Advice on keeping the house

[RainbowsAndUnicorns5]

Separated last year, 10 years into a 25 yr mortgage.
I want to stay in the house with the kids and I can afford the mortgage (£600pm) by myself by having a lodger & part time work.
Ex would prefer to sell as there's equity.
If I were able to buy him out could I carry on with the mortgage (I mean 15 years left) rather than have to re mortgage & start again with a 25 yr ?
if his name is taken off do I have to start again is my question, hope that's clear! Ty
I would rather buy him out if I could btw because joint owning the house is causing problems & he refuses to have the kids stay at his because he says he can't afford anywhere suitable (which he could if I bought him out)

[lifeisunjust]

You sound like you have taken the emotion out of it which is good, because any court considers finances and nothing else.

You sound like you've done the maths already, but do include all assets in your maths, pensions, savings, investments, furnishings, car and see if you can agree is percentage split, so you can show to the other party that with the lump sum you give them by buying out, that they get their agreed percentage.

Are you using a mediator, as a mediator would be more experienced in knowing all previous scenarios they have been involved in and possible financial splits, to make both sides "fairly" happy with their lot. And this usually means neither gets exactly what they want but near enough to be able to settle without having to take the case to court and a judge making decisions on your lives.

Your big issue right now is ensuring your current provider will allow you to take on the mortgage on your own. Mine refused to offer me any mortgage whatsoever, despite the fact I'd paid off a 25 year mortgage in full in 18 years and that the mortgage was actually 2k in credit! New rules meant instead of just removing one name, I had to go through the process of mortgaging as a new lender which disqualified me due to a petty rule despite the mortgage broker knowing I was the least likely person to ever default. My only way around this was to take a few personal loans out, I hope you manage to re-mortgage under sole name.

[RainbowsAndUnicorns5]

oh nooooo that's not what I wanted to hear :((((( I was really hoping to take over & pay off in 15 yrs :(((((((

Thanks for replying though !

[Mumoftwoyoungkids]

Can you not take on a 25 year mortgage (if you have to) and then overpay? Our mortgage was taken out in 2006 and due to finish in 2031. We paid it off a couple of years ago. Different lenders allow different amounts of overpay (ours let us overpay as much as we liked but many talk of 10% of the balance per year) but generally they do allow some overpayment.

[RainbowsAndUnicorns5]

I'm not sure I'll look into that, took 7 years to pay off the interest - only started paying off the actual thing recently 😖

[lifeisunjust]

If you have to re-mortgage, rather than removing one name, you can look around now, with current or other lenders. Mortgage brokers are used to this scenario, hopefully it won't be as hard for the OP as it was for me, my lender was just a pain (it wasn't even the original lender, my mortgage was with Standard Life who sold out to Barclays......) hopefully yours won't be. The personal loans I took instead have not been easy, higher interest rate, if I'd had just a couple of months more time, I would have managed to find a decent lender, just bad luck I was given a very short time-span to come up with the money, I doubt anyone would ever have it as hard as I had. Good luck. Interest rates are low, maybe you might even be better off with a new mortgage package. Oh and yes we overpaid our mortgage, it's a great way, no penalties with the lender which is how we ended up 2k in credit.

[kellyb220982]

To some degree it depends how you would raise the money to be able to buy him out and a bank would want to see income from a lodger so they know you can afford it.

I've a friend who is going through the same process as you and her bank have suggested she can continue with the existing mortgage deal until the fixed term ends but she has had to extend the number of years and then take out a smaller second mortgage to pay her ex off. Once the fixed term ends she'll then look to combine the two on another good deal and at this point be able to look at the number of years. This also means at the moment she is paying less over the 2 mortgages than she is for the 1 which is better in the short term while she sorts things out. you can always make over payments to help reduce the term. The advice from her bank was to do what you have to do now to ensure you can keep the house if that's the priority and then make changes down the line if you can. Hope that helps and good luck!

[snugglybearcub]

I am not an expert but if you take someone off a mortgage, it is effectively closing the account. Therefore you do need to pay ERCS if still in a fixed rate. You also have to effectively 're-buy' the house in your own name, so you will require a conveyancing solicitor - in addition to divorce. Sometimes with divorce, it is a whole lot easier to sell up and start from scratch.

For myself I had to downsize and start a new mortgage. Getting a mortgage on my own was quite hard. With one salary the maximum they'd give me was £110k - taking in to account tax credits. When you remortgage - or take on any mortgage you do an affordability calculator based on circumstances at the present. I don't believe that by saying YOU WILL get a lodger is enough. You would effectively need one in place. But then you are technically buying the house and you will have another adult residing there - which causes a whole heap of problems

[lifeisunjust]

The cost of me "re-buying" my house was about £150. I used a legal executive, simply for ease and time saved, I could have done it myself, but I had not been able to pay for legal help and had self-represented, this was my luxury. The legal executive worked for the same firm of conveyancing sols as used when buying the house as 2 people, she was much cheaper and probably more efficient than a solicitor too. I don't see £150 as a great cost in the whole scheme of costs in buying a house. I didn't see it as a harder option, if I'd sold and bought elsewhere, that would have incurred far greater costs.

Everybody's circumstances is different, I'm sure you've done the maths already and if you haven't checked your eligibility to re-mortgage with the same bank, check your ability to find funds elsewhere.

[Minime85]

You need to go and have an affordability check with your mortgage company. It's not just a case of taking him off you have to be assessed for taking the mortgage out on your own. Then there is a cost to have his name removed mine was £600 so I decided to wait and sell and move to a new house, new start that way mortgage in own right anyway. I did have to go back up from 14yrs left to 20yrs. But I was prepared to do that to keep payments at under £700. You need to go and get some financial advice.