Negative equity with an Ex partner

Im just wondering if anyone could offer any advise or knows of a similar situation.

Bought a house in 2007 with ex- 285K
I moved out he continued to live there and paid the mortgage as he wanted to prove to the banks he could afford it to eventually take it over.
He is now getting married and wants my name off the mortgage and deeds.
House was valued at 150k and the balance is 250k, which leaves us with an equal amount of 50k negative equity each.

He is applying for my name to be taken off and his new partner to go on instead. If they are rejected he wants to sell at the loss.

Now my questions really are this, I obviously dont want to owe anything on this house so selling is not an option for me. Can I just push back and say no to selling until the market picks up? If they are successful it taking over the mortgage does this mean they take over the whole amount?? Is that possible if the house is in negative equity, seems unlikely that his partner would willingly take on my debt.

I would happily keep the situation as it is forever if it meant me not owing 50k.

any advise would be appreciated.

Have a read of this

A guide to splitting up when in negative equity

If you have any further questions, provide more data such as the lender and interest rate, how much you each contributed to the deposit etc.

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for the link its very interesting.

So we took out 100% mortgage but my parents gave me a gift of 10,000 to clear one of my ex's loans that would help the mortgage be approved.

Our mortgage is with PTSB and we are on a tracker of 0.8%.

I havent contributed to the mortgage in 3 years as he has always rented out a room and within the last year his partner moved in and paid half.

I see on your link you have explained my situation with Anne buying out Mary, so when my ex is talking about her taking over the mortgage he means she is only going to take out my half of what the house is worth? So im still left with a big personal loan of the negative equity.

Id rather we stayed as is tbh until the house is at least worth a bit more is this possible? I cant really see him wanting this he wants my name off it before theyre married.

OK, €250,000 @ 1.15% over 20 years gives repayments of €959 per month

These are the same repayments as €170,000 @ 4.5% over twenty years

So if the house is worth €150,000 now, it could be argued that the true negative equity is €20,000.

If he has the income to support mortgage repayments of €959 a month on his own, he should be able to get the mortgage and deeds into his own name.

See how he gets on with his application to ptsb.

You are right, his current partner would be stupid to add her name to a mortgage in negative equity. But people do stupid things.

If ptsb don't agree, then you should reach a side agreement with him that he takes full responsibility for the mortgage and you renounce all claims on the house. The problem for you is that if he defaults on the loan at any stage, you would still be liable to the bank. Also, if you try to buy a house in the future, the existence of this mortgage would count agaiinst you.

If ptsb refuse him, would your income be high enough to take over the mortgage and deeds in your own name?

Brendan

Firstly I think your ex is behaving very responsibly. If only all joint mortgages could be resolved in this civilised manner! Your story is a rarity on here or maybe it's just because people don't need to write on here about the straightforward cases! He is dead right to want to sort this out before he gets married, rather than expect his new partner to sign up to this messy situation.

It's really great that she is willing to go on the mortgage instead of you, you're very lucky and should grab this opportunity with both hands! You should be doing everything possible to help them with this application to the bank to get her name on instead of yours. Yes if successful she will liable for your negative equity (legally on paper she will be, I'm not talking about what's right and wrong ethically).

Yes you can refuse to sell, sale requires consent of both owners. But hopefully their application will be successful.