Occupation Rent?

Mysweet96

Dear all, can anyone help or advise on this please?.....

I buy a house 1996

I move house in 2001 paying 25% deposit (£18k) on new house, purchase price £72k

I meet a man, he moves in, we have 2 children, we need a bigger house.

I sell my house and pay a 46.5% deposit (£101k) deposit on new bigger house in 2015, purchase price £217k. He pays zero deposit but agrees to pay the mortgage as I am not working full time, due to having young children.  I buy the house with him as 50/50 Joint Tenants thinking we own house in joint names only. My conveyancer never personally discusses the financial implications with of unequal deposit.

My partner becomes verbally abusive, criticising and controlling towards me and our children. Making our lives very uncomfortable, our relationship breaks down and I move into spare single room (4 bed detached house).

His behavior gets worse, more aggressive, and more verbally abusive to me and children, and he becomes physically abusive to me.  This makes life miserable and uncomfortable for me and children.  I say I don’t want to be with him anymore, he gets worse. I ask him to move out and he won’t. I’m forced to move out taking our children with me, due to his unreasonable behavior. We cannot live with him.

I’m paying rent to house me and our children since we left 3 years ago in 2020. He rarely sees the children and they rarely stay overnight. He won’t sell the house and give me a fair share considering my large deposit, and having house our children.

He keeps trying to make me pay half the mortgage when I have already paid for almost half of the house (£46.5%) and he keeps threatening me with court action to sell the house so he can benefit from my deposit. To date he has paid £30k off the mortgage. Nowhere near the £101k that I have paid.

This has ruined my life, as I am now renting, am on the breadline and have no spare money to spend on enjoying holidays etc with my 2 girls. I work full time but things financially are so tight and I am constantly using my overdraft to get by. He is benefitting from living in half my house, having no responsibilities, having a nice life going on lots of holidays and having his girlfriend and her children stay over on a regular basis.  This is so unfair that I can't get a decent share from my house and nor can I live in it. He's even changed the locks so I can't get access to my own home.  He has been abusive since I left and has been spoken to by the police for harassment towards me and physical abuse to our eldest daughter. I have police reports against him for abuse to me which the police advised me to drop due the potential stress on the children of taking it to court.

We were never married, if we had been I feel that I would still have my house. Nothing in law seems to help people like me.  Everything I worked for to get myself a nice home is lost and he has taken everything from me.  He is living in my half of the house rent free. I have no money for solicitor fees but I heard I could at least potentially claim occupation rent from him.  Can anyone help me please. I don’t know how to do this.

DE_612183

1. Who's name is on  the deeds of the house as owner?
2. Who's name is the mortgage in?
3. Have you sought legal advice?

Brie

Sorry for the difficult situation.

First step I suggest is to talk to Citizen's Advice.  There may be a solicitor that works with them that might help or perhaps they can put you on to someone in your community.  There may also be someone at a local women's centre that deals with domestic abuse that could assist.

Mysweet96

DE_612183 said:

1. Who's name is on  the deeds of the house as owner?
2. Who's name is the mortgage in?
3. Have you sought legal advice?

Both our names are on the deeds and both names on the mortgage. This has been the biggest mistake of my life I wish my conveyancer had pointed these pitfalls out to me when they saw how much money I was paying out. I have tried to seek legal advice but just keep being told as we weren't married, nothing can help me.

Mysweet96

Brie said:

Sorry for the difficult situation.

First step I suggest is to talk to Citizen's Advice.  There may be a solicitor that works with them that might help or perhaps they can put you on to someone in your community.  There may also be someone at a local women's centre that deals with domestic abuse that could assist.

Thank you for your kind reply Brie. I'll try contacting Citizen's Advice

DE_612183

You can force a sale - but it would be through the courts.

If it is your house - you can also go there and change the locks ( I would think ) when he's on one of his holidays?

elsien

On the one hand, you say that he won’t sell the house to give you a fair share. On the other hand you say that he is threatening you with court action to sell the house.
I’d be tempted to call his bluff and let the court decide what is equitable for the two of you given that you paid a large deposit, but he has paid the mortgage. Then at least you don’t remain liable for half the mortgage for a house that you’re not living in.

Is he paying any maintenance for the children, presuming that they are his? If not, get the child maintenance service on to him.

Mysweet96

DE_612183 said:

You can force a sale - but it would be through the courts.

If it is your house - you can also go there and change the locks ( I would think ) when he's on one of his holidays?

Thank you for replying I've been quoted in the region of £30k to £35k to force a sale, and he will get half my deposit, £50.5k plus the growth in house price on that. Sadly after those costs, that wouldn't leave me much to buy a new house with. If my conveyancer had sat me down to talk about my deposit, I should have bought the house as 73/27 as a result of my deposit.  I could change the locks, as apparently he has no right to stop me from entering my own house, but he would go crazy and come over banging down my door.  It's a nice idea though!

binao

Lawworks.org.uk may be able to help.
Also try approaching lady solicitors and you may find one  willing to help you on a Pro bono basis, that is,  without charge.

Good luck.

Mysweet96

elsien said:

On the one hand, you say that he won’t sell the house to give you a fair share. On the other hand you say that he is threatening you with court action to sell the house.
I’d be tempted to call his bluff and let the court decide what is equitable for the two of you given that you paid a large deposit, but he has paid the mortgage. 

Is he paying any maintenance for the children, presuming that they are hers? If not, get the child maintenance service on to him.

Thank you for commenting.  I didn't think of calling his bluff because he tells me that if it goes to court, I will end up having to pay the fees (£30k to £35k). Probably said that to scare me, as I can't afford that?  I never thought that the court might decide what is equitable, I thought they would only do that if you were married? My deposit far outweighs what he has paid on the mortgage. The children are his, they are 12 & 16 now. He has messed about with child maintenance but CMS are involved now, so that's something at least!

Mysweet96

binao said:

Lawworks.org.uk may be able to help.
Also try approaching lady solicitors and you may find one  willing to help you on a Pro bono basis, that is,  without charge.

Good luck.

Hi, thank you for your suggestion. I will try that, thank you