Ex partner wants half of property but hasn't paid towards the mortgage.

Social1993

Hi all, would love a little bit of advice from you all on here.
Long story short, my ex and I bought a house around 18 months ago. Unfortunately a couple of months in we broke up and she moved out.
When we bought the house I put down the whole deposit, she didn't contribute to the deposit at all so when we moved in we signed the mortgage in unequal shares (60/40) to reflect I had put forward that extra 10%. After moving out she has not contributed to the mortgage at all, I have since worked out that over this time period between deposits and monthly payments, "we" have paid off £45k of the house. Of that £45k, I have put in £43k as I have been paying the mortgage alone for the last 15 months or so.
She has now turned round and reneged on a verbal agreement that we had to simply take back her initial investment and waive her right to equity and requested her full 40% despite not contributing a penny to the deposit and only paying around £2000 in mortgage monthly payments from when we first moved in.
Where do I stand on this and what should my next steps be? I obviously do not feel she should be able to lay claim to 40% of the equity that I have almost exclusively paid into the property - I don't mind taking this to court if that is the only option but curious if people have been in similar positions and how they proceeded?
Thanks

The_Unready

Whose name(s) is/are on the deeds?

lisyloo

Do you have free legal advice available on your home insurance?

ACG

Whatever happens, even if she disappears you need to get this resolved ASAP. 

Maybe take her to court for 50% of the payments going back from when she stopped and going forward. That might make her want to resolve the situation also. No guarantee you would win but you should get this sorted before something happens - ie you start a family/meet someone else. 

mallen

Is she on the deeds? 

Are you married?

DullGreyGuy

Were you married/civil partnership or not?

Did you set it up as Tenants in Common and then set up a deed with the 60/40 split or did you sign the paperwork as Joint Tenants?

p00hsticks

After only 18 months, what is the equity in the property ? 
Has the mortgage genuinely reduced by £45k in that time, or is that simply the amount you've paid ?
(The first few years of a mortgage are typically mostly interest and don't reduce the actual balance by much)

It might be worth crunching the numbers to see exactly what '40% of the equity' would be, as it may turn out it's not exactly the windfall she's expecting....

tacpot12

lisyloo said:

Do you have free legal advice available on your home insurance?

The Home Insurance legal cover may not get involved if both parties held the insurance in their joint names. They won't get involved if there is a potential conflict of interest. 

kingstreet

Read Jones v Kernott. It deals with similar.

No19v87

p00hsticks said:

After only 18 months, what is the equity in the property ? 
Has the mortgage genuinely reduced by £45k in that time, or is that simply the amount you've paid ?
(The first few years of a mortgage are typically mostly interest and don't reduce the actual balance by much)

It might be worth crunching the numbers to see exactly what '40% of the equity' would be, as it may turn out it's not exactly the windfall she's expecting....

I believe the OP was including the deposit in the 45k figure, could be a share such as 40k deposit and 5k through mortgage payments.

housebuyer143

What did the declaration of trust say? Is it split 60/40 or does it state you get your initial deposit back first before the rest is split?