just separated, want to take over mortgage

My husband and I just bought a house in November, began repayments in January. He moved out in June. We have one child. I want to take over the mortgage and home.

Mortgage is 225k, house valued at 260. What is involved in my taking it over- a new mortgage? Tax?

Many thanks for any advice!

I'd imagine the bigger issue will be can you get a mortgage on your sole income?

My wages work out at 2k a month and repayments are 1,100, so I could cover the repayments. I am not sure if I would be eligible for a mortgage on my own or not, just that I could cover payments.

What would usually happen here is that the bank will do nothing as long as the payments come in. They are more than happy to have two people as it's less of a risk and they can chase two people if the payments stop. In order to take over the mortgage you would need to be earning about 60k gross which doesn't look as if you are. Is your husband contributing anything towards mortgage maintenance and are you taking this into account when you say you earn 2k month;y ? Unfortunately you will probably not get a mortgage on your own right now but maybe a few years down the line you could.

He is currently paying half the mortgage and bills, but wants to sell it or for me to take it over. That's my wages that I was referring to, my salary is 40k. We have no maintenance agreement in place, I have no idea what I would be entitled to towards our son. Would that be counted towards earnings in terms of a mortgage?

Many thanks for your reply.

At 40k you would only get a mortgage of 140k or so. I doubt any maintenance would be allowable as income. I would stay as you are as long as your partner pays towards the house. Explain to him you would not be entitled to get the mortgage just yet. Why not ask the bank anyway and see what they say ?

elcato said:

At 40k you would only get a mortgage of 140k or so. I doubt any maintenance would be allowable as income. I would stay as you are as long as your partner pays towards the house. Explain to him you would not be entitled to get the mortgage just yet. Why not ask the bank anyway and see what they say ?

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He is paying at the moment but I am not sure that he will continue to do so, he would prefer for the house to be sold. I live in an area where rent would be about 1,400 per month for a house, so I wouldn't actually be able to afford to rent a similar or even smaller property.

I will contact the bank when it comes to it. Thanks for your reply.

I think you need to stand back a take a bigger picture view.

You can't commit to paying €1,100 of a mortgage with income of €2,000!

Sit down with someone and workout out a monthly budget for yourself and your child. Then see what other income you have Child benefit TRS ect.

Now what level of contribution should your husband be making.

Joe_90 said:

You can't commit to paying €1,100 of a mortgage with income of €2,000!

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On the greater scheme of things this sounds OK for a roof over her head. At the end of the day you won't get much for less than this.

You could be right, it's all very sudden so it's hard to have the right perspective at the moment!

Sorry what does TRS mean?

Yes I didn't include child benefit in that. Really appreciate all the replies, thanks.

TRS is tax relief at source

elcato said:

On the greater scheme of things this sounds OK for a roof over her head. At the end of the day you won't get much for less than this.

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My point is more that I think she need to take stock of this situation in an overall context rather than simply focusing on taking on the mortgage herself.

It may well transpire that in the end an agreement is reached that her husband pays maintenance for herself and her child which allows her to take the house and mortgage into her own name but that should not be the starting point.

2 k take home on 40 k salary sounds low.

Joe is right. You need to sort out a lot of issues in a separation agreement. The house is only one of them, but a very important one.

A lot will depend on your husband's financial position. If you can't agree a level of maintenance, the judge will impose an agreement on you. It's likely that any such agreement would result in your keeping the house, probably until the child is 21.

The judge could order that you sell the house, but that seems unlikely to me. You would point out that you would end up paying more for your housing needs if you were to sell the house.

Where is your husband living now? The big problem is that while you both jointly own a house, he has the right to move back at any time, unless it is covered in a separation agreement. That is why you need to sort this out now.

Your husband will need to accept that his name will not come off the mortgage and, as a result, he will find it hard to get a mortgage elsewhere. If you get into arrears on your mortgage, which is likely, his credit rating will also be affected.

It really is a very messy situation. Separation results in partners requiring separate accommodation and also results in much higher bills. So it often ends in mortgage arrears and poverty. There are no magic legal solutions or magic financial engineering solutions.

Brendan

I am a single person on a similar salary with a similar mortgage - it can be done!

However, I would look closely at your take home pay, I would have about 400 euro extra per month than you, perhaps you have deductions at source you havent mentioned, or maybe your husband has some of your tax credits, you need to examine this closely. As vandriver says 2K is low for your salary.

You will also have additional tax credits for a child, child benefit and later down the line, maintenance payments. I think your available income should be closer to 3K each month to meet your expenses, on that figure 1100 per month for the mortgage is ok, but you will also have a lot of expenses I dont, childcare is the obvious one that springs to mind. Children get sick and need to see a doctor more than adults might, grow out of clothes and shoes etc, perhaps your child is older and you have school going expenses, I dont know.

You need to be realistic, sit down and work out what is coming in and what will be going out, and then decide if you can take on the mortgage yourself.

While I have no personal experience of separation and the agreements of taking over a mortgage etc, a friend went though something similar and took on more than she realised and ended up in debt as Brendan says, with both their lives affected with poor credit ratings etc.