Separated with ex, want to understand eligibility for what I paid into the house

Liginnema

Hi there,

I need your advice on the money I can reclaim from a property I am no longer paying towards the mortgage of.

Here are the facts:

1. I got a mortgage on a property with my (then) partner, as a family home for us and our two children,
2. We paid it off as aggressively as we could - we wanted to be mortgage free ASAP and made the payments 50/50 each,
3. This continued for around two years,
4. We split up and I moved out to rent nearby; I am still an active dad with my children and support them everyway I can.

Since then, my ex told me that the only money I am eligible for is 50% the equity of the property that's been paid off. I'm not 100% sure yet, but think I spent around £24k over this timeframe, and at time of conversation (and her assertion) I stood to get about £6k back, as according to her the rest 'went to interest'.

Since then, I've been quietly dying inside at how unjust this sounds - my perception is it doesn't matter where the money I paid into the property was allocated - it's now sunk into an investment that I am no longer an owner / beneficiary of, so when it's all paid off, she will be substantially benefitting from my money, while I will be struggling to get my own mortgage and out of pocket.

I explained how I feel about this to her and she's tried to just wriggle out of any commitment and I've been able to use logic to rebut her, I've also told her I understand that she wouldn't be able to magic this money out of nowhere as interest isn't equity, so am willing to be flexible about solutions.

I would like to hear what other people's experiences of this have been please? Am I completely out of line / justified, has anyone had success with this and do you have any knowledge / experience you'd be willing to share?

Thanks all in advance, really appreciate any advice.

Emmia

How is the property owned/registered at the land registry? In both your names, or just in your ex's name?

What was the property worth when you bought it, what is it worth now?

Are you still paying for the mortgage? Can your ex buy you out / pay the mortgage alone?

Newbie_John

In my opinion the most fare split would be half of what's been paid (as she said) plus half of any increase on price between now and the time you purchased.

For example you purchased a house for £300k, which is now worth £340k. Over time you paid £100k of which £50k went for interests and £50k of mortgage has been paid off.

The fair split would be half of £50k and half of £40k.

400ixl

Value of the house at the point you stopped paying minus remaining mortgage at the same time and then 50% of that.

Liginnema

Thank you all for your responses, here are my answers:

Emmia said:

How is the property owned/registered at the land registry? In both your names, or just in your ex's name?

What was the property worth when you bought it, what is it worth now?

Are you still paying for the mortgage? Can your ex buy you out / pay the mortgage alone?

It is in both of our names currently; although she is taking steps to remove me from it, which practically I'm happy with, I want nothing more to do with the place (financially). My only concern here is if I were to be removed before settling this, would I be in a worse position?

The property was valued at 490k in November 2022, it is in the process of being re-evaluated now.

I am no longer paying for the mortgage, and she should have the means to pay for it herself.

housebuyer143

Liginnema said:

Thank you all for your responses, here are my answers:

Emmia said:

How is the property owned/registered at the land registry? In both your names, or just in your ex's name?

What was the property worth when you bought it, what is it worth now?

Are you still paying for the mortgage? Can your ex buy you out / pay the mortgage alone?

It is in both of our names currently; although she is taking steps to remove me from it, which practically I'm happy with, I want nothing more to do with the place (financially). My only concern here is if I were to be removed before settling this, would I be in a worse position?

The property was valued at 490k in November 2022, it is in the process of being re-evaluated now.

I am no longer paying for the mortgage, and she should have the means to pay for it herself.

If you come off without settling this you essentially are giving up any rights to the property,, so you want her to pay you what you want before you sign away your rights. 
I agree that you should be entitled to half, so the current value when you stopped paying, minus the current mortgage, divided by 2. What you want though and what she agrees might not match up though. 

Hoenir

Liginnema said:

 My only concern here is if I were to be removed before settling this, would I be in a worse position?

Without your signature nothing can happen. 

400ixl

Don't remove your name from the deeds until she has remortgaged into her own name and settled your share.

theoretica

Was the deposit on the property paid 50:50?

Flugelhorn

" the current value when you stopped paying, minus the current mortgage, divided by 2" -

 I agree that this is usually considered the fair outcome (with an allowance if very disparate deposits) - I don't think how much interest has been paid comes into it - maybe have to consider that that is rent?

400ixl

Also, put an alert on with the land registry to get alerted if any changes are made.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert