Any ideas how to ensure the house valuation is on the low side?

[Iliveinahovel]

I need a valuation to be on the low side for the house I now live in. Not out-of-this-world low, but somewhere realistic, i.e. 10% to 15% lower than an "average" similar house would be valued at. Currently the house is probably "average" with respect to the overall appeal and condition.

Have around 6 months until the valuation will be done. Any ideas? Let the garden overgrow?

@CorsicaDreaming

I'm not sure if you've done these ideas already but I would also consider

1 - get advice from a new solicitor (ideally one recommended to you as v good at financial divorce matters). Can you get a variation of the order due to exceptional changes since date of agreement? Unknown special needs of children that only came to light after the order was made may be a possible?

2 - talk to you ex and ask him to be reasonable and accept a lesser amount and/or agree to postpone giving it to him until your children are no longer dependent / living at home (which may be older than 18 if they have SEN).

1 No. A final order is intended to be final. It can only be changed by a Barder event or by evidence that the OP's ex failed to make a full disclosure. As the order appears to have been made 7 years ago it is far too late to claim a Barder event and the OP has not said anything to indicate that her ex did not make a full disclosure.

[quote Unknown83]@Iliveinahovel

If you act in bad faith expect it to end in court with you paying all the legal costs. It doesn't take a genius to see what a house is worth on Zoopla or Rightmove so if the valuations are well below that your ex will smell a rat.

As for your ex's conduct, the courts won't care. The matter before them will be your attempt to breach a court order. Not a position I would recommend you put yourself in.[/quote]
This.

Be careful doing anything you have to spend a lot of money fixing afterwards. Sometimes they just do drive by valuations and use Zoopla for an estimate. If they do come round, just ask if they can use the lower valuation as you have to buy him out (tell them the details).

Alternatively just start collecting newspapers and rubbish from mac Donald's and have a few rooms be the hoarding rooms? Easy enough to clean up after!

Also, just another thought. If you devalue your house, then your mortgage provider won't want to lend as much to you anymore. Also, your mortgage costs will rise if the LTV changes negatively.

I have no advice to offer. But good luck trying to keep your home. 💐💐

Put mousetrap in every room, they only cost a couple of pounds for the snap trap type.

OP, you really need to consult an experienced family law lawyer to set aside the agreement you made on the basis of receiving wrong legal advice. Even if setting aside the agreement is out of date, you still need to know what's your best course of action considering you are going to be forced to leave a home you purchased before marriage when the marriage was of short duration on legal advice you received at the time.

This your fault. You received the wrong legal advice and there are legal ways to set a dud agreement aside. Just do it right this time.

You really, really need an family law solicitor with years of experience.

This is NOT your fault.

Do not try to devalue your house. All the decorating, mousetrap, long grass, noise and front garden sofa people pack it in. A valuer would ignore all that, plus your DH could take you to court for it.

Talk to a good lawyer, someone with teeth who knows what they're doing. You may be able to argue that the original agreement was based on bad legal representation, who knows, but a good lawyer will find a crack in it somewhere if there is one.

He was there for 2 years and didn't/isn't contributing to the family home or his DC's upbringing. You should not all lose your home in these circumstances.

[quote Unknown83]@Iliveinahovel

If you act in bad faith expect it to end in court with you paying all the legal costs. It doesn't take a genius to see what a house is worth on Zoopla or Rightmove so if the valuations are well below that your ex will smell a rat.

As for your ex's conduct, the courts won't care. The matter before them will be your attempt to breach a court order. Not a position I would recommend you put yourself in.[/quote]
Well, there is a natural variation of around £100K to £150K when it comes to sold prices for the houses on my very street - and they are all similar, it is quite a standard two up - two down terrace. Apart from the condition they're in - last renovated in the 80s, with artex on the ceiling and avocado-coloured bathrooms, vs an immaculate house with all the usual pre-sale improvements.
I cannot see how I would breach the court order if I just let the house go for a couple of months. Honestly, I won't be able to put it in a tip top pre-sale condition even if I wanted - there's no excess funds for it, and no time.

@Longdistance

He won’t get half for a short marriage and the property pre dates him. Go to a solicitor to get advice. If it goes to court, the judge may agree with a low off fir him to ‘fuck off’. He won’t get half. Get an EA round to value it for divorce. Tell them your situation, they’ll then lower the value for you, which you will need for your solicitor anyway.

He's getting 20%. It's a clean break she can't go back to court.

@Unknown83

Also, just another thought. If you devalue your house, then your mortgage provider won't want to lend as much to you anymore. Also, your mortgage costs will rise if the LTV changes negatively.

I won't be able to get the necessary buyout amount via the mortgage in any case, from the bank's perspective I am already mortgaged almost to the max (I am the only person named on the existing mortgage, so the multiplier to income on any further borrowing is quite low). So it is less about LTV, more about affordability.

It will be funded through a combination of a small secondary charge mortgage, existing savings and personal loans (including very personal, ie friends). That's why any amount of reduction in the valuation would help massively. As it stands now, I am in that anti-goldilocks zone where I am unable to stretch to the full amount, but 85%-90% might be doable. Assuming, of course, that property prices do not explode between now and the year end again.

@Alondra

OP, you really need to consult an experienced family law lawyer to set aside the agreement you made on the basis of receiving wrong legal advice. Even if setting aside the agreement is out of date, you still need to know what's your best course of action considering you are going to be forced to leave a home you purchased before marriage when the marriage was of short duration on legal advice you received at the time.

This your fault. You received the wrong legal advice and there are legal ways to set a dud agreement aside. Just do it right this time.

You really, really need an family law solicitor with years of experience.

I am trying to be fair here and put the emotions and the strong feeling of being wronged aside. I don't think I was legally mis-represented at the original proceedings. The equity amount as discussed then wasn't that excessive, it had to be a charge on the house as there were no other assets in the pot apart from pensions - and those could not be touched as the relationship was too short.

It was quite likely that something would have been awarded anyway, and it was completely disproportional to go all the way to the final hearing, and additionally risking a 50/50 split (as my ex initially insisted on 50/50 custody too - which I agreed to immediately, but it never happened in reality as he moved overseas straight away).

I should have acted on the buyout then. Neither me nor my solicitor could have foreseen what would happen to the property prices after the ink dried on the order, but the onus to act was on me.

I know all the above makes me look like an idiot, but I genuinely did not explore divorce law intricacies in Britain before getting married - hoped for a happily ever after, in a way. Had no idea that it is so easy to opt out of paying alimony for the children here either, in my home country it is a criminal offence and you can go to jail / be barred from leaving the country in cases of noncompliance.

When I had mine valued they have me 3 values, the lowest being one for a quick sale. I guess if you make it clear that you only want the value for a quick sale.

Paint some rooms really dark so they look smaller
Outdated bathrooms and kitchens are probably the biggest things that age a house. You could always swap any unit doors for dark wooden old fashioned ones
In terms of estate agents, could you say you want a quick sale and arent bothered about the price? Or would that have no affect on how its valued

Get 3 estate rounds then but tell all of them you want the valuation to be on the low side

How is your ex not legally obliged to pay child maintenance? Would he see his own children made homeless if you can't pay him?

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash

How is your ex not legally obliged to pay child maintenance? Would he see his own children made homeless if you can't pay him?

He doesn't have any regular income in his own name, his family apparently pays for everything, with quite a comfortable lifestyle achieved as a result, and no need to work. Our child maintenance dispute ended up in the tribunal, and there still was nothing tangible to attach an order to. The current tune is that he won't fund my lifestyle, but rather would prefer to sponsor the children directly "when they need it later". Any expenses such as nursery fees, childcare, travel, extracurricular activities, days out etc is apparently for my benefit, not theirs. And there's state help when it comes to basics like food and shelter, should I fall on really hard times, so he's not liable for that either.

He knows they won't be homeless, I am competent enough for that. I won't be able to re-house us locally though via buying another property though, so it is either uprooting the children from schools (incl SEN support that was a separate nightmare to secure) and friends and moving somewhere much cheaper where I have zero support, and quitting my job (well - actually, likely my profession too) which is London centric. Or renting for another 10 years or so, which will slowly eat into the equity released (my mortgage now is around 60% of the market rent for a similar property). I mean, it is not a complete disaster, of course, it could have been much worse. But I'd prefer a solution that does not put me back to square zero in a couple of years when the children fly the nest and I am 50+. Even if it looks "immoral" to many people.

I agree, explain to the estate agents that you need a valuation at the lower end of the range. Then look into maybe extending your mortgage repayment in years to make it more affordable but over pay within the allowed limits when you can. Mortgage interest rates are at a historic low at the moment. I have a great deal with HSBC. Worth booking in some meetings with a variety of lenders to see if they can help you. Good luck with all this.

@Iliveinahovel

I understand all you're saying but I'm not helping you because you're trying to breach a court order and act in bad faith. If you get a good solicitor, I think they will say the same. Only a bad one will encourage you to fight a hopeless case so they can get fees out of you (that you can ill afford to pay).

I've also reported this whole thread because I think it is in contempt of court, a criminal offence.

Just explain you need the valuation to buy your ex out and not to actually sell the property. A lot of agents give a higher valuation in the hope you choose them and then accept a lower offer for the actual sale. When I worked in probate the solicitors used to contact 3 agents and say it's for probate so they'd give a realistic valuation. Otherwise they could end up with one beneficiary dragging out a sale "because the agent said it was worth more". Was very frustrating when they were holding out for an extra 5k for several months but racking up legal costs with daily telephone calls and emails because it was taking so long.

[quote Unknown83]@Iliveinahovel

I understand all you're saying but I'm not helping you because you're trying to breach a court order and act in bad faith. If you get a good solicitor, I think they will say the same. Only a bad one will encourage you to fight a hopeless case so they can get fees out of you (that you can ill afford to pay).

I've also reported this whole thread because I think it is in contempt of court, a criminal offence.[/quote]
How on earth am I trying to breach a court order??? I will do exactly what is tells me to do (i.e. either sell or buy out), and I have no plans at all to get a solicitor now to contest it or weasel out of payment in any other way.
My question is exactly the mirror opposite of the usual ones "how to ensure that the valuation is on the top of the range", asked for the mortgage LTV purposes.

@Alondra

OP, you really need to consult an experienced family law lawyer to set aside the agreement you made on the basis of receiving wrong legal advice. Even if setting aside the agreement is out of date, you still need to know what's your best course of action considering you are going to be forced to leave a home you purchased before marriage when the marriage was of short duration on legal advice you received at the time.

This your fault. You received the wrong legal advice and there are legal ways to set a dud agreement aside. Just do it right this time.

You really, really need an family law solicitor with years of experience.

You cannot get a court order set aside on the basis that you received the wrong legal advice (and it is not clear that the advice the OP received was wrong).

Just to repeat the legal position, a financial order on divorce can only be overturned if there is a Barder event (i.e. something unexpected happens shortly after the order that invalidates the basis on which the order was made), one party did not make a full disclosure, the judge got the law wrong, or the order is clearly unfair. As the order appears to have been made 7 years ago, it is too late to claim a Barder event or appeal on the basis that the judge got the law wrong or that the order is unfair. So, unless the OP has evidence that her ex did not make a full disclosure, the order is final.

I don't think it helps the OP to give her the impression she can get the order changed. It is extremely rare for a divorce financial order to be reopened and changed. Nothing the OP has said suggests she has any basis for doing so.

I would also say that it is not clear that the OP received the wrong legal advice. It is not uncommon to advise someone that, although their ex wants more than the court would award, it is going to be cheaper to let them have what they want than to fight it through the courts.

[quote Unknown83]@Iliveinahovel

I understand all you're saying but I'm not helping you because you're trying to breach a court order and act in bad faith. If you get a good solicitor, I think they will say the same. Only a bad one will encourage you to fight a hopeless case so they can get fees out of you (that you can ill afford to pay).

I've also reported this whole thread because I think it is in contempt of court, a criminal offence.[/quote]
Although contempt can lead to imprisonment, it is not a criminal offence.

I feel for you.
I had to do similar for inheritance tax purposes a long time ago.
it was rented out at the time and i told the tenants to make it messy, they did a grand job.
The valuer didnt even go to the top floor where there were 2 more large rooms and a huge loft bt i said there was only 1 more room there and he believed me.
If you have space, collect anything you'd now be chucking out in black bin liners and when needed dot it around the house in the said bin liners. make a wall of them into any big room so they can't get in. Mounds of bags anywhere is good. Kitchen utensils all out. keep tea bags, make an obvious wall then look damp with them, say its the roof leak as you need a new one. Also damp around the bottom of any wall like the kitchen, tea and some black paint thrown against the wall a few weeks before valuer due, so you have damp coming from up and down, its really de-valuing.
Do you know who will be doing the valuation? If you have to pick them, get an estate agent who doesnt sell your type of house, one from a cheaper area, you can say anything you like to them like a likely value and they will just write it and get out of there - you pay then a fee for a divorce valuation and they really dont care.
Also act strange, insane, like they wdnt want the job of selling yr house as you would put off potential buyers so they will value it low.

Pls feel free to PM me as I have done this before - good luck and take the bastard for everything you dont have to give him. 2 years sounds like he was only in it for 1 thing.