*TOXIC MUM* Do I take her to court?

You absolutely need legal advice. Firstly, to advise you on the legal position with regard to the property and secondly to negotiate a settlement with your mother.

It sounds like you're plucking £30,000 from thin air. If you have paid half the mortgage, then I imagine your financial interest in the property is much larger than that.

You can do some of the admin tasks yourself to save on legal costs. I'd start by getting the historical mortgage statements from the lender so you can see exactly what you and your mother have respectively paid. You also need a copy of the title from HMLR to check whether the property is held as joint tenants or tenants in common. Also get the title of any other properties she owns.

You need to force the sale and get your lump sum out of the house before you and your husband buy another. If you have two properties you will be liable to Capital Gains Tax and possibly other penalties. And you may struggle to get a mortgage on one house if you already have another mortgage. This needs to be sorted out immediately.

OP do what exactly did you get out of this arrangement?
Your dm got a house with reduced mortgage payments as you were paying presumably half.

What did you get?

What percentage did your share equate to?

You don't seem to realise that if you part paid and you are on the mortgage, you likely own a percentage of the house. I hope you are on the deeds. I assume you will be if you are on the mortgage.

Typically a contract would have been made at the time. Do you remember if this happened? It would have stated what would happen in the event of one party wanting to sell.

You need to get your entire share of the house. Not just what you put it. The value would have increased substantially

Your mother sounds horrendous

Then you need to force a sale.
Either sell it outright and split it- as you are joint owner.
Or- she buys you out.
She cannot simply decide that she's doing neither of those options.

I can't help on the legal front, but beware you will need to pay tax on any profits if/when you sell the house as you've never lived there. Capital Gains Tax needs to be paid within 60 days of completing a sale.

You probably should have paid it on the first property also, but hopefully that's long in the past now to be within HMRC's remit.

Your OP is really unclear but it sounds as if have a legal right to force a sale of the house you own jointly with your mother and obtain the £100+k capital locked up in it. Not at all unreasonable to do so. You've helped your mum out for the last decade, now it's time to look after your own family.

The solicitor will work out the exact figure that you're owed. Be prepared to have to spend serious money on this. Fees depend on how complicated it all gets, but you could be looking at £10k or so. You can usually get half an hour's free advice from a solicitor, so go for your initial consultation armed with all the paperwork and proof of payments you've made and make best use of that free 30 minutes. At the end of that the solicitor will tell you whether you've got a good case. Just focus on the facts and the paperwork to your solicitor: don't spend ages mithering about how awful your DM is. Good luck.

Definitely seek legal advice! In a way it's a form of financial abuse - she's taking advantage of you and not releasing the money you are owed, as well as taking from you for years.

You are definitely owed a share of the "profit" these houses have made, don't accept anything less.

I know it's hard because it's your mum - but she hasn't acted in your best interests, so you need to do it for yourself.

Sell the house. Serve her notice

She can't do that when her mum is co- owner! 🙄

Please please please go to a solicitor ASAP as I suspect she owes you way more than 30 grand and can easily give you anything to which you are entitled by selling one of her properties.
The fact that she'd rather sit on her riches than help her daughter and her own grandchildren is just awful.
You're going to have to be ruthless.

FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILDREN, if you can't do it for yourself.
Best of luck @LIZ1017

@LIZ1017 this! My DB had a situation where his ex offered him a lump sum upon selling their house. He went the legal route and he was owed considerably more. If your mum is well off and you aren’t, I don’t understand why you may want to settle for less. Doing a deal with your mum without legal backup would be very risky indeed. She needs to buy you out or sell!

Sell the house. Serve her notice.

If she has multiple houses of her own I have absolutely no idea why you are paying for her house when you can't afford to rent yourself.

It's ridiculous and you can't afford to do it.

It's as simple as that. If she can't manage her finances that's not your problem to fix. You just need to fix your finances and if she's defaulting on you, you need to treat her like you would treat any other tenant.

This is precisely why you shouldn't mix being a landlord with family members.

Go legal and get your fair share which will be more than 30k.

I hope that you’ve been getting a share of the rental income of the houses that you pay the mortgage on.

What happened to the first house OP? Who lives there?
And YANBU, you need legal advice asap. Your DM doesn't seem to care about you or your housing situation, so you need to go nuclear.

Don't just accept the amount you have paid in, you have been paying the mortgage on a house this is an investment. You are entitled to the return on your investment. This will help you buy a house for you and your family.

Please do seek legal advice, don't allow your mum to short change you just because she is family.

Either she remortgages and buys you out.

Or she sells and gives you your share.

Your share is obviously a percentage. Not just the 36000 you've paid.

She isn't entitled to own 4 houses at your expense . You're entitled to your share.

Instruct a solicitor.

What was the reason for buying a house that you didn't live in?

You need to see a solicitor and you should also get your full share of the property’s sale price, not just what you have paid on the mortgage - so you could be better off perhaps.

The amount you've paid is £36000.

But clearly you're owed much more than that.

Why is your mums property empire more important than you and your husband?

I'd take her to court, she is using you for a doormat

As your name is on the deeds and the on the mortgage then yes, you are owed more than you have paid against the mortgage, you are also part owner so are due 50% of the uplift value.

If she refuses to buy you out then you need to force this via a legal route and she will have to raise enough money to buy you out or it forces a sale.

I suggest you see a solicitor ASAP.

Don’t forget you will be liable for full Capital gains Tax as you’ve never lived there. You need legal advice, pronto.

Go down the legal route, consult a solicitor.

Surely she could sell one of the other houses? Or why can't you live in one of the houses she rents out?