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Transferring legal rights to property when divorcing question

suestew
suestew Posts: 361 Forumite
First Anniversary First Post
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi, I am currently going through a divorce, part of the settlement is that I buy my ex out of the marital home, and he transfers to me all his legal rights to the property.

My question is, do I get the conveyancing solicitor to deal with the transfer to me, or is that going to cost money, can I do this myself or will it complicate things?

thanks

Comments

  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    edited 18 June 2019 at 1:39PM
    I assume this arrangement is formally agreed aspartof the divorce? If not, do nothing till it is.

    As for your question, is there a mortgage on the property?
    If not, AND if you trust each other (!), then you can DIY
    a) you transfer ££ to him
    b) he transfers property to you (forms TR1, AP1, ID1 to Land Registry).

    Risk is that one of you does the above and the other renagues on the deal........!!

    If there's a mortgage, that will need paying off.
    If you need a mortgage to pay your ex, that too will complicate things.

    So, use a solicitor if there's an existing mortgage, a new motgage, or lack of trust.
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,348 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    I would use a conveyancing solicitor, not so much for fear of the other party reneging on the deal as to be sure that if there were any hitch, the solicitor would have to take responsibility and sort it out.
  • suestew
    suestew Posts: 361 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    G_M wrote: »
    I assume this arrangement is formally agreed aspartof the divorce? If not, do nothing till it is.

    As for your question, is there a mortgage on the property?
    If not, AND if you trust each other (!), then you can DIY
    a) you transfer ££ to him
    b) he transfers property to you (forms TR1, AP1, ID1 to Land Registry).

    Risk is that one of you does the above and the other renagues on the deal........!!

    If there's a mortgage, that will need paying off.
    If you need a mortgage to pay your ex, that too will complicate things.

    So, use a solicitor if there's an existing mortgage, a new motgage, or lack of trust.

    The agreement has been made as part of the divorce and is set out in the consent order.

    There is no mortgage, so it will be a straight transfer to him and him signing over to me
  • SuperSaver123
    SuperSaver123 Posts: 310 Forumite
    Uniform Washer
    I would still use a solicitor to deal with that. It won't cost that much just to do the transfer of the equity but you will have a peace of mind that the responsibility of getting it all correct is not on you.
  • TBagpuss
    TBagpuss Posts: 11,199 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Name Dropper
    It would be usual to use a conveyancing solicitor. It may be possible to DIY but if you do it via a asolicitor you can be confident it will be done correctly (and that you have recource if it isn't) and also manages any issues around when / how moneuy is trnasferred etc.
    All posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)
  • ethank
    ethank Posts: 2,197 Forumite
    Holiday Haggler I've been Money Tipped!
    Always use a solicitor.
  • CookieMonster
    CookieMonster Posts: 220 Forumite
    First Post Name Dropper First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    I've done this.
    Meeting at the bank to discuss the joint account and the mortgage.
    The bank agreed to give me a "further mortgage" to cover the cost (£45K) of buying out my ex (equity in the property and my salary allowed this).
    This further mortgage amount was transferred to my ex as a deposit/portion of a new mortgage account (with the same bank), with an agreed total mortgage amount available to her based on having £45K 'deposit' and her salary - she went house hunting based on that.
    Joint account became my account, my ex's cards were taken off her in the meeting and destroyed in front of her. Cheque books too.
    This happened in one single meeting which we both attended (as amicable separation).
    New cheque books were issued a little while later with her name removed (about 10yrs ago).
    Used a solicitor to deal with the paperwork for transferring (the same one used when buying the house 2 years beforehand.)
    *As the others have said: use a solicitor.
    I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left. Tom Waits
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