Advice regarding ex partner and mortgage

Mrsn

I’m wondering if anybody would be able to offer some advice for my sister regarding the house she owns with her ex partner.

He left 5 years ago and from that point he hasn’t paid a penny towards the mortgage (the direct debit was moved from their joint account to her sole account shortly after he left)

When he left they had a joint loan together which was circa £22,000 which again he never paid a penny towards and my sister battled through paying this off alone

They have a 16 and 12 year old together, he pays £120 a month maintenance towards them and very little else to do with them, my sister was never married to him which I understand makes things more complicated for her.

He has decided he wants my sister to sell up to release his share of the money to him, he claims to have gained legal advice which he has told her he will force her to sell despite the fact the children live at that property and my sister runs her childminding business from there too (I realise that’s not really relevant but it’s her source of income) he’s made it clear he wants 50% of the equity which to me seems very unfair since he’s not contributed anything for the last 5 years.

Unfortunately she’s not in a position to remortgage on her own as she cannot get a high enough amount by herself and also because she has now built up credit card debt whilst trying to survive on the last 5 years that’s not helping her circumstances either.

She has gained very basic legal advice in the past but it differs greatly to what he is telling her so just wanted to see if anyone might be able to give us some pointers.

Thanks in advance

Fire_Fox

Sorry you have had no responses. There are regular threads on a similar topic if you run an advanced search.

Your sister clearly needs proper legal advice. If they are tenants in common they should probably have switched to joint tenants some years ago.

If her ex partner is being threatening she should stop communicating with him verbally about this matter. Use the 'broken record technique'.

Either refer him to her solicitor every time, or tell him to to to e-mail every time. Every single time no matter how many. No discussion/ debate/ arguments. She has already proven she is more determined than he.

Your sister would be best joining and posting on MSE herself: the 'Debt-free Wannabe' board regulars can help with the credit card debt for example.

HTH.

xylophone

he has told her he will force her to sell

In order to force a sale, he would need to take the matter to court.

https://www.samconveyancing.co.uk/news/conveyancing/can-i-force-the-sale-of-a-jointly-owned-property-6179

Under the circumstances, (see above), it is by no means certain that he would get one?

Mrsn

Thank you both for the responses and links most helpful

Socajam

Make sure that your sister have all the paperwork for the loan and how it was paid.
Any receipts for the repairs to the house etc
He might be shock when he realized that he owed 50% of the £22,000 plus any interest. This will come from his share of the house.
I doubt he will receive 50%, but as mentioned above I would stop communicating with him verbally and get everything in writing.
Keep every message or letter etc that is written to you.

mobileron

He dont know what he is talking about,tell him to take her to court and he will get free advise from the Judge.

Support her sounds like he is a bully also not paying enough for his kids.

foxy-stoat

How much equity is he after?

If she cannot afford the mortgage on her own for just the outstanding balance now then she should have a plan to address that for her own sake.

SmashedAvacado

If they are tenants in common they should probably have switched to joint tenants some years ago.

- absolutely the opposite of this!

His argument will be that in the last five years she has benefited from the property by being able to live in it so presumably it made sense that she paid the mortgage. I am not saying that this is right - or fair - but this is what he will say.

For the long term sanity of all concerned, it really would probably be best if she sold the property and attempted to buy something else. That will lead to a lot of upheaval but if she wants to move on with her life, an important part of that would be severing financial ties. If that's not an option, then perhaps she can agree with him that they can maintain the status quo for another few years and deal with it then.

Exodi

To play devils advocate, your OP indicates that your sister still lives in the property? I don't think it would be reasonable to suggest that he pays half the mortgage and his rent. I really think your sister has made a rod for her own back by not selling up (ironically as the partner requested) and continues to pump equity into a joint asset.

How does she own the house? As Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common?

I think without bankrupting herself on solicitors, the default position is selling the house with the split as per the deeds and no recourse on the loan as you've settled it as one of the debt owners. I do however think it incredibly unlikely the ex would be granted an Order for Sale, especially with children involved. That said, partly due to not being married, prolonging the inevitable sale is tantamount to kicking the can down the round every month (but every time she kicks it, she hands him half her mortgage payment).

EDIT: Oh snap! Our posts follow a similar direction

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

- absolutely the opposite of this!

His argument will be that in the last five years she has benefited from the property by being able to live in it so presumably it made sense that she paid the mortgage. I am not saying that this is right - or fair - but this is what he will say.

For the long term sanity of all concerned, it really would probably be best if she sold the property and attempted to buy something else. That will lead to a lot of upheaval but if she wants to move on with her life, an important part of that would be severing financial ties. If that's not an option, then perhaps she can agree with him that they can maintain the status quo for another few years and deal with it then.

Hutch100uk

Such a shame she didn't look into all this when he first left. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Similar thing, I separated from ex and he moved out. I agreed to pay the mortgage on my own until the house sold (which I put on the market straight away). He made no contribution to the mortgage in the 18 months it took to sell. My solicitor said he could legally take 50% of any equity whether he has paid into the mortgage or not.
Your sister can either sit tight and make him take legal action to force a sale or just bite the bullet and sell it.

Surely your sister has come to the end of any fixed term mortgage by now though? When this happens you end up going on to the standard rate which is usually extortionate - she would not be able to remortgage on her own, or jointly without his consent. So, I'm surprised she wants to continue paying on her own.

Mrsn

Thank you all so much. When they last spoke about her selling the house it was agreed upon that if she wasn’t in a position to remortgage by the time she turned 40 (which is this December) she would put the house on the market. She has tried with a mortgage broker and we’ve been helping her clear some of the debts and my parents help a lot too with buying the girls what they need.

He has a small baby with his new partner and another on the way which no doubt has prompted this situation but he is without a doubt a bully and has frequently commented on how generous he is to allow her to live there...

There is around £80k equity in the house so he wants the full £40k from that. Her mortgage payments are around £732 a month and there’s only 11 years left on it so I don’t know what sort of deal it is but it was the last one in place before he left