Dividing house, is this fair or not?

[geranium66]

Bought a house 2 years ago with partner. We’ve separated. The house has increased in value by 30%. My brother is taking over his side of the mortgage for the future; I will stay in the house. I plan to give my ex partner back all the monthly mortgage payments he has paid, plus his deposit and increase it all by 30%. Would you consider this fair or is there a better way of working it out?

I’m concerned you don’t understand your mortgage deal, OP, and how it will need to be renegotiated if your DP isn’t joint owner.

You aren't being reasonable. You are trying to deny your ex his share of the property. I really hope he gets some legal advice before agreeing to this.

Op would it not be easier to just sell up, both take your equity and go your seperate ways? This sounds like it could get messy. I'm sure your ex must realise he's entitled to 50% of the current house value minus mortgage and htb loan, so why would he agree to such a substantially smaller amount, if the house has increased in value as you say it has? The problem with basing entitlement on the current "value" could be a huge under or over estimate of the actual selling price, especially right now where the housing market seems rocky and unpredictable. I would want to sell, and both know exactly what we are entitled to, to start afresh.

So you've thanked the one person who I think has got the calculations wrong. What a surprise.

Also, is your brother planning on moving in? Surely that won't be a viable long term solution? Or is he purely taking on a % of the mortgage to help you out/gain some equity in the property? If so, you're going to end up owning a small proportion of the house, with a share owned by htb, and a share owned by your brother? Do you hope to eventually buy all other parties out?

Has your solicitor advised you about his ability to force a sale if he wants to realise his ‘paper’ profit?

@helleborus was absolutely right about the help to buy equity loan . You haven’t explained whether the 50K figure was the original equity loan or its current value now? The equity loan will have increased in line with the increase of the value of the property, until you pay off. Has it been paid off or is it still outstanding?

Yes that’s all understood, the brother bit isn’t the question really. It was the payout to the ex partner I’m worried about.
I can see this now.
As with lots of things in life, all things considered, it don’t seem fair. There are lots of elements to this story which I cannot relate here. I’m just laying out the financial facts of the matter and you have all helped clarify this enormously.
Thank you all again.

The financial facts are all that matter. His cheating is irrelevant.

the brother bit isn’t the question really. It was the payout to the ex partner I’m worried about.

But your brother just pays your partner, based on the valuation. The new joint mortgage (you & brother) covers this.

If they help to buy equity loan hasn’t been paid and is still outstanding. You need to work out what percentage it was of the original purchase price, and deduct the same percentage from the current value, then deduct any outstanding mortgage what’s left is your equity and you should get half each.

😫🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️you cannot base this on what the house WAS worth, it IS worth what it's worth NOW.

yes it's galling when he he was the one that cheated and made all this necessary, but as I said before it's about finances not morals!!

if you would be happy with £18,500 let him buy you out!

(obviously DO NOT do that, but look at it from that point of view)

if you don't want to be fair, then try, he might just be stupid enough to accept a low offer, he was stupid enough to cheat/get caught, but you'd have to prep the solicitor not to laugh!!

First of all you need to get 3 house valuations, not from Estate Agents.you're basing this on Agents valuations which bear no resemblance to actual values.

Ah ok, question, probably silly but where do you get a valuation from, what do you ask for?

As with lots of things in life, all things considered, it don’t seem fair.

I don't understand how you don't see it as fair that he gets 50% of the equity.

You said you've both put the same amount in to the house. The fair way to do it is get it valued (which I see you've done), take away the remaining mortgage amount and divide what's left by 2.
Yes he's made a big profit but so have you! If you were to sell up instead of buy him out you would get the exact same amount back as he is.
Just because you don't want to sell doesn't mean he should take less money.

It's easy to say you would walk away with the £18k if it was you but that's because it's not you in that position. Why would anybody walk away with £18k when they're entitled to over £60k? That's crazy

At this point I'm almost sure OP wasn't planning on the mortgage needing to change and was hoping her brother would just make the payments without understanding the implications on the deeds etc.

The norm is to have the house valued, deduct the outstanding mortgage and then divide that 50/50. Your brother would then pay your exP his 50% share of the equity. A solicitor needs to manage this as your ex needs taking off the deeds and the mortgage needs renegotiating with the mortgage s is the fairest and simplest way.

From al the posts it appears the OP is trying to pay exactly what her ex paid in, so as to have the house like he was never involved from the start, and OP gets all the profit. I can obviously see the benefit to OP in doing this......

I can't see him going for it though!

I think you need to stop equating what’s fair by measuring how good or bad of a partner he was.

You need to think of it as you posted this thread. You own it 50:50. So he gets 50% of what’s left when all the fees are paid. The details of your relationship do not impact that.

Its usually better for peoples emotional well being if the separate the 2.

This is such a mess, OP think about it. If you were still together and you sold this house , how much money would you have to put towards another one?
That is what he gets half of. You get this money as well (happy days) but only when you sell.

How are you going to fund paying ex his money?

If your brother steams in now without either paying ex his share or you ring fencing your £67k then how can he be 50/50?

Property surveyors will do a valuation and also estate agents .

Your solicitor sounds rubbish , are they a divorce solicitor (I know you are not married) or is it just a friend or something?

What does your Partner think of your plan? He would be a half wit to accept your proposal. I imagine he isn't if he is in the £300K ballpark figure for house buying. Pay him his fair share OP and stop being a dick.

Unless your brother also has a deposit I am not sure it is doable

Original price £288000 now £375000.
deposit 10k each
remaining mortgage 190000
help to buy 50000

There is 137,500 equity in the house. The help to buy and mortgage both need to be redeemed. You get 50% each and so you have £67,500 which is less than 20% equity.

You have to then get a standard mortgage with your brother at current rates. Minimum deposit will be 10% and possibly 20% as it is a remortage or get a decent rate. You dont have 20%.

Oh dear. I suspect your ex is also my exH. He also tried this nonsense. He argument was that he could have just lived with his mummy rent free. (There's a big clue why I divorced him btw)

DO NOT give him his mortgage payments back !! That is a cost of living. He's entitled to.his deposit and half of any equity. That is all.

I was thinking the same @Idontgiveagriffindamn

Oops. Should have RTFT.

I think you're being a CF OP. He is entitled to half the profit. There's no way you're going to get away with your original proposal, unless your ex is incredibly stupid.

She's trying to give him the mortgage payments only back. None of the equity.