Getting my name off mortgage with arrears

Engineer82

Good evening,

I’m in a bit of a sticky situation and looking for help.

I have a joint mortgage with an ex partner. I left the house in 2014. All the payments were up to date.
Since I left the house I’ve been in rented accommodation. My ex partner is still in the house. She has struggled with payments and the mortgage is now in arrears of 9k.
I’m extremely worried how this is affecting my credit rating. I’m now ready to settle down once again and looking for a new mortgage. Problem is the current lenders won’t let me take my name off it whilst it’s in arrears. They won’t even talk about someone taking over my name again till it’s free from arrears.
My ex won’t even consider selling the property.
I’m extremely frustrated and don’t know what I can do about this situation.
Can anyone shed any light on what my options are.
Many thanks.

John_G_Jones

You need to clear the arrears, and with that level,of bad debt I think hoping to borrow more is a pipe dream.

How much equity is there in the property?

Engineer82

Well not much for me, about 5k. She has 80k as she put that down as a deposit.

It’s just hard for me to swallow paying half of the arrears when I haven’t let them build that badly.

Can I force sale in anyway. Problem is we have young children that we have shared custody over. And I think she will just say she has no where else to go if I take it to court.

enthusiasticsaver

Did you buy the property as joint tenants or tenants in common?

Did you draw up a declaration of trust or co habitation agreement as I assume you weren't married?

What arrangements are there for child maintenance?

How much is the mortgage and the value of the property? Is the lender starting repossession proceedings?

I would think you might be more worried about the possibility of your children being made homeless. What does your ex say about what she intends to do?

enthusiasticsaver

Engineer82 wrote: »

Well not much for me, about 5k. She has 80k as she put that down as a deposit.

It’s just hard for me to swallow paying half of the arrears when I haven’t let them build that badly.

Can I force sale in anyway. Problem is we have young children that we have shared custody over. And I think she will just say she has no where else to go if I take it to court.

Technically you did let them build up. You took on a financial commitment. Even if you were no longer living in the house it was both of your responsibility to make sure the mortgage was paid. You cannot walk away from that especially if the residing partner does not have the means to pay it. This unfortunately is the difficulty with relationship breakdowns if you are not married and don't do a proper financial split. Similarly unless there is a declaration of trust the equity is split 50/50.

Engineer82

Not sure how we bought the property.

No we wasn’t married. The only contract I signed was that she got the first 80k if we sold as she put that down as a deposit.

The house is worth about 200k and the mortgage is 96k that’s with the arrears.

When I speak to the mortgage company about repossession they tell me it’s the last thing they want to do, she is in contact with them every month and is paying bits off but I need to move on.

I’m not worried about my kids being homeless they resides with me for 3 and a half years, it was only September it went to a shared custody (a week each). There is no child maintenance from either of us.

Engineer82

Anyone else got any structural advise?

Thanks

GoingOn30

You need to pay the arrears before you can look at being taken off the mortgage.
Your ex may not have the income sufficient for them to put the mortgage in only her name so even with the arrears paid they may not agree to take you off.