Forcing Sale

PicoTrain

Hi all I would really appreciate your input.


Me and my Ex (not married) purchased a house together some 10 years ago or so as joint tenants on an interest only Mortgage. Although I paid all of the deposit and legal fees (not given advice at the time regarding the difference between joint tenants & tenants in common unfortunately)


Ever since taking the mortgage 10 years ago, it has remained interest only and I have paid every single monthly mortgage payment from my own bank account, all fixture and fittings paid for by me and all maintenance and home improvements paid for by me including purchase and fitting of a new conservatory and decking etc.


Approx 4.5 years ago I discovered her cheating and she left (not that I think its probably relevant but it was a 50/50 me asking her to leave and her wanting to leave)


I had the house valued approx. 6 Months after she left. I have now moved on and living in the above house with my new partner.


I have recently made an offer to my ex to forgo her equity / right to the property so me and my partner can re-mortgage. The offer was based on the calculation of house value at time of her leaving minus mortgage owed, minus my initial deposit, divided by 2 = approx. £10k


She has refused the offer, has apparently arranged 3 drive by valuations and is estimating the house value higher than it would realistically sell for and via her solicitor is stating that she is entitled to 50% of the equity as the value stands now and as we are joint tenants I also cannot deduct my deposit etc.
Therefor requesting over £25k


In our current circumstances we have no way of re-mortgaging and raising that some, so may be forced to sell. I am aware of the argument she hasn't paid any mortgage payments since she left - but I believe there could be a counter argument that I should be paying her 50% rentable value as I have had the benefit of living in the house etc!


So I have a few questions I would really appreciate differing views on....


Firstly what sort of costs and time frames are involved if she forces the sale of the house (asking as we may need this time to save some money up)


If she does force the sale of the house how in practical terms does this work regarding house valuation? people coming to view house etc as I am the tenant, I assume this would have to be done by my arrangement, but whats to stop me not allowing access to property etc?


Also as we were not married and I have paid for everything, whats to stop me stripping out the house and dropping its value, carpets, doors, etc - I know this may seem extreme to some - but I have paid for every single thing and quite frankly the way I feel at present is I would rather walk away with nothing and start again than give her more that the £10k I have offered.


Really sorry for long post but going mad thinking this over and over in my head, with 101 scenarios and would really appreciate others thoughts on the above.


Whats my best option here?


Thanks in advance

foxy-stoat

PicoTrain wrote: »

Whats my best option here?

Selling it on the open market and split 50/50 and get on with your life.

100% do not try and devalue it. By the way, taking a few doors off and selling them for £5 and skipping old carpets will not devalue the property at all, it may make it less likely to sell.

By the sounds of it you have 15 years left of your interest only mortgage, do you have a repayment vehicle in place? If you don't then your better off starting again, get the most value for the property and get a clean break without paying solicitors arguing over a few thousand as it will cost you more than that most likely.

Good lucks.

PicoTrain

Thanks for your input.

I wasn’t planning on spending anything on solicitors, as she has refused my offer and was going to leave it her now as I assume her only option is to force the sale, I have no plans to employ a solicitor just to delay proceedings long enough for me to save enough to start again.

p00hsticks

PicoTrain wrote: »

Whats my best option here?

Be adult about it.

Either sell and split the equity. as foxy-stoat said, or negotiate with her - via her solicitor if necessary.

If she's asking £25k but won't accept £10k, can you meet in the middle somewhere ?

If you believe her estimate is based on overly high valuations from estate agents, get a RICS surveyor in to give a realistic valuation and share the details with her.

And bear in mind that anything you do to devalue the property affects you as much as it does her - in fact more, since you're the ones living in it. What does your current partner think about it all ? (personally, if was facing the prospect of living in a property with no doors or carpet because my partner had ripped them out due to spite, I'd be out of that relationship in a flash)

You say you paid for 'everything' while you were living together. Does that include all the bills and living expenses ?

Thrugelmir

If your ex has employed a solicitor she's running up legal costs. As suggested earlier. Make a counter offer. Forcing a sale is very expensive and neither of you will benefit. Her solicitor will have advised her of that.

Missymoo2

Unfortunately I have been the one forcing a sale with an alcoholic ex.

It took almost 5 years and the legal costs were almost £10k but as he did not turn up to court twice (the judge gave him a second chance) the judge came down hard on him and ordered all costs to come out of his share. Bailiffs had to be instructed to serve papers as he did not open any letters and to eventually move him.

The meters were also removed as he stopped paying any utilities which they put the charge against the property but the solicitor took them out of his share.

It really is an extremely slow and stressful process, I was living at the hospital at the time and had been for the previous 3 years due to my sons chemotherapy and very serious health issues so this was on top of everything else.

Eventually the house sold for less than value as he left a leak from the loft causing damage and to add more insult I received a call 6 months later to say he never cashed his cheque for £19k as he didnt open letters. This was a guy with a very responsible job.

Try and deal with it amicably if possibly, unfortunately in my situation I could not reason with stupidity.

Thrugelmir

Missymoo2 wrote: »

It took almost 5 years and the legal costs were almost £10k but as he did not turn up to court twice (the judge gave him a second chance) the judge came down hard on him and ordered all costs to come out of his share.

A good solicitor will be encouraging their client to compromise. As 5 figure legal bills aren't uncommon. Unless there's substantial equity at stake. The cost in essence is prohibitive.

charlie792

I once dealt with a couple in dispute - there was less than 5k equity in the property one wanted 50:50 split the other 70:30 - by the time estate agent fees would be taken into account the amounts they were arguing about amounted to literally a couple of hundred pounds. Both refused to pay the mortgage until the split was agreed. In the end we told them we couldn't do anything more with the sale until they reach an agreement. The house was eventually repossessed as they continued to argue over a few hundred pound.

Op is it really worth it? I know the figures you've quoted are slightly different but is it really wise saying you'd rather walk away with nothing so the ex doesn't get anymore??

Missymoo2

Unfortunately I could not compromise with an abusive alcoholic. I wanted my name off the mortgage and he ignored every bit of correspondence. The only option was to force a sale.

It was not about money for me, it was to cut all ties so I could concentrate on helping my son. He changed the locks whilst I was at the hospital and told me he had decided he didn't want us anymore.

It shows he just wanted to make life difficult which to this day I do not understand why. Obviously alcohol was the issue.

He abused his elderly mother for years before she died ( I was unaware until recently) and had 5 secret children who he was still in a relationship with their mother when we bought the house - yes you really could not make it up.

My son is now a healthy 18 young man who is polite and I am extremely proud of