Advice needed on splitting equity/costs

Andy499

Hi all, I’ll try and keep this brief, I need some advice.

i split with my ex (not married, no children involved) last year, and she left our jointly owned property in October. Since then, all payments from her have stopped towards the mortgage. I stupidly did signed as joint tenants, rather than tenants in common, lesson learnt.

she also owes me £11000 because i took out a loan for her, which she also has stopped paying, and is now denying that she owes it me.

she now wants half the equity of the property paying to her. I can’t afford to do this outright, and I can’t remortgage at the moment, I will need to sell the house, and I kind of want to anyway.

fees paid:
House price paid  in 2020: £295,000
deposit paid by me £130,000
deposit paid by her £0
buying fees all paid by me, none by her.
house value now around £350,000

moetgage payments split 50/50 since purchase in Dec 2020 until October 2023. I now pay everything, including the loan payment that was given to her.

am I right in saying I am entitled to my deposit back on sale? Then all fees are paid (mortgage redemption, conveyancing, estate agent) then the remaining equity is split between us? Or can she stake a claim to half my deposit? She shouldn’t, as this money was from a house sale that was solely done in my name, and that previous house purchase was from inheritance from my late father. 

I will also request the loan be repaid out of this equity, I will offer a 50/50 split on this too, even though it was not used for me, but it’s in my name.

Any advice here is greatly appreciated.

thanks all

jackieblack

‘Entitled to’…
Morally, yes
Legally, no, not if this wasn’t legally documented and agreed

fatbelly

I've seen similar cases settled by agreement but it doesn't sound like she is in a mood to agree.

By all means check with a solicitor on this but I think it will be difficult legally to avoid the scenario she wants and the sooner you get this done, the better.

I'm afraid if the loan is in your name, it's your loan. And the proceeds of sale will be split 50/50

Andy499

fatbelly said:

I've seen similar cases settled by agreement but it doesn't sound like she is in a mood to agree.

By all means check with a solicitor on this but I think it will be difficult legally to avoid the scenario she wants and the sooner you get this done, the better.

I'm afraid if the loan is in your name, it's your loan. And the proceeds of sale will be split 50/50

I don’t understand why she would be entitled to half the money I put into the deposit though? It was all me and none from her. Surely I can fight this in court?

Keep_pedalling

Andy499 said:

fatbelly said:

I've seen similar cases settled by agreement but it doesn't sound like she is in a mood to agree.

By all means check with a solicitor on this but I think it will be difficult legally to avoid the scenario she wants and the sooner you get this done, the better.

I'm afraid if the loan is in your name, it's your loan. And the proceeds of sale will be split 50/50

I don’t understand why she would be entitled to half the money I put into the deposit though? It was all me and none from her. Surely I can fight this in court?

Because you purchased as joint tenants instead of tenants in common with a deed of trust in place. This should have been explained to you by your solicitor when purchasing the property.

Andy499

Keep_pedalling said:

Andy499 said:

fatbelly said:

I've seen similar cases settled by agreement but it doesn't sound like she is in a mood to agree.

By all means check with a solicitor on this but I think it will be difficult legally to avoid the scenario she wants and the sooner you get this done, the better.

I'm afraid if the loan is in your name, it's your loan. And the proceeds of sale will be split 50/50

I don’t understand why she would be entitled to half the money I put into the deposit though? It was all me and none from her. Surely I can fight this in court?

Because you purchased as joint tenants instead of tenants in common with a deed of trust in place. This should have been explained to you by your solicitor when purchasing the property.

So you’re saying there’s nothing I can do? 

fatbelly

It's not impossible that a solicitor would propose a case that the usual pattern should not be followed. There would be no guarantee of success and the costs could be substantial.

The previous poster is correct that a Deed of Trust should have been set up with you owning as Tenants in Common.

At this stage, your best bet is to appeal to her sense of fairness and pay you back your deposit voluntarily

MWT

fatbelly said:

At this stage, your best bet is to appeal to her sense of fairness and pay you back your deposit voluntarily

That would certainly be a great outcome if it could be achieved, but I wonder if perhaps her stance is being informed by legal advice she has already taken... ?

The OP does need to get legal advice at this point, but like the other comments I am not hopeful as without any contemporaneous documentation and agreements, she has 50% ownership.

The £11k loan was also effectively a gift to her unless it can be proven that she agreed to repay it, and in that case at least, if she had previously made all the repayments in full then there is a pattern of behaviour to support the claim that she had accepted responsibility for it.