After a divorce how to get a mortgage of the flat on just my name

InvestingNow

During the divorce process, the court order gave me the flat that we owned and if the flat was sold whatever the profit from the sale, it would be just for me as the court order says.

The problem is that the flat is still on my ex-husband name and mine. Why? Because the mortgage is still on his sole name. This is in this way because the current mortgage lender does not want to transfer the mortgage on my sole name, and at the time I didn’t look for any other lender that would give me a mortgage just on my name.

For you guys to be able to give me any suggestions (all are welcomed). I will tell about me and the flat:

My job as the moment is to take care of my 2 children so I am not currently working.

The mortgage of the flat in London is of £200,000 and the last valuation sale price from 2 different agencies 2 years ago was £420,000, therefore today it would be a little bit more. The current mortgage is a pay-interest only mortgage, I have never paid any capital.

The money that enters in my household per month is around £3675, from the court order agreement plus benefits.

One year ago I tried to ask for a mortgage in the Natwest bank and they rejected me because I was not working, and I did not ask any where else. Now I am determined to have the flat on my sole name. Therefore I would like to ask you if you know any bank or broker that would be able to give a mortgage with my circumstances.

I always thought that it would be easy since the flat’s sale price doubles the mortgage value.

Thanks in advance!!

ktj01

Hi there

Second time attempt at replying to this (pc froze) hopefully you won’t get duplicates.

To summarise your challenge as I understand it you have a non standard income from two sources: child maintenance (I assume, not spousal) and benefits. Are there lenders who will factor this in as income?

The short answer is yes, however you must appreciate that they will not always consider these in the same way they would look at employment income. For instance, Lloyds and Halifax will only use 60% of child maintenance income in their affordability assessment. In addition, they will need to see that these payments have been and will continue to be sustained over the long term (i.e ex makes his payments, and children aren’t nearing adulthood). On the benefits front it is worth noting that some may be considered in order to increase the affordability amount but only where the applicant is employed to start with. I’m not sure but this may be the case for some lenders on the maintenance side of things as well.

Two questions that you may also want to take away:
- you are currently taking care of your children, are you likely to return to employment in the near future and would you be better off taking over the mortgage at that time?
- now that you are divorced, do you have a strategy in place in order to pay off the capital portion of your mortgage?

All good things to think about and discuss with a mortgage advisor. Good luck to you :-)

Thrugelmir

The court provided you with a home for your children. Your ex in essence guarantees the debt by remaining on the mortgage. I assume that you pay the mortgage from the money that you receive every month. With any equity on sale being yours. Why not overpay the mortgage? Thereby reducing the debt owed.

When your children are grown up. Your ex will expect you to remove him from the mortgage. The problem you face isn't therefore going to go away. Every month that passes gets closer to this day.

From a lenders perspective what's your plan once the child maintenance reduces/ends. With no work income you aren't going to find any easy solutions.

DigForVictory

You may want to re-target your ambitions so you have a flat in your name, not the family flat in London in your name.
Not quite what you may want to hear but something to consider as a possibility.

AnotherJoe

I'm not sure I see the benefit to you of getting a mortgage. At present your ex is on the hook for this. If he stops paying, it's he who ends up with a bad financial record, not you.
If the house rises in value you still get it when it's sold.
OTOH if you did manage to get a mortgage in your name and thus ex stops paying, it's you that's got the bad record so your ex has much less incentive to keep paying.
So, why not wait until children are 18 and you'll have to get your own mortgage, and then along with your job at that time you can buy this current place or different one.

silvercar

I would suggest this is more a problem for your ex than for you. He has the mortgage liability, you have a court order giving you all the equity in the property.

InvestingNow

Thanks so much for all the advice!!
I completely understand the peopke saying: not to worry and keep the mortgage on his name. And I didn’t for the last 3 years, but now I really want to keep my flat as long as I want and a interest-only mortgage won't do it so I want to get a repayment mortgage and put the mortgage just on my name.

I have some interviews and calls and the first problem I face is that I am unemployed even though I have had for the last 3 years a steady income of £3854 a month which is over £46,000 a year net, after tax. plus an equity of 220,000k

Do you any lender who would lend money for a mortgage even if you are unemployed?

Thanks so much in advance

silvercar

You will probably need to wait until you are working. How long before your youngest is in school and you could work?

phillw

Its really common to keep an ex on the mortgage for years. Money and property doesn't have feelings. If the court says its yours and you are making the payments then what the mortgage and land registry say is just a luxury.

Thrugelmir

InvestingNow wrote: »

even though I have had for the last 3 years a steady income of £3854 a month which is over £46,000 a year net,

Which, as i said in my earlier post, is only applicable as long you are entitled to maintenance for the children. From the lenders perspective what happens when this income drys up?

enthusiasticsaver

You are unlikely to get a mortgage if you are unemployed. Your income streams are dependent on your ex paying maintenance and most lenders don't like that and will certainly not take it all into account. Again many of them will not take benefits into account either so really focusing on getting back into the workplace is your best option. How old are your children?