Help with house selling conundrum

Angelcurls

Hello. My partner and I have decided to split and sell our home. The house is in my name but we both pay towards the mortgage and bills; my partner never wanted to go on the mortgage as he had a poor credit rating when we met.

We are now in process of getting home to saleable standard but my partner just made a suggestion and I wanted to get some views. There is a free work helpline I can access where I can speak with a solicitor and I’ll be doing this also as well as probably seeing a solicitor too.

My partner has offered to buy the house from me via getting a mortgage for the price we paid for it 8 years ago. I would get back the big deposit I paid plus extra for when I overpaid on the mortgage and he will then be able to afford a mortgage on his own and continue living in the house.

There is of course nothing stopping him selling the house a few months later at the market rate and making that profit but I’m only interested in doing what is fair to both of us. We’ve agreed we will both take back what we invested in the home.

Is this a crazy idea?

Woodstok2000

Yes. Your investment in the house has grown in the 8 years as house prices have risen, and you'll be missing out on that revenue. If you want to donate that money to your partner thats fine, but you will be losing out on a significant amount of money which is rightfully yours.  At the very least you should get 50% of the current market value (minus outstanding mortgage).

hereforhelp3

Sorry, I’m new here and don’t know how to edit my post. I got a few key facts wrong so would like to edit here.

Figures we are looking at:

house bought for £165k 8 years ago

if we sell house, clear mortgage then take back what we have both invested then my partner would get £35k back from a potential £200k sale price. He’s asking that I sell the house to him for £165k as that is the max mortgage he can get and then I clear the mortgage and buy somewhere on my own with remainder.

Woodstok2000

How much is left on your mortgage? would you get the balance of the £200k after paying it off and him taking his £35k cut?

Uriziel

I am not really sure what you are asking.

As someone else has outlined you would be losing money so the question is whether you're happy for him to make a gain that could be yours.
Ultimately this boils down to one thing. Do you want to sell it on the open market and make as much of a profit as possible or are you okay with selling it to him at a lower price?
This is really your choice.

I don't really see a reason for doing this.
Will you be fine with knowing he has other women inside the house you lived in together that he will be treating better than you did and he might just become very happy there?

Herzlos

So is partner going to give you £165k and you're keeping what's left after the mortgage is cleared?

If it's valued at £200k, and you'll get some money back then it's a tempting idea. You *could* sell it on the open market and get £200k for it right away, or it may sit for a year and end up selling for £180k. 

You may lose a bit of money but you'd get a clean break and you wouldn't need to spend any time or money getting the house up to standard. You obviously wouldn't be paying any mortgage interest or bills on it in the same timeframe either, so you may not be losing as much money as you think. 

born_again

Counter with I will give you back what you have paid towards the mortgage  & keep it myself.

tooldle

How much is still owed on the mortgage?

gwynlas

If you are not married or in a civil partnership and paid a larger deposit than your partner then you are technically entitled to the same back and this could have been protected from the offset through a deed of trust.

If you both contributed equally  to  mortgage and bills then you can split remainder of equity once mortgage redeemed.

If you are married then it would be 50/50 aplit across te board.

No solicitor is likely to advise you to give money away.

You could possibly have a sale agreement with an uplift clause whereby if he were to sell within say 5 years then you receive a further sum.

Emmia

Personally I'd sell, give him his deposit plus payments towards the mortgage and then move on. 

The fact he can't afford to buy isn't actually your problem.

paulintheprocess

Not crazy, but it’s risky for you unless it’s handled very carefully. Buying it at the old price ignores the current market value, which is usually what “fair” is based on, regardless of who paid what. Even if you trust him, once it’s his, he could sell and benefit from years of price growth that you’re effectively giving up.

If you’re open to this, I’d at least get the house properly valued now and base any deal around that, or have something legally binding in place if there’s an agreement about future sale or profit. Definitely speak to a solicitor before agreeing anything, especially as everything is in your name.