Relationship spilt

dodeeboo

Hi everyone. My son and his girlfriend were buying a house . Lots of work done on house etc .  The girlfriend chose a kitchen from wicks just under ten thousand pounds the kitchen is huge . My son put it on his c card . After three months the girlfriend found someone else and house had to be sold at 60/40 . The girl put in 16 grand my son 60 grand . Although she is still paying the mortgage till house is sold she told my son she is not paying anything towards the kitchen as my son is still paying it off . She told him to go and xxx himself . But before she left she bought herself a car on credit . She has taken so much from the house that my son is now on his knees . She told my son there’s nowt he can do about it . Is there anyway he can get her to pay towards the kitchen she has made a profit from the house and had told my son thanks for the money . Anyone know about this kinda stuff . Thank you . 

Newbie_John

Is 60/40 what their ownership was or something they agreed to after?
Has the house been sold for more than purchased?

I would do an actual spreadsheet of how much who paid:
A) Your son = £60k deposit + £9k kitchen
b) Ex = £16k deposit + mortgage (how many months left? who was paying before?) 

And if the expected sale money with ratio 60/40 differ a lot then the only way is to get it sorted between themselves or involve a lawyer (which itself can be costly, so if the difference between fair money split and actual money split is low I wouldn't bother). Also sometimes involving parents of the ex could help - my friend managed to resolve few issues that way as they spoke calmly and fair to their daughter.

And yeah, joint house purchases can go very bad..

RAS

Did they informally agree the 60/40 or was their a written deed of trust? Without anything in writing, the assumption is 50/50.

Exodi

RAS said:

Did they informally agree the 60/40 or was their a written deed of trust? Without anything in writing, the assumption is 50/50.

This is the most important part, as 60/40 ownership suggests the property is held as tenants in common and a DoT may exist as RAS says. You'd hope they would know if a DoT exists as they would have steered the conveyancer in writing it.

If this is the case, the DoT may include various stipulations, a common one being the return of any initial contributions (aka deposits).

The son taking the debt out in his own name is unfortunate, though you could argue it would have been unfair if she had taken it out in her name. The kitchen forms part of the property now, and by extension the equity. The circumstances (that she picked the kitchen) are a red herring as presumably the son was in agreement at the time as was the one who paid for it. I understand now that it might leave a bitter taste in the mouth.

(none of the above intended to be critical, I found myself in a very similar situation to your son - my ex and I moved to a house in a new area, I helped her get a new job, she then cheats on me with the training manager).

I can say now, about 4 years on, that I am not regretful over the money I had to give her, as it's money well spent. I'm now happily married!