Co-owned property now in mortgage arrears due to other party not paying!! HELP!!

ryanx909

Hi all,
I co-own a property (1) with an ex-partner. I have been trying to sell the house for nearly two years.

I am now almost £10k down in legal fees and have a court order which states it should have been brought to market in October '19 as she failed to remove me from the mortgage. 

Problem is all she has done and apparently has to do is ignore my solicitor and the court order. She has changed the locks on the property and tried to involve the police in what is clearly a civil matter and has repeatedly threatened estate agents with bad press and scared them off making it impossible to sell as no-one wants to deal with it. 
My biggest issue now though is that my current partner and I have our own mortgage and she recently had a sale fall through on another property due to the current pandemic.
We are paying 2.5 mortgages which is just not sustainable long term; We have applied for mortgage holidays due to the sale falling through due to COVID-19.
I have been paying half of the mortgage on this co-owned property (1) but I received a letter saying it is now £232 in arrears (half the monthly payment). On checking my online account it says its actually just under £700 which by my estimation is about a month and a half.

Clearly she's not been paying the mortgage so I've been effectively giving her money to do with what she likes. I have a paper trail to prove what these payments were going to her for.

My solicitor says the only real option is to make another application to the court but given the current climate there is an indefinite wait and I would still have to pay for the process. He means well but I often get the feeling he's rubbing his hands together and licking his lips at this going on indefinitely as he's continuing to make money from me.

The previous court order states that I have full control of the sale and that she is to have nothing to do with it but so far, it hasn't really been worth the paper its printed on.
I have tried to speak to the lender (Halifax) but due to the current crisis when I do get through, they are unhelpful and tell me it's the wrong department and either cut me off or transfer me back to the start menus.

I am happy to negotiate a nominal amount with Halifax until the house sells but I can't even get to that point with them.

I can't afford to keep paying for half of the mortgage and at this point am happy to let the bank repossess the house.

So, my questions are:

I know that a repossession and potential CCJ is bad news. I am well prepared to attend court and present my side to the judge but who knows how that might go. How badly will this affect my ability to either remortgage my current home when the fixed term ends? (November '21) Would I be able to simply renew with my current provider with no issue or would they put the interest up? Would they even consider it? Are there other lenders that would consider us without having to pay a horribly high amount of interest.  My current partner's credit rating is excellent as is mine (at present).

I am of a mind to get a locksmith out and get an agent in to do a quick photo shoot and get it out there onto market if someone is willing to do so. There is about £103k left on the mortgage and the house is worth around £135. it only needs to sell for enough to clear that and the fees (£108Kish) so would anyone recommend a quick cash purchase company if there are any that actually have cash and are reputable?

Sorry for the massive rant but I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. Any help and advice would be be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ryan

Comms69

You need to go back to court and ask the court to in effect force the sale - this isnt a quick process obviously. but eventually a court will order either that the courts signs, or delegate powers to you to sign, on behalf of the ex. 

tacpot12

Who lives in the property currently? 

ryanx909

I haven't lived at the property for around two years. She claimed to have vacated on February 3rd but the evidence is such that she hasn't lived there since at least December.

Comms69

ryanx909 said:

I haven't lived at the property for around two years. She claimed to have vacated on February 3rd but the evidence is such that she hasn't lived there since at least December.

If it's vacant, then just go change the locks?

ryanx909

ryanx909 said:

I haven't lived at the property for around two years. She claimed to have vacated on February 3rd but the evidence is such that she hasn't lived there since at least December.

This is why I think I should just go in and get it marketed. I am willing to explain the situation to Halifax if I actually get the chance to as it will likely sell before they can start proceedings.

Comms69

ryanx909 said:

ryanx909 said:

I haven't lived at the property for around two years. She claimed to have vacated on February 3rd but the evidence is such that she hasn't lived there since at least December.

This is why I think I should just go in and get it marketed. I am willing to explain the situation to Halifax if I actually get the chance to as it will likely sell before they can start proceedings.

To be honest, it's only £10k, you could just borrow the money and pay off the mortgage.

ryanx909

Comms69 said:

ryanx909 said:

I haven't lived at the property for around two years. She claimed to have vacated on February 3rd but the evidence is such that she hasn't lived there since at least December.

If it's vacant, then just go change the locks?

Yes, but apparently I can't deny her access to the property as it's co-owned. Been here before and she just changes them back again. I appreciate what you're saying and this is why court or repossession is the only way forward.

Comms69

ryanx909 said:

Comms69 said:

ryanx909 said:

I haven't lived at the property for around two years. She claimed to have vacated on February 3rd but the evidence is such that she hasn't lived there since at least December.

If it's vacant, then just go change the locks?

Yes, but apparently I can't deny her access to the property as it's co-owned. Been here before and she just changes them back again. I appreciate what you're saying and this is why court or repossession is the only way forward.

Ok let's be practical here. Change the locks, get it marketed. put up a notice in the window to inform locksmiths that there is an ongoing legal dispute and to call you before changing anything. 

That will put most of them off. And then what will she do? Take you to court? Well goodluck with that as there's a 2 months waiting period.

ryanx909

10K is my current legal costs. The outstanding mortgage is just over 103K. Thanks for the advice, I think I will try and get an agent in to market it and see how that goes. Trouble is I've been here before and that's one of the reasons agents are put off because she has been changing locks back and threatening agents with bad publicity. All nonsense but it's enough to put a lot of them off.   

es5595

Could you go with Purple Bricks? They have so much poor publicity one more person screaming would make no difference. It would mean you’d have to be more “hands on” with the sale, but maybe that’s a good thing?
However, at the moment when no one can view/buy/sell you probably just need to take a deep breath and work out how to sort the mortgage until it’s all over.