Help needed please

Royjo

Hello, I have  very difficult issue and cannot find help, my wife bought a home in 1971 but she was on a low income so to get the mortage her freind put his name to the application, the mortgage went though, her friend did not pay any payments as he only put his name to it so my wife could get the house,He has never lived in the house, And my wife and his family lost touch over the years, in 1991 i married her and I paid the mortage with her, now 35 years later we are trying to get this sorted ti get his name off the deads but do not know which solicitor sector deal with this type of problem and we are 72 and 62 so want to sort this out for are wills. 
Please can you point me in the right direction.
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Brie

Is he actually named on the deeds?

If you want to get in touch with him then you might try facebook etc to see if you can get a hit. I think the problem will be that if his name is on the deeds and he's a rotter then he might try to claim part ownership. And if he's dead his "next of kin" might try to the same. It might come down to paying him (or kin) off to save spending lots on legal fees.

Royjo

We have looked on all socials, he is on the deeds his own family do not know where he is, I just need to know what type of legal team i need to go and see. We can get a presumed dead but it has to go in front ov a Judge.

elsien

Presumed dead may not help anyway anyway, if his heirs then decide to claim the property which is in his name.

I would suggest at the moment you don’t need a solicitor, you need a private detective because without tracking him down there’s not much you can do.

Baldytyke88

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909493#Comment_81909493

Having two names on house deeds means the property is jointly owned, indicating that both parties have a legal interest in the property. In the UK, this usually takes one of two forms: Joint Tenants (equal rights to the whole, automatic inheritance by the survivor) or Tenants in Common (defined shares, which can be passed on via a will).

This could be expensive, you need to speak to a solicitor.

littleredhen

https://www.landregistry-online.org/post/remove-name-from-title-deeds-uk

I would so as above suggests and phone a local solicitor and or conveyancer and see what advice they can give

Royjo

I am looking into that as we speak, but i will still need to know what type of legal team i need.

user1977

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909597#Comment_81909597

If you can't find the other party and get him to cooperate, it will need some form of court action. So you probably want a firm of solicitors which can handle both litigation and conveyancing.

Royjo

Thanks I will look into that as well, this has gone on long enough, as we have been looking at our wills and the house is the major issue.

elsien

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81909556#Comment_81909556

OP doesn’t say both names are on the deeds. It could be read as in the friends name only. And will need his consent to change anything.

Royjo

Thanks i will seek the advice plus I have all records of payments from my account, so i will see where we go. Thanks