Ex demanding money from lodgers

Carlos4646

When we split up a few years ago, my ex leant me £28,000 of our 50/50 equity, so I could buy a 3 bedroom house for myself and 2 young adult children. The deal was I paid him back when I sold the house or when/if I moved a new partner in.
one of my children has moved out and I occasionally have short term lodgers. He is now asking for a cut of the lodgers money I get. He wants 50%, which isn’t going to paying off the debt. 
This was not the agreement. Nothing is legally binding about the agreement, but he has my word. 
I don’t want to give him any lodgers money, neither am I ready to sell up. He is being very persistent. 
What would others do in my situation. 
Thanks

theartfullodger

Suspect he's entitled to 50%. Talk to a solicitor specialising in separation AND landlord/tenant/lodger matters.  i.e. not the usual high street ones

Peter999_2

It sounds fair to me.    I take it that the £28,000 is a static amount and you don't add on interest?

I'd be happy with that arrangement if I were you and 50% sounds fair so at least he's getting something for his investment.

sammyjammy

So the house is entirely yours and in no way linked to your ex, he is just a person that you casually owe £28k to?

If what I have typed is the situation you don't have any need to give him 50% of the lodgers payments.

penners324

If it's reducing the £28k owed then sounds reasonable.
If not say no.

markin

EDIT, i think we all read the situation in many different ways. 

"myself and 2 young adult children"
The kids were already Adults, Not 'are now adults'?  

You should be paying the Ex back.

The must have been an expectation that you would find someone or sell up when the kids are adults and would leave.

 

km1500

unless I am misunderstanding you have bought yourself a three bedroom house and have a loan of 28,000 from your ex partner 

your partner is not entitled to anything but even if you wanted to give them something it would only be 28000/xxx000 where xxx is the value of your house

ThisIsWeird

Just based on what you've told us, Carlos; "When we split up a few years ago, my ex leant me £28,000 of our 50/50 equity, so I could buy a 3 bedroom house for myself and 2 young adult children. The deal was I paid him back when I sold the house or when/if I moved a new partner in.

One of my children has moved out and I occasionally have short term lodgers. He is now asking for a cut of the lodgers money I get. He wants 50%, which isn’t going to paying off the debt."

So, the 'deal' was, he gets his money back when either (a) you sell the house, or (b) you move a new partner in.

Neither of these have occurred, so I cannot see he has any claim on anything else.

By all means give him half - but only on the agreement that it's deducted from the £28k sum you owe him.

Q - "Nothing is legally binding about the agreement, but he has my word." What does this mean? Is there any way he can force you to sell by calling in his loan? If not, he can whistle.

I'm not commenting on any moral aspect of this, but even then I don't think he has any right. The two repayment scenarios you both agreed to could theoretically last a long time, so he should have fully understood this - "I ain't expecting my £28k back any time soon". Now that you are, very sensibly, earning a bit of extra income, if you offer half (or more) of this to him on the basis that it's paying off his loan, then he's starting to get his money back sooner rather than later, so he should be 'pleased'.

The house is yours. Your method of earning extra is yours. If you took on an additional part-time job, would he have any claim on half of this? Of course not. No-one 'wants' to have a lodger; you are taking on the full hassle of doing this, and he just wants his 'cut'. He's a pimp. :-)

Bookworm105

you own a property entirely in your own name
the ex has no claim to a share of any income that property generates, just the same as your mortgage company cannot say we loaned you some money so we'll have some of the lodgers rent.

the "terms" of the loan from your ex are NOT affected by you choosing to have a paying lodger. Those terms appear to be triggered by either you selling or you getting a new partner neither of which have happened  (we will take as read the paying lodger is merely a lodger!) 

ThisIsWeird

Bookworm105 said:

you own a property entirely in your own name
the ex has no claim to a share of any income that property generates, just the same as your mortgage company cannot say we loaned you some money so we'll have some of the lodgers rent.

the "terms" of the loan from your ex are NOT affected by you choosing to have a paying lodger. Those terms appear to be triggered by either you selling or you getting a new partner neither of which have happened  (we will take as read the paying lodger is merely a lodger!) 

Good point! Perhaps Carlos cannot offer 50% of the 'takings', as it's payment 'in kind'... (I'm ashamed )

propertyrental

The lesson for others (too late for you) is that financial arrangements like this really should be properly thought through, and documented.

But provided you both agree now on the basic terms ("The deal was I paid him back when I sold the house or when/if I moved a new partner in.") then I don't see how/why you owe anything now. The house is yours to do what you want with until you sell/move a new partner in.

Difficulty arises if he claims the original agreement was something else.

Alternative is a compromise: give him 50% and deduct those weekly/monthly payments to him from the 28LK loan. If so, make sure you keep good records of each payment....