moving out of joint tenancy (not married)

freeflyer

Hi all, so my partner and i have split. We're not married. We have two kids from seperate relationships respectively, who live here as well.
We have a joint house. We're both listed on the Title Deeds and each have equal share putting roughly the same amount of deposit in when we moved in, and the rest is mortgaged.
I'm considering moving out and renting for 6 months, as to be honest it's easier for all of us, (not to mention the fact that if we both stay until the end we'd have to sell our house and buy two new ones and all would transfer on the same day).
Where do i stand with this from a legal point of view? She would take over the full mortgage payments, and i would just pay for my rented house... but i'm not sure if moving out is the right thing to do or how i stand legally should things get sticky. 

Bookworm105

you are not legally married
do you own as Joint Tenants (so 50/50 by default) or as Tenants in Common??
if TIC is there a documented deed of trust confirming the 50/50 split?

it appears you will move out into rented whilst still retaining ownership of the previous house. Your share will therefore become liable for CGT when sold and it appears you would still be liable for the mortgage anyway.

the previous house will not (yet) be sold but, if sold within 3 years of you moving out, then you would avoid having to pay higher rate SDLT if you purchase a property as new home rather than rent.

that is your legal position 
the rest is down to her financial demands over continuing the mortgage and thus acquiring a larger share of the old house. There is no legal entitlement to such as you are not married.

Brie

a lot of people will suggest you don't move out as that means you've given up some ownership while still being responsible for the mortgage.  If your partner stops paying at any point I think you will still be responsible for the mortgage while also being responsible for rent payments.  Can you do that?  

km1500

do not move out if you can possibly avoid it

as above, how is the house held?

gwynlas

 If you move out and your ex can afford the mortgage then they have no incentive to sell.

You could still move into a rental property at the time the house is sold if not ready to buy/to break a chain.

Paying rent is a waste of money and being tied into a tenancy agreement is not ideal.

Emmia

However awkward, I'd not move out (I'm assuming no personal safety issues, DV etc.) and get the place on the market to sell. One or both of you can move to rented at the time it sells - or one of you might be in a position to line up their onward move then. 

Alternatively can either of you buy the other out?

freeflyer

Thanks all, so just to clarify we both put in near identical amounts of deposit. She put in £90k and i put in 100k. the remaining £90k was mortgaged, with both our names on everything including title deeds, mortgage agreements etc. So, i believe we are tenants in common but i would need to check. Neither of us are in a position to buy the other out.
 
The house is to be sold hopefully within the next 3 months, and we both need the proceeds from the sale of the house in order to get new houses and mortgages. This does of course mean that the sale of this house and the purchase of *both* our new repesctive houses would have to complete the same day, along with all moving hassles etc. That in itself will be a nightmare , especially if one sale/purchase falls through. I would also perhaps like to leave sooner rather than later as i can see things getting extremely difficult during the sale process.

However, from what i can tell, i would be better off staying put, so that might be best. I'm just dreading the process when it nearers completion, and i thought renting for a few months might be an easy way out of it.  Then of course there is the problem of us both finding and buying a new house in the same area at the same price as each other ! That's not going to be fun.

Myci85

I'm confused, why do you both need to buy your new houses in the same area at the same price as each other? Surely you would each take your share of the equity from the sale and either put it towards whatever house you can then afford or put it into savings if you need to rent for a bit before buying. 

freeflyer

Myci85 said:

I'm confused, why do you both need to buy your new houses in the same area at the same price as each other? Surely you would each take your share of the equity from the sale and either put it towards whatever house you can then afford or put it into savings if you need to rent for a bit before buying. 

Because we'll both have similar amounts of money to spend on our respective next house, and we both want to stay in the area.

freeflyer

So, can i ask, should i decide to move out before the house is sold, would there be some kind of agreement we can draw up via the solicitors that covers our circumstances? 

Albermarle

Also do not underestimate the difficulty of finding a rented property. In some areas there is much more demand than supply, especially for anywhere half decent. It will be even more difficult if you do not want to sign up for a minimum 12 months ( some even want 12 months rent upfront).