Help with house when splitting up

[dillon21]

Hi I can't believe I have to write this but could someone pls advice my son and his girlfriend just and I mean just bought a house she nows decided she doesn't like living down here she's from London missing the night life etc even thou they had rented a house for 18mts they have only paid two payment off the mortgage so you can understand everyone is really angry to have gone through all that expense and then decide this so soon what I need some advice for my son is where does he stand he has joint custody of his little 3 year old boy from a previous relationship poor kids always in the middle of this just got his little bedroom all sorted I presume he will have to sell up ASAP to pay her off is there any help he can get and what should his next move be in getting it

Many thanks

[dillon21]

Please anyone

[steampowered]

Hi there, sorry to hear about this difficult situation.

 

Actually, as long as he can pay the mortgage, I do not think there is a legal reason why he would be forced to sell. Any sale would normally need the consent of both co-owners.

 

The girlfriend does not have an automatic right to force a sale in order to recover her share of the equity. In theory the girlfriend could apply to court to secure an 'order for sale' but this is a difficult process. I think she would struggle to have the order granted if it would cause disruption for the child.

 

The other question is whether your son can afford to pay the mortgage by himself. If the answer is no, and if she won't keep paying, then he will have to think about moving somewhere cheaper.

 

If the relationship does come to an end, then you'd need to think about whether the ownership of the property which might be currently held as a joint tenancy, should be changed into a tenancy in common. I'm not going to go into this now but keep it in mind.

[dillon21]

Thank you Thank you Thank you just for replying he believes he can paybespecially if he rents out a room he just doesn't want to move the little lad again i suppose the difficult bit will be persuading the bank because the mortgage was arranged on 2 incomes I will of course keep you up to date should is next move be the bank or citizens advice

[dillon21]

Just one other thing she said she wants her name taken off everything

[steampowered]

Yes, you are right. She will have to be told that it is not that easy. She can't have her name taken off the mortgage without the mortgage company's consent. The mortgage company will not consent unless it is convinced that your son is able to pay the debt by himself.

 

I'm not sure whether your son would technically be permitted to rent out a room under the terms of the mortgage. It is fairly common for people to do this but just be aware of that.

 

If she wants to be taken off the mortgage perhaps she should be the one to contact the mortgage company to explain all this. Then she can hear it directly from the horse's mouth and won't shoot your son for being the messenger.

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi there,

 

How sad.

 

As steampowered has said the mortgage company will need to be convinced that your son can pay the mortgage on his own.

 

As far as the girlfriend is concerned, does she have much equity in the property, and is she likely to be reasonable in giving him time to pay this back to her?

 

DD

[dillon21]

Can they make him sell if he just keeps paying mortgage

[steampowered]

The basic answer is no. The girlfriend does not have a right to force the boyfriend to buy out her share of the equity.

 

In theory the girlfriend could apply to court to secure an 'order for sale' but this is a difficult process. I think she would struggle to have the order granted if it would cause disruption for the child and if her equity is small.

[dillon21]

The basic answer is no. The girlfriend does not have a right to force the boyfriend to buy out her share of the equity.

 

In theory the girlfriend could apply to court to secure an 'order for sale' but this is a difficult process. I think she would struggle to have the order granted if it would cause disruption for the child and if her equity is small.[/quote

There is no equity they have only just bought the place also one other thing they are in a row year fixed term don't know if that as any bearing

[steampowered]

There must be some equity. It will basically be the deposit. Fixed rate doesn't matter.

[dillon21]

They borrowed the deposit from a family member who at the time they signed the mortgage who at ten time signed to say she as no claim on the house even thou if he could stay in the house he would try to pay this back over a period of time ok just wondered because they had signed into a 2 year fixed term weather there would be a penalty to grey out of that

[steampowered]

I'm afraid I don't understand your post. Who signed to say he/she has no claim on the house? Your son agreed to pay what to who, and was this a written agreement?

 

My understanding is that there can be a fee to refinance or change a mortgage regardless of whether it is fixed or not. Though with a fixed term mortgage I imagine there may be an additional hedging break fee (since the bank would have bought its own interest rate hedging products on the financial markets in order to provide the fixed rate).

[dillon21]

I'm afraid I don't understand your post. Who signed to say he/she has no claim on the house? Your son agreed to pay what to who, and was this a written agreement?

 

My understanding is that there can be a fee to refinance or change a mortgage regardless of whether it is fixed or not. Though with a fixed term mortgage I imagine there may be an additional hedging break fee (since the bank would have bought its own interest rate hedging products on the financial markets in order to provide the fixed rate).

The girlfriend and my son were given the deposit by a family member that family member then signed an agreement to say they had no claim on the house (so basically if they sold didn't want deposit back I presume )

[steampowered]

Oh, I see. If the girlfriend and your son were lent the money together, I would think they are each entitled to an equal share of the deposit. And therefore the girlfriend would have a share of the equity amounting to around 50% of the deposit. Obviously this is subject to anything in the agreement which states differently.

 

 

Most likely the property is now held as a 'joint tenancy'. This means that they both have an equal right to the whole house. If your son wants to continue paying the mortgage he would be well advised to look into 'severing' the joint tenancy so that it becomes a 'tenancy in common'. This would mean that they both have a 50% share of any equity. The purpose of doing this would be to ensure that, if your son continues paying the mortgage, his payments would increase his personal share of the equity without the girlfriend getting credit for that.