to get my washing machine back?

[Enfyshedd]

Ok Ladies (and the few Gents who brave these waters...)

I split with ExP 2 1/2 years ago and left the property we had bought together over 7 years previously. He was supposed to sort out getting the mortgage in his own name or agree to sell the place, but he never did. I, foolishly I admit, didn't push things as much as I should have because he was always a stubborn git if you pushed him and I thought that not being there in person 24/7 would make things worse. I then got pregnant with a new DP a year later and procrastinated even more because I didn't want the stress.

1 month after DD was born, ExP stopped paying the mortgage on the property and despite my best efforts to help him out (except financially because I'm on ML) get him to take some responsibility, he's been non-contactable to almost everyone (although still living at the property as far as I know), and finally the other week, was the repossession hearing which he didn't turn up to and I wasn't going to contest because I want rid of it and him from my life now.

Which brings me to this:
The washing machine DP had when I moved in was a second hand machine which is a bit old and battered. Less than a year before I left Exp, I bought (in my name, not from the joint account) a new washing machine which was quite a good one. WIBU to let myself into the property I still own with ExP and swap the washing machines as the one I bought a few years ago will be repossessed with the property if I don't, and the one DP & I have in our home is a bit crap (he had to repair the door catch last year because it broke and am worried it will break again)?

YANBU!

Ermmm, you just upped and left your property with your name on the mortgage, let it get repossessed, and that's all fine but you are worried about a washing machine? Bizarre.

But not unreasonable to retrieve it I suppose.

Isn't it traditional to strip everything of value out of your house before it gets repossessed, anyway? Not that I've done it, but I've viewed a couple with even the kitchen/bathroom stripped out, so i doubt a washing machine will make much difference

Fuck the washing machine, what if he wreaks the property before he leaves and it subsequently sells for less than the mortgage. Aren't you liable for any shortfall?

Well, I saw a mutual friend yesterday who told me that he thinks ExP has gone - friend called around property and it looked tidy through the windows he could see through. Am going to visit it next week to check on the state of it.

SpicyPear - I didn't just "let it get repossessed". When I say I didn't push things as much as I should have, I only called him once a month to find out what he was doing about it. I tried for 2 years to get ExP to take on the mortgage in his own name or to agree to sell the place, but he kept fobbing me off with excuses (accounts not ready, 3rd party shown an interest in buying business, etc - I even suggested that he agreed to sell the business and move near his family because they lived closer to his business but his excuse was the roads are not as good from theirs than from the town where we lived). When he stopped paying, I was the one who:
Contacted the mortgage company (who had been informed that I had left the week I walked out)
Travelled miles in search of legal & housing advice to find out what I could do,
Chased him when he changed his mobile number,
Got an arrangement for the payments to be reduced to interest only for a while (which he declined)
Got information about the Voluntary Assisted Sales scheme (he wouldn't answer the phone to the VAS people),
Got 3 separate estate agents to value the property and try and get it on the market (when he failed to clean the place for the viewings),
and I was the only one who turned up for the repossession hearing the other week.

All this with a 3-7mo baby in tow.

Haven't got room for any of the other appliances or they aren't suitable for DP's & my home (electric v gas oven - shame as I had a double oven and we only have a single). Pointless stripping the place if there's nowhere for anything to go. Once I've been up there though and seen what's there, might ask a few mates if they need anything...

It doesn't sound unreasonable, however I don't know where you stand legally. Might it be better to post in legal?