Am i entitled to any help

sara84

Hi, ive been on benefits as a single parent for the last 3 years, about 6 months ago my boyfriend and I decided that we would take it a step further and buy our first house (he has been living with his dad & i was renting). We got a mortgage for £104k at £540 a month interest only and we picked up our keys last week. But... my now ex boyfriend decided in the time that we were getting searches, contracts signed etc that he no longer wants the house or to be with me.
I am now left with a house, that i have been forced to move into because i would have been homeless. The property is in joint names but my X doesnt want to know and has offered no help with paying and i cant afford to pay the full monthly payments every month, the first payment is due at the end of May. I am on Income support, child ben & tax credits this isnt much more than my monthly payments. I know you can only get ISMI if you took out the mortgage and then went on benefits and my situation is the other way around.
Is there anything i can do or claim to help me meet the payments?

qwertyuiopasdfg

Hi Sara,

First I should point out that I am not an expert and you should probably talk to your solicitor (I assume you used one when buying the house?). From what I do know, I think you are in quite a difficult situation I'm afraid.

Mortgages are normally in "Joint and Several liability". If so, this would mean you are both individually liable for the full amount of the loan. The bank can try to recover the full amount from you, but you would then have the legal right to recover money from your ex to cover his half.

This should have been explained to you before you signed the mortgage agreement, and if it wasn't you might possibly be able to claim the mortgage provider was at fault (very hard to prove I would imagine).

There are two ways of sharing a home purchase - as Joint Tenants or as Tenants in common. Do you know which type you did? This might make a significant difference.

Basically, if you are Joint Tenants then you both own the whole house together, where as if you are Tenants in common you both own a half share of the house.