Doing the right thing?!?

Melissa177

I would use this method. It is the fairest way to work it out.

Work out each of your contribution to the property. This would include:

A. Monies paid for the deposit (this is not clear cut - was the money for both of you, or just for him? Since it was his parents, I would be inclined to say that the 14K was his share, and whatever you added is your share)
B. Monies spent on the house structurally and legally (ie, new boiler, new kitchen/bathroom, lease extension, legal costs upfront). Don't include posessions like TVs etc, you can deal with that separately.
C. Amount of repayments made on mortgage (add up the total over the three years you each made - it might be 50/50, or it might not be).


Work out your respective percentage contribution to the house by dividing your individual contributions by the sum total contribution you have both made to the house.


Take the final profit from the sale (ie, sales price minus selling costs AND , and work out what each of you should receive, based on these percentages.


This is completely fair, and he shouldn't say that the entire 20k was his as a deposit when he spent it paying off his credit cards and a loan! I'm assuming neither the CC or loan were due to money you had spent on it.


Good luck!

dannyboycey

Jones01 wrote: »

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?

Hell yeah!

I think the most reasonable proposition would be 10k each, assuming that it was a gift intended for the both of you.

Melissa177

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

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



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 ....



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



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.



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 £2k from his column and put it under your column. This is the £2k he owes you from the joint account (when he borrowed £4k to pay off the 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.

This is also a good solution - although surely it's 3K and 3K for the CC/loan, as the total was 6K?

Debt_Free_Chick

Melissa177 wrote: »

This is also a good solution - although surely it's 3K and 3K for the CC/loan, as the total was 6K?

:doh: I had £4k on my mind, rather than the £14k deposit.

I'll edit my previous post ... Thanks :T

clutton_2

maybe you should first check with your inlaws that the "gift" is not now going to be reclaimed in full as a "loan" - as sometimes divorce makes families do really weird things ........

Conrad

I find it difficult to believe you would even consider keeping the full £14k as per option 3.
I personally could not live comfortably with myself were I to take the full £14k, for me that would make me fell immoral and unworthy of self esteem.

You say you paid for other items, thats all fine as long as you have facotred in his contributions in totality, for example did he pay for more holidays / leisure or whatever?

Observe natural justice and you will forever know you are a worthwhile collection of cells.

Konisberg

I agree with Conrad and from the title of your post you do want to "do the right thing"

The most important thing is to try and do this all in the friendliest way possible and avoid using solicitors for anything other than the usual conveyancing.

I think it is generally considered that gifts to couples from parents are really gifts to their children only.

Personally, I feel that perhaps your costs for the boiler, kitchen etc should be offset against the labour part undertaken by your ex. He should get the actual deposit amount back assuming you did not contribute at the time and the rest of the proceeds split 50/50. It may be that some of the 14k went on stamp duty, solicitors fees etc. so this should not be returned.

Melissa177

Yes - the last thing you want is solicitors involved, as they then end up with all the money!

pinkshoes

Rick62 wrote: »

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

because the £14k was from HIS parents, and now they've split up, it would perhaps be a kind gesture to give this money back to him.

Demanding £7k of this in a way is just being mean, petty and a bit greedy, and it would probably avoid alot of unnecessary tension just to let him have it.

Rick62

Pinkshoes, yes, I said it was fair for him to get the £14k back, but my point is the OP should then get all the money that she put in, not just half.

So he gets 'his' money back, she gets her money back - how is that mean, petty or greedy?