Do I have equity

inminniesroom

Hi, looking for some advice on my entitlement to equity in an unsold house with my ex husband. I purchased a house with a mortgage with my ex husband in 2007 for £103,000. We contributed a deposit of £2500 each and shared the mortgage payments from a joint bank account. We separated in 2010 and I left the house. My ex husband took over the mortgage payments (still from a joint account under his and my name but I wasn’t contributing) from around this time and also switched to interest only mortgage payments. I left the UK in 2013 and have repeatedly asked him to initiate removing my name from the mortgage/returning my deposit. I have had no luck with this and now wish to resolve this matter once and for all. According to Rightmove, the house has increased in value by approximately £60,000 since we bought it in 2007 - I would therefore like to understand what I am legally entitled to in terms of the equity from the house in order to make an informed decision. We divorced in 2018, there was no financial order attached the divorce.

RAS

Have you remarried?

inminniesroom

Yes in 2018

Mark_d

Normally issues like this are sorted out at point of divorce.  Since then you've waited another seven years.  Do you think you have a valid claim so long after the dust has settled with your ex husband?

inminniesroom

Hi Mark I’ve been in constant contact with him over the years to try and sort this out especially as I needed my name off the mortgage. He kept promising me he would do something but hasn’t .

Mark_d

inminniesroom said:

Hi Mark I’ve been in constant contact with him over the years to try and sort this out especially as I needed my name off the mortgage. He kept promising me he would do something but hasn’t .

Normally couples divide the assets at the point of divorce.  That's when they look at the values of house equity, pension pots etc.  Was there a reason you didn't do this?  Do you think there's anything else your ex husband might owe?
Your ex husband hasn't given you your £2500 back in 15 years.  Has anything changed lately that would alter this situation?

Exodi

inminniesroom said:

Hi, looking for some advice on my entitlement to equity in an unsold house with my ex husband. I purchased a house with a mortgage with my ex husband in 2007 for £103,000. We contributed a deposit of £2500 each and shared the mortgage payments from a joint bank account. We separated in 2010 and I left the house. My ex husband took over the mortgage payments (still from a joint account under his and my name but I wasn’t contributing) from around this time and also switched to interest only mortgage payments. I left the UK in 2013 and have repeatedly asked him to initiate removing my name from the mortgage/returning my deposit. I have had no luck with this and now wish to resolve this matter once and for all. According to Rightmove, the house has increased in value by approximately £60,000 since we bought it in 2007 - I would therefore like to understand what I am legally entitled to in terms of the equity from the house in order to make an informed decision. We divorced in 2018, there was no financial order attached the divorce.

Just from a maths perspective, it's not really possible to give an answer without knowing a lot more details.

You bought the house in 2007 for £103k, made up of a £5k deposit and a £98k mortgage?

What was the term of the mortgage and what was the interest rate? Assuming 25 years and a mortgage rate of 5% with no fees, you'd have a monthly payment of £573.

The principal balance in 2010 would be ~£91.6k, at which point you suggest he switches to interest only. Do you know what the value of the house was in 2010? House prices generally decreased over this period and to work it out you'd need to know the dates, location, the type of house, etc, but using an average we get around -6.5%. This could mean the house was now worth £96.3k.

This means in 2010, should you have done a financial order on the spot, with a bit of luck you might have got your deposit back.

If you're now hoping to take advantage of the fact there was no financial order and base it on the property value today you'd be looking at approx £163k - £91.6k (since the balance would be frozen once transferred to interest only) = £71.4k, or £35.7k each.

Obviously these are estimates based on assumptions based on guesses, so shouldn't be used for anything other than to give an idea of the general positions.

However all of this is totally irrelevant, and was only done as I enjoy playing with numbers, as:

inminniesroom said:

RAS said:

Have you remarried?

Yes in 2018

I'd do some research on the 'remarriage trap' as it sounds like you have fallen into it.

inminniesroom

Hi Mark Just looking for an objective answer on what I am legally entitled to, and then I can make a decision based on the circumstances.

RAS

You  do need to research the remarriage trap. Had you nor done so, you could have demanded 50% of the current equity. 

Some idea of the clue of the value of the house in 2018?

inminniesroom

Hi Ras I would say about  £145,000 . What has my re-marriage got to do with it I’m confused. He remained there , changed to an interest only mortgage therefore not reducing the capital and yet stands to take the full sale value , if and when he sells . 

MobileSaver

inminniesroom said:

He remained there , changed to an interest only mortgage therefore not reducing the capital and yet stands to take the full sale value , if and when he sells . 

House prices were down by around 9% on average between 2007 and 2010 so if you had sorted this out back then you would have owed him money! Essentially he took on your debt when you left so count yourself lucky.

He alone has paid the mortgage for the last 15 years so yes he rightly stands to take the full sales value as he's the one that both paid off your debt and the one that's kept up the payments all that time. 

In my view you are entitled to nothing and I think a court would agree given the circumstances.