To expect my ex to relinquish his share in my property?

[shprinkle]

I bought a house with my ex partner last year. He moved out after 2 months and I have continued to live in the property. I’m paying 100% of the mortgage, and he’s now renting somewhere. Initially I thought I’d probably sell the house as I didn’t think I could take the mortgage on solo, so I told him that but now I’m considering selling my mortgage free rental property and keeping this house instead…

He isn’t happy about this and is requesting that I either buy him out or sell the property. The thing is, he has no equity in the house! I paid the whole deposit, fees etc and he only contributed to 2 months of mortgage payments so it seems wild that he thinks he should be entitled to any sort of pay out?! We’re 50/50 owners on the deeds, both on mortgage, no kids and not married. AIBU to expect him to relinquish his share if I decide to take over the property solely in my name? Will probably be getting solicitors involved next, but I have no idea if my expectations are wildly unreasonable or if his are!

If you took no legal advice on protecting your deposit/investment in the property I'm afraid that you're screwed.

WHY didn't you look into that when you gambled your investment?

You just need legal advice. You might have to agree on a settlement with him, go with what your solicitor advises.

Well—good luck. He can snd will be unreasonable if he wants. He wants a windfall. He does have leverage as he is on the deeds and mortgage. You are going to have to buy him out by sweetening your offer one way or another.

How much equity is there in it? Don’t include the mortgage just the equity

@TheAmusedQuail in hindsight, I should have. At the time, it just didn’t cross my mind. We’d been together for 6 years and I honestly just didn’t think even think of the worst case scenario. Huge lesson learned.

@Tiswa approx 45k, of which 25k was my deposit.

If you're 50/50 on the deeds and have not ring fenced your deposit, he's entitled to 50% of the value of the house. Presumably it's not worth much more than you paid for it at this stage so after the mortgage is paid he is entitled to half the balance, which would be presumably approximately half of the deposit that you paid.

Wrt the mortgage, you're both fully liable for that so if he doesn't pay, you're liable so legally him not paying makes no difference to his entitlement. You need legal advice to try and minimise what you pay him but I can't imagine you'll get away without a settlement

Ha ha no.

You can expect all you like but that's not the way it works legally.

If you have no written agreement to protect your deposit you're probably screwed. And it doesn't matter if he hasn't been paying the mortgage, if he's on the deeds he'll probably be entitled to 50%.

Please get proper advice, but potentially yes he may get half.

So worst case, you pay him €22.5k and you're down €2.5k. Not a massive loss but very frustrating.

The quicker you get it sorted the better as each mortgage payment you make increases the equity and increases the amount you will need to pay him.

No, you can’t just arbitrarily decide what you like. There are legal implications you have to follow.

What did you think the situation would be if you own the property 50:50? Why didn’t you ring fence the deposit? Did you get no legal advice?

Morally it’s at least CF behaviour if he wants half of the equity though, right? He would essentially be profiting from the breakdown of our relationship.

@crumblingschools well, I didn’t think we’d split up so I didn’t think it would ever be an issue. I was happy for him to be on the deeds as a joint owner because I didn’t think this situation would happen. I feel like an absolute fool now, of course, but I can’t rewind and change the decision I made at the time.

Unfortunately, morally counts for nothing legally.

If you're 50:50 owners on the deeds then that's the legal ownership.

That's the point of legal documents. To write down the legal position.

Some people make it 60:40 or similar if there is large deposit.

Maybe, but that’s irrelevant.

@shprinkle but didn’t any of the professionals you dealt with eg mortgage broker, solicitor mention anything?

@OchonAgusOchonOh that's a good point, thank you. There’s a hefty early repayment charge on the mortgage so part of me was thinking I should just stay as long as I can until that reduces, but if he will still be entitled to 50% then I’ll be shooting myself in the foot. Argh.

I'd offer him £10k explaining that is half of the equity minus your deposit. You need to be willing to go up to £22.5k or sell though as quickly as possible as his legal entitlement goes up every time you pay the mortgage.

Morals don't come into it. It's 50% his house if he's on the deeds.

@crumblingschools solicitor did mention it due to me providing the entire deposit, but I didn’t think it was necessary.

Expensive mistake to make, OP.

Obviously, you're right that he doesn't have a moral claim on the property, but from a legal perspective, you've allowed him to own a 50% share. You're going to have to negotiate the best settlement you can get.

Thanks all. It’s helpful to hear from an outsiders perspective with the emotion removed from the situation. I’ll seek legal advice this week.

Morally he should of course not expect a pay out but legally your hands are tied. You can try appealing to any shred of decency he has, questioning why he thinks he’s entitled to it etc, telling people who both know you what he’s doing in the hope he feels ashamed, but sadly there’s no guarantee he’ll chose decency. If that fails you could try offering a low amount pay out he might be stupid enough to accept without getting legal advice. Good luck!

I don’t understand your logic? If she owes him 22.5k, she’s down 22.5k?