Buying out partner on join mortgage house

MacApples

Hi All, I was wondering if you can assist. I bought a house with my ex partner in 2021, we are not married, we have recently split up and she is asking to sell or for me to buy her out.  We have a deed of trust which is very clear in regards to who gets what in the equity and the timescale for things. I have checked with the bank and as I am a contractor I need 6 more months under my belt until the mortgage can be transferred to me solely. I can give her the money maybe with a small personal loan in 4 months time.

The deed of trust stated that she must first allow me to buy her out before selling and I must be given 3 months to buy her out. Obviously I have to wait 6 months until I can.

I am not fully sticking to the deed of trust due to the timescales. My question is can she force sale just for 3 months extra time. I have said to her that if we sell then we have to wait 3 months plus potentially 6 months so in total 9 months. In that time she is required to pay the mortgage and bills till the house sale is complete Next door has sold and it has already been 6 months and the sale has not gone through. 

I have said to be reasonable and if money is the issue I can give you half now and half in 4 months time. Then after 4 months I will fully pay the mortgage and by month 6 you will be removed from the mortgage and feeds. I think this is reasonable. She is not interested or can afford to buy, her words. But just wants the money.

If she decided to be stubborn and get a solicitor and go to court to force sale after 3 months, assuming it takes a few months to get a court date (this could take more than 3 months)  and get things rolling would the court say well he is offering to buy you out. It is more reasonable to allow him than to force sale out of spite?

_Penny_Dreadful

MacApples said:

Hi All, I was wondering if you can assist. I bought a house with my ex partner in 2021, we are not married, we have recently split up and she is asking to sell or for me to buy her out.  We have a deed of trust which is very clear in regards to who gets what in the equity and the timescale for things. I have checked with the bank and as I am a contractor I need 6 more months under my belt until the mortgage can be transferred to me solely. I can give her the money maybe with a small personal loan in 4 months time.

The deed of trust stated that she must first allow me to buy her out before selling and I must be given 3 months to buy her out. Obviously I have to wait 6 months until I can.

I am not fully sticking to the deed of trust due to the timescales. My question is can she force sale just for 3 months extra time. I have said to her that if we sell then we have to wait 3 months plus potentially 6 months so in total 9 months. In that time she is required to pay the mortgage and bills till the house sale is complete Next door has sold and it has already been 6 months and the sale has not gone through. 

I have said to be reasonable and if money is the issue I can give you half now and half in 4 months time. Then after 4 months I will fully pay the mortgage and by month 6 you will be removed from the mortgage and feeds. I think this is reasonable. She is not interested or can afford to buy, her words. But just wants the money.

If she decided to be stubborn and get a solicitor and go to court to force sale after 3 months, assuming it takes a few months to get a court date (this could take more than 3 months)  and get things rolling would the court say well he is offering to buy you out. It is more reasonable to allow him than to force sale out of spite?

There are a few steps that need to happen before the sale can be forced through the court so the change of that happening before you’re in a position to buy her out. The flip side is that it can take months to force a sale and who knows what the mortgage market will look like in 6 months time…maybe you won’t get a mortgage. 

MobileSaver

MacApples said:

I am not fully sticking to the deed of trust due to the timescales. My question is can she force sale just for 3 months extra time.

If you are in breach of the agreement then yes she can begin court action to force a sale although realistically it is unlikely to happen within the extra 3 months anyway.

One problem you have though is that you are potentially going to be liable for any extra costs/fees/rent/mortgage she incurs if you fail to adhere to the time-scales set out in the Deed.  So you may be on the hook for at the very least her share of three monthly mortgage payments and three months' worth of bills.

Playing devil's advocate, being reasonable would be you agreeing to put the house on the open market given you are unable to obtain a mortgage within the time-scales you previously agreed with her...

MacApples

MobileSaver said:

MacApples said:

I am not fully sticking to the deed of trust due to the timescales. My question is can she force sale just for 3 months extra time.

If you are in breach of the agreement then yes she can begin court action to force a sale although realistically it is unlikely to happen within the extra 3 months anyway.

One problem you have though is that you are potentially going to be liable for any extra costs/fees/rent/mortgage she incurs if you fail to adhere to the time-scales set out in the Deed.  So you may be on the hook for at the very least her share of three monthly mortgage payments and three months' worth of bills.

Playing devil's advocate, being reasonable would be you agreeing to put the house on the open market given you are unable to obtain a mortgage within the time-scales you previously agreed with her...

I have said to her that she would be paying the mortgage and bills anyways if we sold for potentially up to 9 months from today. As it is unlikely to be sold in 3 months time from the date I officially need to buy her out. I have said to her that I will pay all the bills and mortgage from month 4-6. Then I will buy her out of the mortgage at month 6. Then she will have the money in her account at around month 4. 

MacApples

To add she was preferring if we got what I stated above in an agreement, if not she can force sale which I will agree with. 

Annisele

You say that you've gone to your bank and asked if you can take out the mortgage in your sole name, and your bank has said not yet. But you don't say if you've gone to a broker to find out if anybody else would lend to you now.

It's possible that an early repayment charge on your mortgage would make switching lender unattractive. But if you haven't already tried to find a different lender, I think an appointment with a broker would at least show your ex you're trying.

eddddy

If I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like you're saying:

• You made an agreement with your ex-partner

• You now want to break one of the terms of that agreement (relating to timescales)

• Your ex partner has no realistic way of stopping you breaking that term of the agreement (except perhaps by getting an emergency injunction - which would be mind-blowingly expensive)

So it looks like you can go ahead and do what you want to do with impunity. 


Unless, for example, your breaking of the agreement causes a financial loss to your ex partner. (e.g. They have to take out an expensive bridging loan because of your breach, or they have to abort a house purchase because of your breach, and lose their legal fees etc.) Then your ex partner could potentially sue you for those losses.

MacApples

eddddy said:

If I'm reading this correctly, it sounds like you're saying:

• You made an agreement with your ex-partner

• You now want to break one of the terms of that agreement (relating to timescales)

• Your ex partner has no realistic way of stopping you breaking that term of the agreement (except perhaps by getting an emergency injunction - which would be mind-blowingly expensive)

So it looks like you can go ahead and do what you want to do with impunity. 


Unless, for example, your breaking of the agreement causes a financial loss to your ex partner. (e.g. They have to take out an expensive bridging loan because of your breach, or they have to abort a house purchase because of your breach, and lose their legal fees etc.) Then your ex partner could potentially sue you for those losses.

Yes effectively yes. She is not interested in buying a house from what she has told me. She has herself seemed legal advice so is now aware of the cost and time scale to force sale will be expensive and long. In the end she will get the same amount of money she would get if we sold, and most likely within a shorter time period.