House been on market for 6 month, no viewings, Desperate to sell

bmnsuk

A bit backround: 
I bought my house 2 years ago, just me on the mortgage but was living with my partner at the time.....had been with her for 6 years at that point.
It was in an area I'm not from, only moved there to be with my partner

Fast forward to the start of the year and I found out she had been cheating on me for 2 and a half years. Obviously I moved back to where I'm from but she stayed in the house as she had a teenage child (not mine). I let her stay there but told her the house was being sold and she needed to find somewhere to live

Since then I've been paying the mortgage for a house I'm not living in, the debt she left me in (I stupidly took it all out in my name, had planned to pay it off this year but never saw this coming) and also paying rent and bills for a house I'm currently renting 

The house had been on the market for 6 month and I haven't had a single viewing. I've dropped the asking price 3 times and can't drop it any lower as otherwise it won't pay off what I owe. She's still in the house and I don't think she's any intention of leaving unless she has to, she's not paying anything apart from bills

I'm really starting to struggle now as the amount I'm paying out each month is more than I'm actually getting paid, I'm having to work overtime to actually live. I'm seriously tempted to just stop paying the mortgage payments. Yeah I know it will affect my credit rating but I'm past the point of caring now

Has anyone been in a similar situation or knows a way I can get rid of that house? It's like a massive weight around my neck now and I can't see anyway of getting rid of it

Thanks

p00hsticks

Is the house in your sole name, or both yours and your -ex's ?
What part of the country are we talking ? (England, Wales, Scotland ?)

bmnsuk

Just in my name only. Its in England 

Brie

what state is the house in?  are the photos winners or do they make it look a dump?  Obviously it's not to your ex's advantage to help you sell it and frankly I think it will always be more difficult with her in place.  So I'd say you have to get her out and make it so attractive that someone will bite.  Without her there the estate agent will have a no chain property that will surely make them more eager to push it too.

I think it's a case of getting her evicted possibly but how one does that I don't know as presumably she isn't considered a tenant.

Sarah1Mitty2

Hi, the selling price and what you owe are not connected, trying to get the price you paid two years ago won`t work in this market, you need to contact the mortgage company and say you are struggling and also get advice from CAB or similar about the rights she has to stay there rent free if she isn`t on the mortgage.

bmnsuk

The photos make it look clean and tidy, which it always was. And it's advertised as no forward chain already. Estate agent knows the situation and has mentioned they've had similar.
I think the lack of viewings is making the ex too comfortable in the place. She's not classed as a tenant..... I just moved out as i couldnt stay there anymore.
 I've made it clear she needs to move out aswell and to make it easy I've left her pretty much everything we had and have money put aside for rent and deposit for her on a rental. I don't know what else to do to get her out but I'm more concerned about getting rid of that house

p00hsticks

Brie said:

I think it's a case of getting her evicted possibly but how one does that I don't know as presumably she isn't considered a tenant.

I'm not sure about that, and it's why I asked whose name the property was in.
Presumably when the OP was also living there she was just declared as another occupier for the mortgage application, but now the OP has moved out perhaps she is legally a tenant ? 

I agree the best (but not necessarily the easiest) next step is for the OP to get her to move out - in retrospect it would have been simplest if the OP had chucked her out as soon as the relationship foundered and while he was still living in the property, but I imagine you're not necessarily thinking the most logically in those circumstances....  

Brie

I'd say it's time to get a solicitor to issue something official to get her to move on. I quite agree she's likely very comfortable if she has a roof over her head and few bills.

No forward chain is different to not occupied.  If I rang the estate agent and asked "so why's this place being sold" and they said "relationship breakup" my next question would be "oh so it's empty?" and they should, rightly, say "no". And given that I know how that makes things tricky I would likely look elsewhere instead even if your place was exactly what I was after.

bmnsuk

Sarah1Mitty2 said:

Hi, the selling price and what you owe are not connected, trying to get the price you paid two years ago won`t work in this market, you need to contact the mortgage company and say you are struggling and also get advice from CAB or similar about the rights she has to stay there rent free if she isn`t on the mortgage.

The house was valued at 20k more than I paid for it 2 years ago. I've dropped the price to close to what I did pay for it now. I took advice from a solicitor about the ex living and he literally told me to "play nice"  in order to get her out

jlfrs01

When a property fails to sell it's nearly always because the price is to high and/or it's not aesthetically pleasing/in poor decorative order.
In your shoes I would go round there to assess it's state first and foremost - if it's a dump it needs sorting.
Secondly, I'd give your ex a choice - either to pay rent or to leave and if she refuses, take legal advice on having her removed. If you've got the double-whammy of her refusing to pay and keeping it a dump then I'd take it off the market until you've got her out and made it look presentable. Then you can move back in to save on your rent and re-market it at (hopefully) a higher price than it is now on for. No need to take the nuclear option of repossession, you could even move back in which wouldn't be comfortable for either of you but needs must - it is your house after all.

Sarah1Mitty2

bmnsuk said:

The photos make it look clean and tidy, which it always was. And it's advertised as no forward chain already. Estate agent knows the situation and has mentioned they've had similar.
I think the lack of viewings is making the ex too comfortable in the place. She's not classed as a tenant..... I just moved out as i couldnt stay there anymore.
 I've made it clear she needs to move out aswell and to make it easy I've left her pretty much everything we had and have money put aside for rent and deposit for her on a rental. I don't know what else to do to get her out but I'm more concerned about getting rid of that house

 Is there a reason she can`t pay for this herself?