Taking over a mortgage from ex

I am not sure what to do about this problem, but I would really appreciate some advice.
In 2006 my then partner and I paid 423,000 for a house in Dublin, which we own jointly. I used 80,000 from another property to finance this (stamp duty, solicitors etc). We also bought a car on HP which is in my name, and I used my own car as a trade in (which was fully paid for!), but the new car was intended to be a family car. When we split up, My ex now says that he wants his name off the house or it is to be sold. The house has been valued at 350,000, so there is a 70,000 deficit, so effectively I think my ex is trying to get me to take on his share of this deficit. Also, he says he doesnt want the car or repayment responsibilities, which leaves me in a bad situation because I owe 12,000 on a car that is now worth 8,00o. 1.Would I be foolish to take on this house on my own? 2. Can he force a sale (as it is not a family home)?. Can I legally do anything about the car issue.

He cant just take his name of the mortgage unless you agreed to take over the whole mortgage. Depending on your earning (they would probably need to be over 100k per annum) the bank would not even let you take on the full mortgage.
What do you want to happen, do you want the house to be sold? it is possible to sell a house which is in negative equity, but you must have agreement from the bank, the balance of the sale would then be taken as a personal loan by both you and your ex (its a possibility but not a guarantee).
Who pay the mortgage at the moment? who pays for the car loan?

In your situation it may be best to speak to a solicitor, especially seen you have put more of your own money into both car and house.

I'm kind of in the same situation as you just roles are reversed. Split with the ex i moved out of the house. Ex cannot afford the repayments on the house. I wanted to sell but he refused. We came to an agreement after finding out information on here that we would rent out the house and he would move back in with his parents.

Now he has gone back on the agreement and say's he is not moving out of the house. I spoke to a solicitor and bascially i cant do anything, unless i'm willing to spend a lot of money on solictors fees.I wuld have to go to court and get an order for him to sell the house, this its self could take years. Also the likely hood i could even sell at the moment is very low. You said you put in 80,000 toward the house......what was his share? I also put more of a deposit into the house than my ex but i have legal papers to back this up saying i legally own more of a percentage of the house than he does.

As for the car there is nothing you can do. You signed the papers the car repayments are your responsibility. My ex took my car fully paid for at the time worth 30K, he then got another car 18K out in finance in his name to replace my car that he was driving. He now wants to give the car back under the half way policy. At present his company is making the repayments, i'm due back in the country in 2 weeks and told him i would then carry on the repayments ( something i shouldn't even have to do ) but he just wants the care gone out of his name. I also tried ringing the finance company and taking over the repayments and they wern't willing to let me do that.

So after "giving" ( will never make the same mistake again ) him my car in exchange for him getting another on finance for me i am now out all the money i paid for my first car, plus i dont have a car at all now.

My credit rating is non existant because he's constantly late on the mortgage repayments thats why i cant get another car. It's that bad i'm surprised i can pay in cash.

Can you afford the repayments by yourself, maybe even rent out a room to help. I doubt the mortgage company will allow you to borrow more money to buy him out, with the decreased value. He has a legal responsibility to pay towards the mortgage ( as i do, but i dont because i feel it was his choice to live in a house he cant afford when i wanted to sell or rent out the house, i had to move out with my 2 kids because i knew i couldn't afford to live there on my own. But as it turns out if things get any worse ( which i know they will ) i am going to be forced to pay towards a house i dont even want. I've chosen not to take any legal action because i cant afford to, your ex might choose something else. If you sell for less and are still left with an outstanding amount it would be split between the both of you 50/50.

It's a hard situation to be in. I've been dealing it this for the past 10 months and things have gone from bad to worse. Not to depress you further but be ready for it to get worse cause it will what ever happens. The only saving grace that i have is that i still have equity in my house ( would of been much more if he had agreed to sell back when i wanted to) but it wont be long with the way house prices are going that i'm going to have negative equity.

Best of luck to you.

Senna said:

He cant just take his name of the mortgage unless you agreed to take over the whole mortgage. Depending on your earning (they would probably need to be over 100k per annum) the bank would not even let you take on the full mortgage.
What do you want to happen, do you want the house to be sold? it is possible to sell a house which is in negative equity, but you must have agreement from the bank, the balance of the sale would then be taken as a personal loan by both you and your ex (its a possibility but not a guarantee).
Who pay the mortgage at the moment? who pays for the car loan?

In your situation it may be best to speak to a solicitor, especially seen you have put more of your own money into both car and house.

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Hi Senna, thanks for your advice. I am not on 100k, but I do have another mortgage with the same bank for another house which I rent out, so I have a good track record of payment. I would hope to take over the mortgage, and my ex is in agreement that this is not a buy out situation, it is him removing his name/responsibility on the house. I pay for the mortgage, but he paid for the last 6 months because I wasnt living here, so that is fair enough that I pay. I guess I want to keep this house, but I really feel my ex should be liable for half the 80k that I put into the house. I feel I am taking on all of the debt and he is just walking away with no bills, no car repayments and no mortgage. I have a feeling that this house will remain in negative equity, as it will never reach asking price (460k again). He cleared his credit union loan last week, and mine is still 17k. We have to go to the bank tomorrow, and I have no idea how I will convince them to let me take on the mortgage. I think I need to look at this more as a businessproposition, and take fairness and emotions out of it. Do you think I should have a business plan?

melaniexxx said:

I would hope to take over the mortgage, and my ex is in agreement that this is not a buy out situation, it is him removing his name/responsibility on the house.

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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this simply isn't the way it works. He can not just remove his name from the mortgage (which is good for you because he can't just walk away from the debt).

The way it works is that you will have to apply for a new mortgage which will clear the joint mortgage you both own. The new mortgage will be subject to all the criteria and application process of a normal mortgage application. This means:

(a) you have to be able to afford the mortgage (taking into account your income versus debt)
(b) the mortgage you receive will be (at most) 92% of the valuation (thats about 322K from what you have said).

I think you have to seperate the car and mortgage issues. It sounds to me like the car is your problem since it is in your name etc.

You then need to sit down and figure out exactly what you have both put into the house in a non-emotional and frank manner. The fact you paid 80000 at the start is a factor, as is the fact he has been paying the mortgage for the last six months. If you sell you can then factor these points into who owes what in terms of making up the deficit between sale price and outstanding mortgage.

If I am honest it sounds like you would be better off trying to rent this place and keep it ticking over until selling or buying out is more feasible.

have a problem with my mortgage so need help on it. currently have split up with my girlfriend and she has asked me to move out off the house and i did so she has said she will take over the payments on the house and a loan we have together which we used to purchase goods for the house so she wants me to sign the house over to her to see if the bank will let her take over the mortgage but do not know what to do would appreciate any advice on the matter