Tenants in common - force buy out

*pinkie*

I’m splitting with my partner, who is taking things very badly.
I want to buy him out, but he’s refusing and wants to force a sale at court.
I own the bigger share.
If it got to court, would they honour my request to buy the share (if no agreement by that point) or would the house have to go on the open market?

jonnydeppiwish!

List it with an agent, and buy it that way? Or let it sell and just buy another property. Have a clean break.
obviously there are pros and cons but only you can decided.

Are you offering them market value for their share?

Titus_Wadd

I bought out my now ex-husband when we divorced many years ago and although it seemed the easier option at the time with hindsight we should have sold.  Get a valuation and calculate what you could buy elsewhere with your share of the equity.  Do a little window-shopping on rightmove/zoopla and imagine yourself in your very own, all yours, new place before you decide.

shiraz99

*pinkie* said:

I’m splitting with my partner, who is taking things very badly.
I want to buy him out, but he’s refusing and wants to force a sale at court.
I own the bigger share.
If it got to court, would they honour my request to buy the share (if no agreement by that point) or would the house have to go on the open market?

The house will be sold on the open market. You can't force a buyout of the TIC just as the party can't sell up without your agreement. Therefore without any agreement it will have to go to court, and likely you'll both lost out.

chrisw

He can't be forced to sell to you, the court would order the house to be sold on the open market.

You could then match any offers but he still wouldn't be obliged to accept your offer. If he refused your reasonable offer or you refused to sell to a genuine buyer as you wanted it, either of you would have to go back to court to claim the other isn't complying with the order for sale. It all gets messy and expensive.

doodling

Hi,

How big is your share compared to his?

You can achieve what you want by placing the house on the open market and being the person who offers the highest price.

However, as others have said, your ex can do all kinds of things to frustrate the sale (or try and influence the price) so be aware that whilst it is a fight you will eventually win it could be very costly (in money, time and stress).

*pinkie*

thanks for thanks for the info!
I have approx 65% share.

Not really sure why I want the house tbh - I know the area, it would be upheaval, it’s modernised throughout. But I was only thinking after I posted, do physical things matter over happiness - not at all. Still navigating the split so don’t think I’m thinking straight and thinking of life in this house.

Good tip about imagining myself elsewhere! Great way to think about it and start a fresh!

it is a very fluid situation- he seems to be grieving and every emotion is coming out of him so think he’s saying stuff he doesn’t mean, to hurt me etc.

Btw for context, his actions have put us in this situation.

Exodi

I would give it a couple of weeks/months for you both to process it. It's very common after a breakup that neither side wants to play ball as to point score.

I would completely forget about 'going to court to force him to sell to me'.

After giving it some time, either he can sell to you at an agreed price, or you sell it on the open market and split the proceeds accordingly.

I don't agree with the other posters above me that suggest putting it on the market, and buying it yourself (unless they are estate agents). This seems like a good way to hand over thousands of pounds to an estate agent for literally no reason.

If you agree a buy out, it can all be done by a single solicitor. In fact when I broke up with my ex (like you, originally both being difficult), we agreed that it would be better to save on estate agent costs and split the saving between us.

I felt like I paid too much for the house, she felt like I paid too little - but I think that's the sign that we were close to the mark.

To be honest, I'd remove court from your thinking entirely, extremely expensive and only encourages the other party to be even less accomodating.

Olinda99

Just leave it for a while. At some point your ex will start thinking about getting their share of the money out. If they don't sell to you then realistically what are the chances of them selling a 35% share of a house to someone else ?

Also, as you now have sole possession (change all the locks) then I think you have created a tenancy for their 35% even though paying no rent. This will reduce the value of their share considerably. Make sure your ex never gets back in. As alway, get proper advice from eg CAB to confirm above

Exodi

Olinda99 said:

Just leave it for a while. At some point your ex will start thinking about getting their share of the money out. If they don't sell to you then realistically what are the chances of them selling a 35% share of a house to someone else ?

Also, as you now have sole possession (change all the locks) then I think you have created a tenancy for their 35% even though paying no rent. This will reduce the value of their share considerably. Make sure your ex never gets back in. As alway, get proper advice from eg CAB to confirm above

Completely ignore this 'advice' - absolutely ridiculous and irresponsible to post.

Do not stop your ex from entering the house he owns.

It is by a stroke of luck if the OP's ex has moved out - they don't have to leave. The nonsense above would be a really quick way to esclate things unfavourably and is not how you're going to resolve this - fanning the flames is an understatement.

badger09

Olinda99 said:

Just leave it for a while. At some point your ex will start thinking about getting their share of the money out. If they don't sell to you then realistically what are the chances of them selling a 35% share of a house to someone else ?

Also, as you now have sole possession (change all the locks) then I think you have created a tenancy for their 35% even though paying no rent. This will reduce the value of their share considerably. Make sure your ex never gets back in. As alway, get proper advice from eg CAB to confirm above

Agree with @Exodi. Ignore this ‘advice’

Have I missed something? Has partner moved out?