Split relationship - Ex-Partner being difficult

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spacetrucker

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Hi,
I have a very messy situation and am looking advice.... My GF and her partner are have a very acrymonious split and now need to sell a neg-eq house....

Here's all the details and for ease of discussions, I have placed myself in the shoes of my GF...

5 years ago, I bought a house with my then partner, with a joint mortgage. To aid in the payments, my brother rented a room from us.
About 3 years ago, the relationship broke down and I moved out from but both him and my brother still live in the property with my brother now paying my half of the mortgage (so in theory, I have kept up my obligations)....

As soon as I moved out, the first thing he did was to change the locks, move all the bills to his own account, moved all savings out into his account and then the joint account was closed.

He (and I) now want out of the property as he has a new partner and wants to move in with her (they are expecting a baby very soon)

We currently have mortgage/secured loan commitments of ~£190K but the house was recently valued by an estate agent at £165-170K.

I am unable to take on the property as a whole because I am a new mother and am not working and certainly would not be able pay the £1200/month.

I have discussed the situation with my partner and we have come up with the following options

a) Sell the house and split the shortfall 50/50
b) Pay him half the shortfall subject to him remortgage into his own name
c) Buy the property subject to him paying me half the shortfall
d) Let the house get repo'd - where this goes i do not know

I have suggested option (c) as it would help us out with extra space but we would only be able to pay £160K leaving him with approx £15K to pay but he said that he does not see why he should.

His [ex-partner] theory is why can't me and my current partner just take over the current mortgage but I'm sure that's not legally possible...Is it? The only way would be for me to pay it but his name remains of the deeds/mortgage.

He is now threatening to just move out and "disappear"....which worries me because where would that leave me/him with regards to the payments....

Finally, I recently visited the property with my current partner so he could see the house with a view to option (c) above and the internals of the house is now in a very bad state of repair.... he has not done any maintenance (or cleaning!) since I left....
 
Spacetrucker,

It is a difficult situation and one with no quick easy answer.

With regards to taking over the mortgage, the current lending institution would have to reassess the deal and as the property is worth less than the existing loan it is unlikely that they would agree to any alteration to the terms of the existing mortgage.

This would mean that were you (or your partners ex) to apply to a new lender the maximum that you could borrow would be 92% of the current market value. The mortgage valuation may even be less than the figure that you agree on is a fair value.

For example if the banks valuer values it at 150 then the max you can borrow is 92% of that. i.e. 138. You will then need to come up with the balance of the money to clear the existing lender i.e. 52 less any money that the ex agrees to pay, if any.

I'm sorry that it isn't good news but i'm afraid that the only two options are, come to some arrangement with the ex or dispose of the property.

Letting the house get repo'd is not an option either as the bank may not want it back. If they do, your partner and her ex may become jointly and severally liable on any shortfall on sale including disposal costs.
 
The main problem is that he does not want to own up to his share of the shortfall, whether i buy it or not.....

In the grand scheme of things, even though the monthly is £1200, he is only paying a net £600 as he gets the rest from the brother in "rent"

By my reckoning, he could probably get a 5 year unsecured loan for about £300 a month which halves his monthly will finish sooner anyway.

If the house is sold (at a loss), can the debt be split between the two and if one defaults, the other party is not responsible..?
 
Just to add.... I have no issues paying my GF's share, I just can't afford to pay his...
 
spacetrucker said:
If the house is sold (at a loss), can the debt be split between the two and if one defaults, the other party is not responsible..?
Click to expand...

I dont think the bank will allow the property to sell at a loss because it leaves them with an unsecured loan between the 2 people on the mortgage.
 
If the property is sold at a loss they can look to obtain judgement on both parties for the full amount of any shortfall.

They do not do it in every case but it is possible.

Both parties to the loan will be fully liable for the full amount, you cannot split a shortfall. The bank will go after both until such time as one of both have come up with the full amount of the shortfall on disposal.

If you have the means to pay half then the balance will still be owing by both your partner and her ex.
 
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