Selling when gifted money towards property

Diane23

Hi, my husband and I bought a property from my husbands parents at the beginning of the year in Scotland. It was valued at £300000. Our mortgage is for £255000 and in both our names. We paid a £5000 deposit, and the difference in value and cost of the property is what the mortgage is against. 

Unfortunately my husband’s behaviour has led to a separation between us so the subject of house sale has come up. He is now saying if the property is sold we would have to give his parents back £40000. I can’t find anything stating this in our property deeds from the solicitor or in the actual mortgage agreement itself. Does anyone have any experience of similar situations or advice? Many thanks! 

Flugelhorn

so property was valued at 300K, you two put in 5K, mortgage was 255K and sounds like gifted deposit was 40K

*assume mortgage company knew about this and it was deemed to be a gift rather than a loan???*

If it was a gift then there should be no strings attached, if it was a loan then I doubt mortgage company would have agreed. 

user1977

Up to him to come up with a justification for why you "have to" give his parents the money. Very unlikely that your mortgage lender would have accepted his parents having some sort of stake in the property or a loan.

FtbDreaming

Maybe not legally but morally he’s right isn’t he. You’ve not even had his parents house a year and wanna take £40k profit from them. Shameful behaviour. 

Help1234

If it were my parents, I would want to give their money back, wouldn't you?

TBG01

Check with your Solicitor.

The firm I work for require those gifting funds to confirm that it is a gift which is not repayable. 

It puts these things to bed straight away.

Diane23

FtbDreaming said:

Maybe not legally but morally he’s right isn’t he. You’ve not even had his parents house a year and wanna take £40k profit from them. Shameful behaviour. 

Thank you. If you knew the amount of money I have contributed in the past and the full story behind why the property was being sold perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to judge what is shameful behaviour. 

Gavin83

Diane23 said:

FtbDreaming said:

Maybe not legally but morally he’s right isn’t he. You’ve not even had his parents house a year and wanna take £40k profit from them. Shameful behaviour. 

Thank you. If you knew the amount of money I have contributed in the past and the full story behind why the property was being sold perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to judge what is shameful behaviour. 

Sorry but I agree with FtbDreaming, although I wouldn’t have put it strongly. Legally you may well have a case but morally I don’t think you do. I don’t think the behaviour of your husband (whatever this is) makes a difference. It’s essentially the parents who’ll be losing out and I assume your issue isn’t with them. I’m also a great believer in ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ and I believe a lot of court cases could be avoided if people weren’t seeking revenge.

I do have a few questions though:

What was the agreement with the money? Was it agreed you two would pay it back over time or was it truly a gift with no strings attached?

What money have you contributed in the past and if you only put in £5k between you where has this money gone?

gettingtheresometime

Diane23 said:

FtbDreaming said:

Maybe not legally but morally he’s right isn’t he. You’ve not even had his parents house a year and wanna take £40k profit from them. Shameful behaviour. 

Thank you. If you knew the amount of money I have contributed in the past and the full story behind why the property was being sold perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to judge what is shameful behaviour. 

I know I'm going to get splinters in my backside here but on the face of your OP, it does sound as if morally FtbDreaming was right.

You may be perfectly valid in your stance but sometimes retaining the moral high ground comes at a price.

Of course you are totally free to use your legal position to extract co-operation from your (I'm assuming soon to be ex) husband.

user1977

Gavin83 said:

Diane23 said:

FtbDreaming said:

Maybe not legally but morally he’s right isn’t he. You’ve not even had his parents house a year and wanna take £40k profit from them. Shameful behaviour. 

Thank you. If you knew the amount of money I have contributed in the past and the full story behind why the property was being sold perhaps you wouldn’t be so quick to judge what is shameful behaviour. 

It’s essentially the parents who’ll be losing out 

In what way are they losing out? They gifted the money. They weren't getting it back, no matter how long and happy a relationship their son and the OP had.

Marvel1

A gift is just that, a gift, no return.