Advice on house sale after split

Halo1962 · 22 March 2019 at 12:48PM

Hi all

Can anyone advise on this for my son please? He and his fiancee have been in a relationship for almost 4 years and last year they bought their first home together although we suspected at the time that she wasn't that interested in buying. Anyway, it turns out she's been cheating on him and has decided to end the relationship. He loves the house and it's close to his work so he offered to buy her out. She refused point blank but says she will agree to sell if he will. She doesn't really want to stay there but it seems she doesn't want him to either. What I'm wondering is, would it be possible for him to take this to court in order to keep the house rather than goo through the hassle of a sale? If she's agreeing to sell, why can't he buy it?

Thanks in advance for any advice ☺

gettingtheresometime · 22 March 2019 at 2:00PM

Firstly can he afford the property on his own?

If he can then he can think of ways of persuading her that selling to him would be a good idea.

So (assuming that he can afford the property on his own) pointing out to her that she won't have to consider estate agent fees. He could also offer her to pay her solicitors fees ( up to an agreed limit and on completion!) she also needs to realise that although the house may be marketed at X anyone who buys is going to try and offer a lower offer.

Also they need to think about the mortgage. Are they on a fixed rate and will encur penalties if they were to sell now (would they be in negative equity?) Could your son transport the joint mortgage into a sole one?

She's agreed to sell , but not to your son, I think either to 'twist the knife' or has the mentality that if she can't have the house then neither can your son. Women, as well as men, can be so vindictive.

OscarFoxtrot · 22 March 2019 at 4:59PM

Simple solution is to offer her more money than she'd otherwise get.

Money talks.

Halo1962 · 22 March 2019 at 11:49PM

Yes he can afford to take on the mortgage on his own, thanks for the suggestion - she is just being vindictive, we are sure of that!

Kynthia · 23 March 2019 at 8:24AM

He should put his offer to buy her out in writing and keep a copy, along with proof he can afford it such as a mortgage in principle in just his own nane.

If she refuses to sell her share to him then do nothing. If she wants her money then she'll eventually take it. Her only other alternative is to take him to court to force a sale and the court will refuse to make him sell if they can see he has offered to buy her out and can afford it.

Unfortunately I don't think he can do anything to force her to sell her share if he doesn't want to sell the property. So hopefully she'll want her money eventually.

DigForVictory · 23 March 2019 at 9:23AM

Is the mortgage in both names?
Does this dastardly damsel twig that she cannot buy anything else to live in while she's financially tethered to your lad? (That said, can she run him into debt likewise?)

Might she be taking up sugar daddy hopping & thus not need to have a roof of her own as she's so good at getting the use of someone else's?

Or is she setting up a part share property portfolio of reneged promise lodges & planning to accumulate many part shares and then cash them in when she needs the funds?

If he can afford to buy her out and the maths and the logic are obvious, he'll just have to wait for her need for funds to outstrip her pettiness. Could be a while.

Might it be worth being seen to be looking at something she could pip him to if she accepted the buying out, using her own unpleasant desires to fell her like judo. Might see her in a nice flat in a nice area but away from him & still thinking she came out on top, when what matters is he's well out of her reach.

gettingtheresometime · 23 March 2019 at 1:05PM

DigForVictory wrote: »

Is the mortgage in both names?
Does this dastardly damsel twig that she cannot buy anything else to live in while she's financially tethered to your lad? (That said, can she run him into debt likewise?)

Might she be taking up sugar daddy hopping & thus not need to have a roof of her own as she's so good at getting the use of someone else's?

Or is she setting up a part share property portfolio of reneged promise lodges & planning to accumulate many part shares and then cash them in when she needs the funds?

If he can afford to buy her out and the maths and the logic are obvious, he'll just have to wait for her need for funds to outstrip her pettiness. Could be a while.

Might it be worth being seen to be looking at something she could pip him to if she accepted the buying out, using her own unpleasant desires to fell her like judo. Might see her in a nice flat in a nice area but away from him & still thinking she came out on top, when what matters is he's well out of her reach.

The only flaw in the part share property portfolio theory is that if she was to buy another property with her latest beau, she be paying the additional stamp duty.

OP (assuming that your son is solely paying the mortgage) it might be an idea for him to get a current valuation & mortgage statement. Otherwise, whoever the house is sold to, she'll want a share of the equity that your son will have solely created

Halo1962 · 23 March 2019 at 4:55PM

"the court will refuse to make him sell if they can see he has offered to buy her out and can afford it"

That's really interesting, thank you! ☺

Halo1962 · 23 March 2019 at 4:58PM

The b****h still has another home that they were previously living in. She paid the deposit on that along with her brother and their father paid the rest (it's a very cheap place). It was going to be rented out after they bought the house but is being renovated at the moment so we were hoping she'd take my son's offer and go back there!

The mortgage is in both names but they've only had the house 6 months or so so both will lose money if they have to sell

Halo1962 · 23 March 2019 at 5:06PM

He's not solely paying the mortgage, it's in both names but he pays a little more into the joint account than she does

gettingtheresometime · 23 March 2019 at 5:17PM

Halo1962 wrote: »

He's not solely paying the mortgage, it's in both names but he pays a little more into the joint account than she does

If I was your son I'd ensure that the joint account didn't have an overdraft facility ....I wouldn't want her to have the ability to completely clear it out and leave your son with that to clear as well.

Would she be open to paying the mortgage contribution into his sole account? I only ask as they're still financially linked whilst they're still have the joint mortgage, I'd want to minimise my connections to her.

Advice on house sale after split

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