# change mortgage from joint to single name



## Amateur (18 Jan 2012)

Hi,

I would appreciate any advice on the following. In 2008 my partner and I purchased a house as a first time buyer, ie in joint names. I am now looking at getting this changed to my own name, removing her name from it. The property like most has decreased in value and selling the house would be a loss to us.

So the mortgage company have made me aware to achieve the single name, a sum is required to paid off the principal of the mortgage. By doing this my repayments will decrease - is there any other benefit to doing this? ie. paying off a sum from the principal. 

Also as I believe this is something that does happen from time to time (joint to single mortgage), is there any advice or information that would help me with this? I am currently considering my options so would appreciate any help.

Thanks.


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## ClubMan (18 Jan 2012)

Amateur said:


> So the mortgage company have made me aware to achieve the single name, a sum is required to paid off the principal of the mortgage.


Why? If you can afford the original scheduled repayments on your own then I don't see why. If you cannot and need lower ongoing repayments then I can.


> By doing this my repayments will decrease - is there any other benefit to doing this? ie. paying off a sum from the principal.


Your total interest costs will decrease. You may also be able to reduce your mortgage protection life insurance at a possibly reduced premium.


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## Amateur (18 Jan 2012)

Thanks for your response.



ClubMan said:


> Why? If you can afford the original scheduled repayments on your own then I don't see why



Yes I can afford the repayments as they are at present and have been doing so for the last few years, which I have prove of via bank statements etc. But the mortgage company are still asking for such to change the name on the account from joint to single. Is this normal practice?


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## 44brendan (18 Jan 2012)

Your original agreement was on the basis of a joint assessment. You are now requesting an amendment to these terms by removing the name (and liability) of your partner from the facility. This may create an incraese in risk for the Bank as they now only have recourse to 1 party. They can refuse to agree to your request or they can agree subject to you in some way compensating for the percieved risk increase. This is standard practise & the ultimate decision is up to you. Do you have a valid reason for changing the facility to your sole name?


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## ClubMan (18 Jan 2012)

OK - so they might only allow one of the names to be removed if a lump sum is paid off the outstanding balance right now in order to reduce their risk?


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## Quest (18 Jan 2012)

What you are looking for is called a Transfer of Equity (whether there is equity or not)

The lender will essentially usually assess' your request based on their current new business lending criteria.

i.e you need to qualify for the full amount in your own right. The fact that you have maintained the payments essentially does not mean that  you would qualify for this amount of a borrowing. Payments would be stress tested etc and based on the above I would reckon that based on your present income you would not qualify for the current outstanding balance. Hence they want the capital reduced to a level that your income could comfortably support.


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## Amateur (18 Jan 2012)

Thanks for all the information supplied by everyone, this all makes sense to me and it is what my mortgage provider is telling me.

Further question though, I can I calculate the reduction in my monthly repayments if I apply the reduction in principal - are there any online calculators available that will help me with this?


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## ClubMan (18 Jan 2012)

http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/ie/


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## Amateur (18 Jan 2012)

Thanks for that.


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## gemma1 (18 Jan 2012)

Hi all,

sorry to interrupt on this thread but I have a query related to the original question. I own a house with my now ex boyfriend. We are split up  over 2 years now and I am very stressed out with still being on a mortgage to a house I never will live in again.  He is living there and wants to keep the house, yet is making no effort to get me off the mortgage. It's in neg equity now also. I have contacted a solicitor. My ex has ignored all legal letters from my solicitor, refuses to deal with the situation. I cannot remain tied to him. What can I do?! Feel this nightmare will never end.


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## zoesonas (14 Mar 2012)

Did you get advise Gemma I am in the same situation 





gemma1 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> sorry to interrupt on this thread but I have a query related to the original question. I own a house with my now ex boyfriend. We are split up  over 2 years now and I am very stressed out with still being on a mortgage to a house I never will live in again.  He is living there and wants to keep the house, yet is making no effort to get me off the mortgage. It's in neg equity now also. I have contacted a solicitor. My ex has ignored all legal letters from my solicitor, refuses to deal with the situation. I cannot remain tied to him. What can I do?! Feel this nightmare will never end.


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## 44brendan (14 Mar 2012)

This is a very difficult situation with no simple solution. Do a search on AAM for people in similar difficulties. You are jointly liable on the mortgage and while you are a joint owner of the property, the fact that it is in negative equity means that the Bank are unlikely to agree to your name being removed from the mortgage. A solicitor can do little to change this position. As a joint mortgage holder you are entitled and should demand copies of all correspondence from the Bank in respect of this loan. If you are wary of giving the Bank your new address you should call in to them and find out what the current position is re loan repayments.


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## cbyr1983 (15 Mar 2012)

Amateur said:


> Hi,
> 
> I would appreciate any advice on the following. In 2008 my partner and I purchased a house as a first time buyer, ie in joint names. I am now looking at getting this changed to my own name, removing her name from it. The property like most has decreased in value and selling the house would be a loss to us.
> 
> ...


 
Are there definitely no legal costs here as I would have thought the property would be currently registered in both names and the bank would want the registration changed.

Make sure you're not losing a tracker rate or something like that as a result of the change, which would be very silly and would clearly be something the bank would want to do.


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## Bronte (19 Mar 2012)

gemma1 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> sorry to interrupt on this thread but I have a query related to the original question. I own a house with my now ex boyfriend. We are split up over 2 years now and I am very stressed out with still being on a mortgage to a house I never will live in again. He is living there and wants to keep the house, yet is making no effort to get me off the mortgage. It's in neg equity now also. I have contacted a solicitor. My ex has ignored all legal letters from my solicitor, refuses to deal with the situation. I cannot remain tied to him. What can I do?! Feel this nightmare will never end.


 
It's actually more of a nightmare for your ex as he in all probablity would love to get you off the mortgage but cannot.  You sending him legal letters is probably only adding to the stress.  You're very lucky he's in the house and paying the mortgage and should be doing everything you can to keep him doing so until a bank will agree to him taking over the mortgage.


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## guest8 (22 Mar 2012)

Hi All
I was in this situation since September 2010.  I split from my husband and wanted to take over the mortgage myself (Transfer od Equity).  Basically you need to qualify for the mortgage on your own on paper whether or not you are paying the mortgage at the moment.

The bank I was with were insisting that a rather substantial lump sum was paid before they would agree, a mortgage advisor told me that essentially what the bank are trying to do is eliminate the negative equity so basically the loan will then equal the value of the property.  In the end we had no option but sell and split the negative equity loss between us, not ideal but we hadnt much choice as my other half would not agree to pay any of the lump sum even though the house was in 60k negative equity!!!

I found also the bank were VERY slow to even give a decision on the case, it took 8-9 months before we then had to decide to sell!

Hope it works out for you.


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