Doing the right thing?!?

Jones01

First post so please forgive me if I make any mistakes etc!!

I bought a flat with my now ex boyfriend almost 3 years ago, we were given £20,000 as a gift towards buying the house from his parents (of which about £6,000 he spent on himself, not for the house) Now that we've split up he's asking for the £20,000 back from the profits of the sale. So my questions are.....
1) Is he entitled to the full £20,000 back?
2) Should he just be entitled to £14,000? (minus the 6k he spent on himself)
3) Could I in theory not give him anything back of the £20k as it was given to us both as a gift?!? (many will not agree with this I know!)

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Many thanks
x

[Deleted User]

Now, spending it on himself.... was that on furniture/electrical items that you have used over the 3 years? e.g. a big flat screen telly that you've enjoyed the use of? Was any of that on things for you or holidays

Obviously, option 3 is out of the question. It was a gift to you as a couple.. now you aren't a couple, that gift is null and you should return it.

I think you're probably looking at option 1.5 .. you need to establish what was spent on the flat from that money that you used and that you should therefore return. (e.g .. 3 year old 1000 telly, would now sell for 300ish.... you would have 'used' 350 quid of it's cost (1000 - 300)/2 )

My parents helped me and my fiancee out to a similar amount when we bought our house.. however, as part of the mortgage terms, this money only becomes ours on the day of our wedding. It must be returned to them if we split up before then.

maninthestreet

As the £20,000 gift was to both of you, then you each were given £10,000. He's spent £6,000 of his £10,000 on himself, that leaves just £4,000 left for him.

moneysavinmonkey

What the fair thing to do would be to give him back the 14k and split the house proceeds... that is assuming that he genuinely spent all the 6k on himself - e.g. who paid for furniture, legal costs etc.

Legally though, if both your names on the deeds and you don't have a deed of trust or similar drawn up then you are entitled to a full 50% of the proceeds of the house sale.

Jones01

Thanks for your replies.

Firstly, there was no agreement written up regarding the 20k from his parents, and as far as I'm aware there isn't anything down on the paperwork that shows that only 14k was put down towards the flat.

The 6k he spent on himself went towards paying off a loan and credit card, none of it was actually spent on anything in the house. Although I paid for a new kitchen, new boiler, gass fitting, and some electrical work, should I ask for some of this back do you think?

Debt_Free_Chick

I assume there was no written agreement to specify who owns what proportion of the house?

In the absence of anything else in writing, you own the house 50/50. You would need to assemble some "evidence" that the split should be different.

You say you were lent £20k. Who was the money given to? Your ex? If so, what deposit was actually put down on the house? £14k?

If this is the case, then let him have his deposit back. He will then have to discuss with his parents repayment of the loan for £20k.

This is just one possible option, but if the loan and deposit went through his account (not a joint one) then I'd leave well alone. Leave him on the hook for the £20k loan and let him have the £14k deposit back.

In general - things you bought and paid for from your own funds are yours.

Things he bought and paid for from his own funds are his.

Things you bought jointly - either through a joint account or by you each paying something separately, are "joint". If the separate contributions were equal, then you own them 50/50. If you contributed different amounts, then you each own a share depending on the proportion of the total cost you contributed.

So, for one of you to claim a share greater than 50%, you have to demonstrate that you contributed more than 50% of the cost. (I am guessing he can demonstrate that he borrowed £20k from his parents and then contributed £14k to the deposit).

Let us have some more information, if you can, especially about the points made here.

bluejake

Go and see a solicitor. More information is required to answer your question but the with sums involved and what can be complicated property law you would be well advised to see a solicitor, preferably someone who specialises in property law .

Just to add that some of the advice you have been given on this thread is simply plain wrong. See a solicitor.

Jones01

If I remember correctly the money was paid into our joint account and my ex just dipped into it to pay off his loans and Credit Cards which left us with 14k, which I'm quite sure we paid with a cheque to the solicitor as a deposit.

No agreement was written and no discussion was held regarding paying back the money should we split. I'm pretty sure my ex will not have to pay the 20k back to his parents as it was a gift they had given us, the same as they had given his brother and girlfriend a few months earlier when they bought a house together. So all he can prove is that our joint account was given a gift of 20k by his parents.

I can clearly prove that I paid for the new kitchen and boiler as I have the receipts, and all payments were made from my personal account NOT the joint, so can I claim this back? All the other suff was paid in cash, so even though it is another few hundred (probably around a £1000 all in) I'm presuming I should forget about it?

pinkshoes

Was the £14k the only deposit? or did you both contribute more? did you split mortgage/bills 50/50? I think you need to give a bit more information...

I'd give him the £14k, minus half of what you spent on the kitchen, boiler, gas/elec supply work (i.e. if you spent £3k on kitchen, boiler etc... then charge him £1500 for his share, and you'd give him £12500), then split the equity left 50/50.

If he only put £14k of the £20k towards the deposit, then he can't ask for the £20k.

Has the flat increased in value, because maybe he's seeing his £14k as a % of the original value compared to the selling value, and this is why he wants more back.

My parents "lent" me £10k to purchase my property, on the condition I pay it back if I ever sell, and that only £10k is paid back, and no interest.

Rick62

A more than 'fair' settlement imo would be he gets £14k, you get what you spent (i.e. Kitchen, boiler, £1k misc) and then split the rest 50:50%.

Pinkshoes, why should OP only get back 50% of what they spent if OH is getting 100% of their £14k?

Debt_Free_Chick

My only, slight, concern with Pinkshoes suggestion is this ....

Jones01 wrote: »

If I remember correctly the money was paid into our joint account

So, on the face of it, you contributed £14k on a 50/50 basis to the deposit. Unless, of course, he claims that he put £20k into the joint account, in which case he is owed the full deposit. But ignore that for just a minute ....

and my ex just dipped into it to pay off his loans and Credit Cards which left us with 14k, which I'm quite sure we paid with a cheque to the solicitor as a deposit.

If we assume that the joint account was owned 50/50, then he borrowed [STRIKE]£2k [/STRIKE]£3k from your share and [STRIKE]£2k [/STRIKE]£3k of his own. He therefore needs to give you your [STRIKE]£2k [/STRIKE]£3k back.

No agreement was written and no discussion was held regarding paying back the money should we split. I'm pretty sure my ex will not have to pay the 20k back to his parents as it was a gift they had given us, the same as they had given his brother and girlfriend a few months earlier when they bought a house together. So all he can prove is that our joint account was given a gift of 20k by his parents.

I think you need to factor in repayment of the loan to his parents. otherwise, you will always potentially owe them £10k. If the £20k is repaid "today" there's nothing to stop them lending/giving him £20k tomorrow. Or they can accept your £10k repayment and simply "write off" what he owes them. But for this exercise, you need to think about repaying your share as the money was paid into a joint account and, in the absence of any other agreement, you are both jointly liable to repay it.

I can clearly prove that I paid for the new kitchen and boiler as I have the receipts, and all payments were made from my personal account NOT the joint, so can I claim this back? All the other suff was paid in cash, so even though it is another few hundred (probably around a £1000 all in) I'm presuming I should forget about it?

The benefit of the new kitchen and boiler will be in the value of the property. It's not as if these are "possessions" which you can take with you.

So - you effectively lent him his share of the cost of these items and he owes you this amount.

I would deal with this as follows ....

Take the "profit" from the sale i.e. what's left over after repaying the mortgage and all the sale costs (wait for the solicitor's final confirmation of this).

Make two columns on a piece of paper (or spreadsheet). Put equal shares of the profit under each column. Name one column you and the other column him.

Take [STRIKE]£2k [/STRIKE]£3k from his column and put it under your column. This is the [STRIKE]£2k [/STRIKE]£3k he owes you from the joint account (when he borrowed [STRIKE]£4k [/STRIKE]£6k to pay off his CCs).

Take half the cost of the boiler & kitchen off his share and put it under your column.

Split the profit this way and then agree with his parents about repayment of the loan, which should be 50/50. Get something from them in writing about what you owe them. Just ask them to confirm what you must pay in order for the debt to be settled. You will then have the money to do this, from your share of the profit.

Re the items you paid for in cash - without any evidence, then you'll have to write them off (for this reason, I would always track my spending in Microsoft Money!!).

This is the pragmatic way to solve this ... there are other ways.