Separation from my girlfriend(unmarried). House/Mortgage advice..


I will try and breakdown the key facts;
Not married or in a civil partnership but have been cohabiting for 10 years+ in England
Now separating (I moved out 4 months ago and have continued to pay all the household bills whilst I stay elsewhere)
We share an 11 year-old child together (CSA not an issues as this is black and white financially)
Almost 9 years into the mortgage, due to remortgage in 2 months time.
Ex wants to stay in the family home until our son is 18 (in 7 years) which she says her solicitor has said I have to continue paying the mortgage for the duration of this time. She is willing to split the mortage payments in half which is a bonus for me as up until this point I paid the mortgage alone, it is a joint mortgage in both our names.
I will be needing to find(purchase) my own home shortly and have no deposit so my issues is this.
I will be needing to use my half of the equity as my deposit, do I
A - need to sort this through our remortgage on the current property and release equity from the property which will obviously increase our payments which she will not be happy about.
Or
B (obviously the preferred option) – Can I remortgage the property now and at a later date when I find a suitable house use my half of the equity as a ‘deposit’ on my new house that is currently part of the equity towards our family home?
Some basic numbers for easy calculation
House Purchased for £150,000
Currently worth £200,000
Mortgage owed £100,000ish (51% LTV)
Thanks in advance.
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Replies
I just wondered if I am obliged to pay for half the mortgage on a property I no longer live at(it is a joint mortgage and we are not married) and if so how can I go about releasing funds to create a deposit for a new home for myself.
Do NOT accept 'my solicitor says you have to' as a reason to do anything. When my ex wife left the family home she refused to make any contribution to the mortgage even though her name is on it. She still maintained her claim on the equity.
I think you might find the bigger issue with remortgaging and then finding a new home is that you already have a £100k+ mortgage in your name on the first property. Have you spoken to a mortgage company about how much you could borrow?
Will she agree to let you release equity from it to use as a deposit on a house? If not then you won't be able to get it.
What are your earnings like? Can you afford to be paying two mortgages? Does your ex have earnings?
I'm not a mortgage expert and have no experience of trying to release equity from mortgages but I do get the sense that this is going to be more complicated than you seem to think. I would seriously look at whether the better option would be to sell and split the proceeds then go your separate ways. Or could she buy you out of the existing property?
As between you and your ex, no, you don't have any obligation to pay half the mortgage nor to agree to her remaining in the house until your child is 18.
Normally the options to consider would be:
1. the house is sold, the mortgage cleared and the proceeds of sale split equally, You each then buy or rent your own separate properties.
2. One of you re-mortgages into you sole name to buy out the other e.g. your partner buying your share of the house. She would need to be able to get a mortgage large enough to clear the existing mortgage and pay your your share of the equity
3. One of you remortgaged into your sole name with a deferred payment - e.g. if your partner could get a mortgage in her sole name to clear the existing mortgage, but not to borrow extra, you could agree to let her do so on the basis that she paid you to at a later date, perhaps when your child is 18, in which case you would need thereto be a formal legal charge against the property to secure your interest, and clear, written arrangements about when the payment would be made, how the figure would be worked out (a % of the gross value is usual) and whether repayment could be required earlier (for instance if you gave her notice , if she remarried or started living with a new partner etc)
It would potentially be open to her to apply under the Children Act for a financial order for your child's benefit but the aim to to ensure that children of unmarried parents are not disadvantaged compared with those of married parents, so again, there would be no assumption (any more than there would be in a divorce) that she should remain in the house or that you should continue to contribute to the mortgage.
I's suggest that you consider what outcome you want - i.e do you want your share of the equity right now, or are you willing to wait for it, or some of it, so your child can stay in the house? Then get some advice.
Do also bear in mind that you and she can agree whatever you want - it can be reasonable to agree a shorter period, perhaps to agree that the house will be sold in 18 months / 2 years, to give her a reasonable opportunity to either improve her financial position so she can buy you out, or make plans to move with time to plan for that.
But whatever else you do, you need to get advice from your own solicitor so you are clear about what you can or can't do, and then negotiate with her once you are properly informed.