Force of a Sale

relts23

Hi all,

I know I need solicitors advice, I have an appointment soon for this.

Basically me and ex bought a house together, we broke up, she kicked me out changed the locks etc. I'm crashing at my parents again for now, bit inconvenient but.. Trying to now buy myself a flat as wont be able to afford a house.

She is refusing to sell, she has tried to get her own mortgage and got refused apparently, now she has taken to ignoring me when im asking her to please sell the house because I am trying to move on with my life.

I will not move back in because I simply cant be bothered with the stress of it.

I spoke to a solicitor previously, they said they couldn't help me, however I really am unsure what to do.

Surely its a straight forward process for the court to force a sale of the house, we are both in our 20s, no kids, she has somewhere else to live if she needs. She is being very selfish and very unreasonable in all of this, she can pay me off as her parents have the money too but the problem is she cannot afford it from a banks perspective (On a 20-25k salary) and the mortgage amount is roughly about £180,000 including the equity loan scheme.

Does anyone know how I actually apply to the court without a solicitor, I know I need a N208 form, however unsure how to actually apply. Do I just send this to the court via mail?

Does anyone have experience of going to court to force a sale of the house? Without children etc as understand if children were involved it would take the place where they are living into account and make it a hell of a lot more difficult

Thanks,

GDB2222

Why couldn’t the solicitor help you? It’s a difficult application for you to make yourself, so I think you need professional help. It could cost a few thousand, but you cannot allow the present situation to continue, so you have no choice.

I’m all in favour of bringing your own case to court if it’s a simple matter, but this isn’t.

I will just add that I explored this with a client, and we obtained legal advice. The advice was that the court was extremely likely to rule that the property should be sold. However, we were also warned that it could take a considerable time and be costly. In the end, though, the threat of legal proceedings and the costs involved was enough to get things moving, and we did not go to court, thank goodness.

relts23

GDB2222 wrote: »

Why couldn’t the solicitor help you? It’s a difficult application for you to make yourself, so I think you need professional help. It could cost a few thousand, but you cannot allow the present situation to continue, so you have no choice.

I’m all in favour of bringing your own case to court if it’s a simple matter, but this isn’t.

I will just add that I explored this with a client, and we obtained legal advice. The advice was that the court was extremely likely to rule that the property should be sold. However, we were also warned that it could take a considerable time and be costly. In the end, though, the threat of legal proceedings and the costs involved was enough to get things moving, and we did not go to court, thank goodness.

They believed i should wait a few more months to see whether she can get a mortgage, however I do not believe she is even trying to get a mortgage with a different provider.

She will be willing to fight for this house believe me, she owns a majority share in the property due to her parents deposit when we bought the house initially so she will do everything possible, including going to court. This should be illegal.

diggingdude

How much do you have in it?

relts23

diggingdude wrote: »

How much do you have in it?

Everything I invested roughly about £20,000

pinkshoes

Start by putting things in writing.

Are you still paying your half of the mortgage?

Tell her that you are giving her 3 months to find a way to buy you out and get a mortgage, otherwise the property will need to be sold. Make it clear that if she refuses to sell, then you will take it to court to force the sale and all costs will be deducted from her share of the equity, so it would be in everyone’s best interest to sell via an estate agent ASAP if she is unable to buy you out.

relts23

pinkshoes wrote: »

Start by putting things in writing.

Are you still paying your half of the mortgage?

Tell her that you are giving her 3 months to find a way to buy you out and get a mortgage, otherwise the property will need to be sold. Make it clear that if she refuses to sell, then you will take it to court to force the sale and all costs will be deducted from her share of the equity, so it would be in everyone’s best interest to sell via an estate agent ASAP if she is unable to buy you out.

I stopped however I should start paying this again now I guess?

I have told her I will give her a few months and she is not willing to accept this, she says she will fight for this house, unfortunately she has now blocked me from everything possible so unable to do this in a amicable way. The last thing I want is for her to be forced to sell the house because its horrible, however I need to get out no matter the cost.

I really do not see how her argument will stand in court, she wants to keep me on a mortgage for her own benefit for a potential indefinite amount of time. I have no idea how a judge would see that

GDB2222

This link gives you some details of the law.

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

Thrugelmir

relts23 wrote: »

Everything I invested roughly about £20,000

Is a declaration of trust in place?

Are you currently paying the mortgage?

How much equity is in the property?

D_M_E

You need to get this sorted before she gets pregnant - what would happen if she stopped paying mortgage and house repossessed as a result?

Mortgage compampany would come after both of you for any shortfall and you could end up paying for many many years.

Find another solicitor and go to court - it sounds like your only option given that she is now refusing all attempts by you to contact her.

GDB2222

D_M_E wrote: »

You need to get this sorted before she gets pregnant - what would happen if she stopped paying mortgage and house repossessed as a result?

Mortgage compampany would come after both of you for any shortfall and you could end up paying for many many years.

Find another solicitor and go to court - it sounds like your only option given that she is now refusing all attempts by you to contact her.

It’s very expensive going to court, especially if the lady defends strongly. It will take months to get a ruling, and the last thing that the OP needs is a ruling that does not resolve the matter fully.

I think the original solicitors have a good point. Give the lady a decent chance to remortgage. If she hasn’t managed it in say three months time, then start proceedings and it’s much harder for her to defend. She may even cave in, if she finds out that she can’t remortgage.

Of course, the fact the OP has put £20k into the property does not mean that there’s £20k of equity in there after all the costs. That’s particularly if it was a new build when they bought it. Even with a court ordering a sale, there’s still plenty of room for argument about what price to market it at and what price to accept. And that’s assuming that the lady does not deliberately put buyers off.