Separation agreement or change beneficial ownership?

monstercheeseplant

Hoenir said:

monstercheeseplant said:

Hoenir said:

monstercheeseplant said:

Hoenir said:

Has your partner sought legal advice themselves yet. Presenting a fait accompli doesn't sound particularly amicable. Not least that the fact they will reman tied into the mortgage for the foreseeable future. Will mean that they potentially cannot move on with their own lives. 

He's living with his new partner and has already moved on. He's okay with staying on the mortgage until it's up for renewal.

Financially he remains tied in. You releasing him from the committment would be the gist of the advice you'd expect him to receive. As will continue to hold leverage until you do. 

  We are both tied in until the fixed mortgage expires due to us both having bad credit ratings anyway, so it makes no difference as neither of us will be able to do anything any earlier. I am looking for advice on the relative merits of separation agreements and / or just changing the beneficial ownership in terms of how much legal protection each would offer with regards to the property ownership. Do you have any experience with this? I don't need commentary on my ex's situation thank you 

Legal protection against what?  Is there something you haven't told us. Your solicitor would have explained the legal position of what you are proposing. After that it's a question of obtaining your ex's agreement. 

On forum's you'll receive personal opinions not qualified advice. 

Assurance that our verbal agreement remains intact when it comes time to remortgage. Re-read the op and you'll see my partner and I are in agreement and my solicitor has certainly made their case clear. I am looking for advice on the relative merits of separation agreements and / or just changing the beneficial ownership. Do you have experience with this?

I'm not necessarily after qualified advice. I've had that. I'm after - as per the op - people who have had experience with this. Have you? I appreciate that internet forums can be diverse when it comes to quality control. There are genuinely useful responses like some of those above, and then there are the condescending judgemental crowd who have plenty to post but nothing to say...

Bettie

monstercheeseplant said:

Bettie said:

I had the beneficial interest signed to me many years ago. Ex partner stayed on mortgage and  deeds until the end of the mortgage. He was taken to court several times as he was always getting in debt and they tried to get 'my' house. Every time the judge found in his favour because of that piece of paper .  If he had been made bankrupt it could possibly have been overturned but there was a time limit on that,  7 years I think..
Best thing a solicitor ever did for me. 

Hi Bettie thanks for sharing that. Can I just clarify - you are saying that having the beneficial interest 100% in your name saved them repossessing the house when your ex got into debt? If so that is good to know. I got confused because you said the judge always found in his favour - do you mean in his favour that they couldn't use your house to service his debts? Sorry if I have misconstrued....

That's  right. Even though the house was in both our names they couldn't touch it to pay his debts as the beneficial interest was mine. Only by bankruptcy would there be any chance of it being reversed. They would have to prove that the house was assigned to me to avoid paying debts that he had at the time. 

RAS

The biggest issue, given what you've said about your poor credit rating at the moment, is going to be whether you will be able to re-mortgage in your sole name in 2 years time?

You could easily renew your existing mortgage without a credit check but if you want to change ownership, you will need to pass your provider's credit check.

If your ex agrees to relinquish in exchange for coming off the mortgage, he may be less amenable if you can't get him off the mortgage.

Have you also confirmed that your current provider will allow you to make any alteration to the ownership within the fixed term?

monstercheeseplant

RAS said:

The biggest issue, given what you've said about your poor credit rating at the moment, is going to be whether you will be able to re-mortgage in your sole name in 2 years time?

You could easily renew your existing mortgage without a credit check but if you want to change ownership, you will need to pass your provider's credit check.

If your ex agrees to relinquish in exchange for coming off the mortgage, he may be less amenable if you can't get him off the mortgage.

Have you also confirmed that your current provider will allow you to make any alteration to the ownership within the fixed term?

Yes, we're on schedule to repair credit ratings by then, so not a problem. We can't make changes in the fixed term.

I just need to know whether it is worth paying the extra for a separation agreement, or whether changing the beneficial ownership will be adequate.