Ex wants to sell our property

Amazonia_2

greatcrested said:

Look - this is clearly a mess with everyone involved abdicating their responsibilities!

* your ex has mis-managed the tenancy and almost certainly broken many tenancy laws and regulations, including (i suspect) tax law.

* you have abdicated your own responsibilities as joint owner for years. Claiming your were 'abroad' is no excuse. I lived in China for 5 years and let my flat out. I kept in touch with the tenants, directly and via an agent, and made sure everything was kosher. And this was back in the 1980s before email, and when a phonecall from China involved booking it 2 days in advance, waiting 3 hours to get connected, and 9 times out of 10 getting cut off (whether by telecoms failures or the Chinese  'Foreign Affairs Bureau' I could never know).

* your tenants have failed to act in a 'tenant like manner' as contractually required, allowing leaks and other damage to continue and worsen. There are clear mechanism for tenants to get repairs done.

Just sell the bl**dy property. At whatever price you and ex can agree. And accept whatever equity you and ex can agree.

If you end up with less than you feel you deserve, well, that's partly your fault for a) remaining financially tied to an ex all this time and b) failing to manage your own property.

If the tenants buy the property, great.

If the tenants get a new, better landlord, great.

If the tenants get evicted, well, that's life, and they are going to be well shot of a cr*p house and a cr*p landlord.

Thanks for your very eloquent summary and suggestions.  As we speak, severing all financial connection to ex and instructing solicitor.  Thank you.

Amazonia_2

oldbikebloke said:

from the tax perspective:
- you are joint owner of a property.
- a tenancy agreement has been been formally documented naming your ex as LL

The key question then is did you divorce before or after that tenancy?
Just because you are a joint owner (and thus "beneficially" entitled to a  share of the sale of that property) does not automatically mean you are similarly entitled to a share of the rent in terms of your own personal income tax liability provided you are not married to the named LL/ co-owner.

Unmarried owners can split rental income anyway they want for tax purposes, including 100 him, 0 you.
For married couples the tax position is different, hence the relevance of the divorce.

Thankfully didn't marry him.  Speaking to HMRC and solicitor.

Thrugelmir

Amazonia_2 said:

elsien said:

You can safeguard the tenants by alerting the relevant authorities.
 They didn’t have to have gone so long with all the issues; they could have got advice from CAB, gone to environmental health; found somewhere else to live.  

 If they are so vulnerable then the council would have a duty to help them, and quite frankly they sound like they’d be far better off well away from the place. 

I have been acting as advocate for the tenants, advising them of their rights, signposting them to Shelter, the Council's Housing Department band online advice sites.  

I've persuaded my ex to contact the tenants.  He made his first phone call to them in almost 8 years.

I've even offered to manage the tenancy myself and to jointly become their landlords to ensure that all landlord obligations are met and even exceeded.  He refused point blank.

Impasse

Of your making.  
Either buy him out or sell the property.  
Is the mortgage interest only?  If it is time is ticking away.