Selling a house after divorce

[Deleted User]

Hi , i bought a house in 2008 at the height of the market for 180k.i contributed 10k to the deposit for this house and then after 1.5 years i moved out and stopped paying the mortgage.  It is now being sold and there is equity of about 20k on the property.  My ex is now asking me to confirm i dont want anything from the house as i havent resided or contributed since 2009.  Am i now in a position to get my deposit back out of the house ? Thanks for any advice. 

Cypruseast

Who is named on the deeds of the property and do you still have any vested ownership in regards to the property? Are you still married, divorced or separated - what are the terms of the financial separation that surely you have in place after all this time? Is their evidence that you contributed the £10k anywhere? How much of a deposit did you ex contribute if anything? 

If some of above is documented and their is evidence of ownership then yes you probably are due some of that back. However, and it’s a personal view but your ex has spent the last 10 years paying towards a property that you both bought at the top of the market (and must have been in significant negative equity for a long period of that time) and only now is it wiping its face. He has probably in that 10 years contributed a huge amount towards the mortgage and has very little to show for it and potentially even less if half of the £10k was paid back to you. Would you have been happy if 5 years ago he had hit you with a balance to repay a mortgage in negative equity? 

I may be alone here but it doesn’t feel right in some ways....but it’s your call. No one knows the full background and your situation, so only you know what the right thing to do is. 

[Deleted User]

Hi . I am still on the deeds yes. He couldnt hit me with negative equity as i went bankrupt in 2012 so that that couldnt happen, should have mentioned that.  I thought the house was still in negative equity so never considered there would be anything to gain until he contacted me today for me to confirm i wouldnt be expecting anything from the sale of the house.  I wanted my name removed years ago.  I get your point it doesnt feel overly right to me either but i just wanted opinions. Thanks !   

robatwork

If you got divorced then the house would have been dealt with as an asset of the marriage in your divorce proceedings.

If your agreement is completely silent on the house then chances are you waived all interest in it?  What do the documents say?

[Deleted User]

There was never an agreement settled on the house. I went bankrupt, the house was counted as an asset in my bankruptcy but then i was released from bankruptcy and my name remained on the deeds so he has needed to get my permission to go ahead with the sale.  

bouicca21

Irrespective of whose name is on the deeds, what does your financial consent order say?  Or don’t you have one?

[Deleted User]

Dont have one

Mickygg

I would just say to him you would like your deposit back and see what he says. But I’m another for it doesn’t seem fair you having equity in the house when the equity has come over the time only he has paid all the costs.

But then again if it’s something I have learnt it’s rarely about what’s fair but what you can screw people over for. Maybe ask a solicitor.

blue_max_3

As your name is on the deeds, you have all the aces. You could hold him to ransom. But it does sound like you'll do the right thing.
I'd suggest you ask for £5k. That is half your deposit and 25% of the profit. He wouldn't have had the property if you hadn't invested and has lived in the property all that time (although paying the bills). But I'd tread lightly.

pinkshoes

You could demand half the equity. He could demand your share of the mortgage payments for the last 10 years.

Why wasn’t your share taken during bankruptcy?

blue_max_3

pinkshoes said:

You could demand half the equity. He could demand your share of the mortgage payments for the last 10 years.

Why wasn’t your share taken during bankruptcy?

They could argue til the cows come home, but if two names are on the deeds, neither can move forward without agreement.