decision anyway. It's either co-own with him for years or break the ties now.

[Deleted User]

Why isn't he paying anything towards the mortgage?? If it does increase in value he will be benefiting from that increase despite not even paying in for the past 9 months. No wonder he is happy to carry on as it is!

You need to decide on whether you want to stay in this house or not, then either buy him out or if you do want to sell then force a sale.

soysauce1245

Deleted_User wrote: »

Why isn't he paying anything towards the mortgage?? If it does increase in value he will be benefiting from that increase despite not even paying in for the past 9 months. No wonder he is happy to carry on as it is!

You need to decide on whether you want to stay in this house or not, then either buy him out or if you do want to sell then force a sale.

I know! He just flat out refused - wanted to have his cake and eat it. And, ultimately, I didn't want to effect my credit rating by not paying. I'm seen another side to him in the past year that's for sure. And it's even more of a reason to sort this out. I'm just umming and ahhing between the two options.

AdrianC

You say you'd need to give him a large amount of money... but how much equity is actually in the property? He's owed half of that. No more.

soysauce1245

AdrianC wrote: »

You say you'd need to give him a large amount of money... but how much equity is actually in the property? He's owed half of that. No more.

The house hasn't increased in value so he's owed half the deposit and half what we have paid off the mortgage. So £25K but has said he will only accept £35k to be bought out. Even if I had that much, I wouldn't give it to him. I'll only buy him out what he's owed.

Comms69

soysauce1245 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. Surely he will also have to pay £10K+ if i force the sale, which will encourage him to avoid going down that route? - Why? You think you can force him to relinquish an asset by force and attribute costs to him? (I'm not saying costs are never granted, but it's not standard practice)

I'm interested that you're don't feel the need to panic about Brexit. But i guess if I can only force a sale then I don't have to make the decision anyway. It's either co-own with him for years or break the ties now.

Why would I panic about it?


Indeed. Consider that whatever option to you is open to him and I suspect that him forcing the buy out of a property you wanted to retain would also leave a sour taste.

AdrianC

By "paid off the mortgage", I hope you aren't including the interest payments that have been made.

...and he's not even been paying those?

Comms69

soysauce1245 wrote: »

The house hasn't increased in value so he's owed half the deposit and half what we have paid off the mortgage. So £25K but has said he will only accept £35k to be bought out. Even if I had that much, I wouldn't give it to him. I'll only buy him out what he's owed.

That's not how buy-outs work.


Where is the incentive to sell if he wont be making anything?

soysauce1245

Comms69 wrote: »

That's not how buy-outs work.


Where is the incentive to sell if he wont be making anything?

What would you suggest then?