Partner buying me out during split. Do they owe me any of the stamp duty we originally split?

Hoenir

Mega_Maniac said:

 Our deed of trust does not include costs of purchase in the calculations for equity share. (Fairly sure this answers my question, but as I said... just checking).

Who drafted this deed. Did you have any input?

Did you receive independent legal advice prior to signing? 

Thought crossed my mind that your ex has protected her own interests at the outset. Given the way things have turned out. 

Mega_Maniac

saajan_12 said:

Mega_Maniac said:

I appreciate the other suggestions, we do have a deed of trust which lays out how the split should go, so I don't want to retrospectively try to change that, even if I feel a bit 'hard done by' in terms of financial loss. 

Fair enough on the property value split being per the DoT. However there are other, uneven costs due to one party moving out and one remaining. Presumably the DoT was based on your shares if you both sell and hence doesn't cover this. 

You'll have additional moving costs and your own new SDLT which ex won't have, so its reasonable to split those too. 

Mega_Maniac said:

user1977 said:

No, the market value of the house is whatever it is in its current condition.

Ok, so I mean I guess I mean't "Value of house as assessed by RICS valuer or EA minus cost of roof" 

As the "current condition" is that is has a bad roof. The only real dispute point is wether it is reasonable to bring the whole cost of the roof into this assessment, or only the cost of repairs to the current condition.

I think we're into semantics.. by definition the market value is what someone will pay in the open market in the current condition. If an EA didn't spot the roof and valued it at £x, then a buyer would likely get a survey and ask for a reduction for (part of) the cost of the roof repair. RICS assessor is potentially different. Or put another way, the EA isn't really surveying much and when they give a valuation, they're really just saying "the market value of a comparable house with the level of features / defects I can see is £x". So you'd have to infer and agree that the market value of THIS house is £x - partial roof repair cost. 

I say partial because the expectation is that the roof, or anything else isn't brand new.. in time it would need some maintenance anyway. You're deducting for the difference between that and a roof needing repair immediately. 

Thanks, I'm collating questions to ask when I speak to a solicitor (more I can know/ask in one sitting the less it will hopefully cost me!). 

I'll ask questions regarding the moving costs. My gut reaction to that is that it's quite hard to define... I'll be renting for a while, this will cost me money, who knows what the value of a future property will be so those costs aren't a sure thing plus she will also have stamp duty to buy me out of the mortgage, so she isn't without costs. At the moment I have just been thinking of it all as part of the cost of going through this whole process, I'm not sure I think it's 'fair' to get in to asking the other party to cover costs associated with that... but it is something worth asking a solicitor, so thanks for the nudge in any case. Plus I would assume she could always refuse and just say "see you in court".. at which point a grand here or there becomes a moot point.

I agree with the second paragraph, I think the simplest solution is to inform the EA or RICS valuer of the roof so it can be taken into account. 

Mega_Maniac

Hoenir said:

Mega_Maniac said:

 Our deed of trust does not include costs of purchase in the calculations for equity share. (Fairly sure this answers my question, but as I said... just checking).

Who drafted this deed. Did you have any input?

Did you receive independent legal advice prior to signing? 

Thought crossed my mind that your ex has protected her own interests at the outset. Given the way things have turned out. 

Conveyancing solicitor drafted it and I was involved in the process, and no to the legal advice, I did look at the time, but was working away making getting advice hard (I work the whole day, without an opportunity to get away for a call, but I may have not tried hard enough to perhaps find a Saturday appointment) and we had to get the Deed of Trust signed before exchange of contracts, so there was a time pressure there. It is a very simple deed of trust and she did not have any more say in its drafting than I did, I don't believe she was looking to protect her interests at the expense of my own, beyond protecting her much larger share.

I would assume legal advice at the time would have made this potential outcome and it's nuances a bit clearer - hindsight and all that.