Removal of ex off joint mortgage after split

Jayniekinns

Hello,
In March me and my partner bought a house, a week ago we decided to split and it was decided i would stat in the house with our daughter.
I'm speaking to citizens advise regarding benefits were entitled to, UC etc however at some point I would like to remove him from the mortgage. The mortgage is joint ownership. 
Does anyone have experience of being in a similar situation and being able to remove their ex from the mortgage? I know there is a solicitors fee but has anyone been able to remove their ex whilst on UC and the lender been okay? And I'm also concerned about being on UC when it comes to the remortgage. 
It's not something I need to immediately sort but I obviously don't want to wait too long as that would mean I'd need to pay more equity to him. 
Any advice of someone in a similar situation would be appreciated. Thanks

elsien

Do you meet the affordability criteria for taking on the mortgage on your own? It very much depends on your specific circumstances. 

UC are not going to be paying off your mortgage for you. Any mortgage costs on UC are as a loan which need to be paid back when the house is sold. 

https://www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/new-to-universal-credit/housing/

Do you work? 

Exodi

I don't know why there seems to be a common misconception that 'removing someone from the mortgage' is just a casual, nonchalant affair.

Usually the mortgage and the deeds mirror eachother - so I'm assuming that you are joint owners of the property, as well as being jointly responsible for the mortgage. It is unlikely a lender will allow you to remove someone from a mortgage, if they are to remain a part owner of the property. Therefore, is the plan also to have him hand over his half of the house to you as well?

This is usually called a Transfer of Equity and is done through a TR1 form, usually by a solicitor. To change the mortgage, most lenders will charge a 'change of parties' fee, Nationwide for example charge £125.

Next, to have the mortgage (and potentially the property) in your sole name, the lender must be convinced you can afford the mortgage. Most lenders work off of a multiple of around 4.5x comparing income to the mortgage. E.g. if you have income of £20k per year, a lender is likely to offer a mortgage of up to around £90k.

I'm not sure that benefits qualify as income in lenders affordability assessments, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

Regretfully, from what you have described, I think it's unlikely the lender will allow you to put the house in your sole name, even if your ex-partner was agreeable to transfering everything over to you.

Jayniekinns

Exodi said:

I don't know why there seems to be a common misconception that 'removing someone from the mortgage' is just a casual, nonchalant affair.

Usually the mortgage and the deeds mirror eachother - so I'm assuming that you are joint owners of the property, as well as being jointly responsible for the mortgage. It is unlikely a lender will allow you to remove someone from a mortgage, if they are to remain a part owner of the property. Therefore, is the plan also to have him hand over his half of the house to you as well?

This is usually called a Transfer of Equity and is done through a TR1 form, usually by a solicitor. To change the mortgage, most lenders will charge a 'change of parties' fee, Nationwide for example charge £125.

Next, to have the mortgage (and potentially the property) in your sole name, the lender must be convinced you can afford the mortgage. Most lenders work off of a multiple of around 4.5x comparing income to the mortgage. E.g. if you have income of £20k per year, a lender is likely to offer a mortgage of up to around £90k.

I'm not sure that benefits qualify as income in lenders affordability assessments, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

Regretfully, from what you have described, I think it's unlikely the lender will allow you to put the house in your sole name, even if your ex-partner was agreeable to transfering everything over to you.

Thanks for coming back to me, that is something I did worry was the case. The plan was for him to hand it all over to me and him to have no responsibility for the house.
I felt that it would not be easy to change to being me just sole owner but I think he thinks that it will be that easy. 

Exodi

Jayniekinns said:

Exodi said:

I don't know why there seems to be a common misconception that 'removing someone from the mortgage' is just a casual, nonchalant affair.

Usually the mortgage and the deeds mirror eachother - so I'm assuming that you are joint owners of the property, as well as being jointly responsible for the mortgage. It is unlikely a lender will allow you to remove someone from a mortgage, if they are to remain a part owner of the property. Therefore, is the plan also to have him hand over his half of the house to you as well?

This is usually called a Transfer of Equity and is done through a TR1 form, usually by a solicitor. To change the mortgage, most lenders will charge a 'change of parties' fee, Nationwide for example charge £125.

Next, to have the mortgage (and potentially the property) in your sole name, the lender must be convinced you can afford the mortgage. Most lenders work off of a multiple of around 4.5x comparing income to the mortgage. E.g. if you have income of £20k per year, a lender is likely to offer a mortgage of up to around £90k.

I'm not sure that benefits qualify as income in lenders affordability assessments, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

Regretfully, from what you have described, I think it's unlikely the lender will allow you to put the house in your sole name, even if your ex-partner was agreeable to transfering everything over to you.

Thanks for coming back to me, that is something I did worry was the case. The plan was for him to hand it all over to me and him to have no responsibility for the house.
I felt that it would not be easy to change to being me just sole owner but I think he thinks that it will be that easy. 

Not necessarily a bad choice by him, it will be prove to be a burden later in life if he remains on this mortgage.

As you and elsien have identified, your biggest obstacle will be affordability.

Do you work? If not, it's hard to see that the lender will remove him from the mortgage.

If you meet affordability, it's plain-sailing.

Jayniekinns

Exodi said:

Jayniekinns said:

Exodi said:

I don't know why there seems to be a common misconception that 'removing someone from the mortgage' is just a casual, nonchalant affair.

Usually the mortgage and the deeds mirror eachother - so I'm assuming that you are joint owners of the property, as well as being jointly responsible for the mortgage. It is unlikely a lender will allow you to remove someone from a mortgage, if they are to remain a part owner of the property. Therefore, is the plan also to have him hand over his half of the house to you as well?

This is usually called a Transfer of Equity and is done through a TR1 form, usually by a solicitor. To change the mortgage, most lenders will charge a 'change of parties' fee, Nationwide for example charge £125.

Next, to have the mortgage (and potentially the property) in your sole name, the lender must be convinced you can afford the mortgage. Most lenders work off of a multiple of around 4.5x comparing income to the mortgage. E.g. if you have income of £20k per year, a lender is likely to offer a mortgage of up to around £90k.

I'm not sure that benefits qualify as income in lenders affordability assessments, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

Regretfully, from what you have described, I think it's unlikely the lender will allow you to put the house in your sole name, even if your ex-partner was agreeable to transfering everything over to you.

Thanks for coming back to me, that is something I did worry was the case. The plan was for him to hand it all over to me and him to have no responsibility for the house.
I felt that it would not be easy to change to being me just sole owner but I think he thinks that it will be that easy. 

Not necessarily a bad choice by him, it will be prove to be a burden later in life if he remains on this mortgage.

As you and elsien have identified, your biggest obstacle will be affordability.

Do you work? If not, it's hard to see that the lender will remove him from the mortgage.

If you meet affordability, it's plain-sailing.

I don't work at the moment as I'm a stay at home mum, my plan is to get a part time job once I've sorted the UC, I don't need to work until she's 3 and it's max 16 hours until she's 5 however we will need that extra income and if I can handle everything on 16 hours I will happily increase those hours. But right now, he currently pays everything which is why I've gone to citizens advice to work out what to do next.

He does intend to get a mortgage, at the moment he's in a house share and his plan is to get a temp private rent flat or something to start saving for a mortgage.
We are quite amicable thankfully, so I will have to speak to him regarding it might not be as simple as he thinks or hopes

Exodi

Thanks, so it seems you have two options:

He stays on the mortgage until you are able to solely meet affordability or you sell the house.

Depending on your bias, some would argue that him being stuck on the mortgage is solely to his detriment and to your benefit (e.g. it becomes a lot more difficult to get another mortgage plus he remains responsible if you stop making payments, etc) though others would argue that you should put yours and your childs needs first. While this situation is fine now, and you both remain amicable, I can guarantee you (I've gone through this first-hand) that in a year or two, when you both have new partners and new lives, you may not as warm to the idea of being dependant on each other. The ex may change his mind and decide he wants half the equity, whereas he currently doesn't.

I think you should try and take a balanced approach - if it becomes apparent that you won't be able to take on the mortgage in the next 1-2 years (which unfortunately it does not), you should sell the house when your fixed term ends and move into rented accomodation. He may feel inclined to assist you with this transition.

He may then pay maintenance as you both feel appropriate.

badmemory

But of course there is no guarantee that he will actually pay mainternance.  Why not try for more equity in lieu of that maintenance he can easily get out of paying.

DE_612183

badmemory said:

But of course there is no guarantee that he will actually pay mainternance.  Why not try for more equity in lieu of that maintenance he can easily get out of paying.

They only bought the house in March - I doubt there is much equity - although can the OP provide figures? Outstanding Mortgage, value of house.

Exodi

badmemory said:

But of course there is no guarantee that he will actually pay mainternance.  Why not try for more equity in lieu of that maintenance he can easily get out of paying.

Sorry, but I'd put a heavy warning against this-

There have been instances on this forum where an amount equity in the house has been given to an ex-partner, and the ex has later decided to still pursue them for child maintenance through the CMS.

It's clear you have a strong bias on this "maintenance he can easily get out of paying." - perhaps you should head over to the child support boards and enlighten all of the people that feel trapped by the CMS about just how easy it is to get out of paying?