Relationship and House sale

Limey442

Hi All, 

i was hoping i might be able to get some advice please on my situation to help with the management of a house sale post break up. 

My partner and i bought a house just over 18 months ago and have unfortunately split and therefore we plan to sell the house this summer. We are jointly on the mortgage but input a deposit contribution of roughly 20/80% in favour of myself. We agreed to hold our individual deposits and then do 50/50% on any gains/losses thereafter. 

All of what has been agreed is nothing more than a gentleman's agreement and therefore I am wondering what I can do to provide some protection of these agreements ahead of selling the house (i.e. get an agreement drawn up by lawyers?)

If anyone is able to provide some advice i would be greatly appreciative. 

Thank you very much 
(Removed by Forum Team)

Mark_d

We have to assume your partner still respects the previous agreement.  Perhaps you need nothing more than an email exchange, confirm the position as you have stated it.  Financial records/bank statements, showing where the deposit came from, should back up the agreed position.

Do you have any reason to believe that your partner would not honour the existing agreement?

Exodi

Speaking from experience, agreements like this are rarely so simple.

The estate agent will want a few grand for selling the house, have you discussed how this will be paid? Likewise the conveyancer.

The housing market has been quite volatile the past 18 months, and if your house has decreased in value, people with lower deposit contributions may be more... reluctant... to agree when they realise that they are losing a higher percentage chunk of their smaller deposit.

You say you are joint on the mortgage (which is a red herring as any party on a mortgage is joint and severally liable and gives no indiciation on the ownership of the property) - but how did you register yourself when you bought the house? Joint Tenants (e.g. 50/50) or Tenants in Common (usually a Deed of Trust is drawn up where you detail all the individual details about what you put in and how you calculate what you get out), I'm assuming the former.

Also, respectfully, I've reported your post to have a mod remove your name from it - you should absolutely not give your full name on an internet forum like that.

VyEu

You'd need a deed of trust to confirm how the proceeds of sale would be split in the case of a break up and the house being sold. Without it, if you're both on the title deeds, the default position is that you own it 50/50 regardless of who paid what towards the deposit.