to not want to sell the house yet?

[feebeedeebeedoo]

Long story - 15 years of controlling & coercive behaviour but I finally got rid of him this year as he's moved on to his next victim. Currently have non molestation and child arrangements orders in place.

He's living with his new fiancé in her 4 bedroom house. I'm still living in 'our' 4 bedroom house with our DD who is 3. He's currently paying half the mortgage plus some child maintenance but is putting pressure on me to sell the house. I'm not saying that I won't but I'm currently on a fixed term contract so won't get a mortgage on a new place. Is more than likely that the fixed term will become permanent but I don't know when. I've asked him to wait until then as I won't be able to afford to buy anywhere decent for me and my DD without a small mortgage in addition to my equity.

He wants his equity so that he can pay off debts that's he's racked up by buying stupid things like a 5k hot tub for his new home and drones and other gadgets. I also have debts that he transferred into my name before we split but naturally he's not going to be paying those.

I've already spent £5k I don't have in legal fees after his behaviour became so bad that I had no choice but to involve the police and take it to court. He's currently not allowed on my road, let alone at the house.

Seeing as he doesn't need the equity to put a roof over his head and forcing me to sell now would cause me problems in putting a roof over DDs head, do you think a judge is likely to force the sale?

Like I said, I'm not saying never, just not until my fixed term is made permanent and I can get a mortgage.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

I don’t know anything about whether the sale can be forced, but I was on a fixed term contract and did get a mortgage - we used a broker, and it was a decent mortgage, from nationwide I think. I ended up getting made permanent unexpectedly so we didn’t end up using that mortgage and the broker was able to get us a slightly better one, but it wasn’t a massive difference between the two. So, if the FTC is the only issue and you would want to move otherwise, it might be worth looking into it?
Obviously it will massively depend on your circumstances but for context, it was my first FTC job, and was only 9 months so from what we read we didn’t think we’d get a mortgage as it looked like they only gave them to people on longer term FTCs, or people who had already been working different FTC roles for a longer time.

I’d be more worried he’d stop paying half the mortgage than anything else

I’d be more worried he’d stop paying half the mortgage

This was also my first thought. Can you afford to pay the entire mortgage if he stops?

I also think the house being so large may be a hindrance, as 2 people don't need that amount of space. The courts may question why you cant get a mortgage on a smaller place now, as apposed to waiting until your job is permanent.

I'm pretty sure you are legally entitled to stay there until your child is 18