abusive ex partner refusing to pay mortgage

pumpkpinpie01

I left a DA relationship 7 months ago, our house is up for sale as neither of us want to live there, he is refusing to pay the mortgage as he has said he would prefer for it to be repossessed, I cannot afford to pay my half and his and this will affect my credit score for getting my own mortgage (which is the reason he is doing this) Nationwide are being helpful but he has changed his contact details with them to my Step Dad's number?! I wonder if there is anything else I can do? Solictors have advise it will cost up to £7,000 to take him to court.
He is also potentially renting out our mortgage property while neither of us live there, which I am certain he is not allowed to do, can anyone ofer some advice?

saajan_12

pumpkpinpie01 said:

I left a DA relationship 7 months ago, our house is up for sale as neither of us want to live there, - are either of you living there pending sale? If not, where are you living now.. can you move in to save rental costs? 
he is refusing to pay the mortgage as he has said he would prefer for it to be repossessed, I cannot afford to pay my half and his - when did he stop paying? Do you have a demonstratable history of each paying half (even when not living there)? That could indicate a mutual agreement to each pay half, so while the lender won't care, you may be able to sue for his half or for repossession costs later. 
and this will affect my credit score for getting my own mortgage (which is the reason he is doing this) Nationwide are being helpful but he has changed his contact details with them to my Step Dad's number?!  -red herring, ignore the contact detail change. You can always forward him anything you get to avoid him saying he wasn't aware. 
I wonder if there is anything else I can do? Solictors have advise it will cost up to £7,000 to take him to court. - court for what exactly? If its to force the sale, that'll be expensive. But if he'll consent to the sale and if you can get help to front the mortgage payments, and then sue him for the money back, that wouldn't be too much.. you can do that alone without solicitors so its just the filing fee . 

He is also potentially renting out our mortgage property while neither of us live there, which I am certain he is not allowed to do, can anyone ofer some advice? - - not allowed by who? It'll breach the terms of a residential mortgage, but if its just a few months they may not find out / cause a huge issue. If he is letting the whole property which you partly own + pay for, then that's also a problem, both in terms of rental income and making it harder to sell with tenants in situ. I'd go around and knock, to find out the situation. 

Sorry to hear this. Some comments in line above, but first things I'd suggest are 
- go around and knock to find out who's living there
- see if you can get help to cover ex's half of mortgage, and then sue for it. 

You should also have equal access to the property, so if you can move in and get a lodger to cover ex's mortgage, or get half the ex's rental income plus sell with tenants in situ, then fine. Otherwise will be more of a battle to get some of the rent and/or evict and sell. 

Martico

Moving back in might not be an option if it's a case of escaping DA

MultiFuelBurner

Sadly this is this person's one last grasp of control over you.

TBagpuss

Are you married? IF so, then you can (once a divorce has been started) apply to the court for a financial order and include an application for 'Maintenance Pending Suit' which might allow you to get some maintenance from him to cover the mortgage, until an order can be made for the house to be sold.

If you are not married then it sounds as though you will need to go to court - it is expensive but if he is being obstructive the court in this type of case does have greater scope than is usual in a divorce case to makes costs orders against him.

If he has rented the property out then he should be accounting to you for 50% of any rent received - it is probably worth trying to clarify this by going / having a family member go to the property and perhaps asking any occupants whether they are renting and through which agency - talk to your solicitor about next steps if there are tenants in the property 

_Penny_Dreadful

pumpkpinpie01 said:

I left a DA relationship 7 months ago, our house is up for sale as neither of us want to live there, he is refusing to pay the mortgage as he has said he would prefer for it to be repossessed, I cannot afford to pay my half and his and this will affect my credit score for getting my own mortgage (which is the reason he is doing this) Nationwide are being helpful but he has changed his contact details with them to my Step Dad's number?! I wonder if there is anything else I can do? Solictors have advise it will cost up to £7,000 to take him to court.
He is also potentially renting out our mortgage property while neither of us live there, which I am certain he is not allowed to do, can anyone ofer some advice?

You might find the organisation, Surviving Economic Abuse, helpful: 

https://survivingeconomicabuse.org/i-need-help/

It is important to establish if the property is being let.  Not only is it a breach of your mortgage terms and conditions but it will make selling the property very difficult.  It can take months to legally evict tenants and that's when the landlord has dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's.