How to buy two properties from one

[Pollysoftheworld]

Split was around two years ago. We weren’t married.
It’s got to the point where we need to sell the family home, it’s worth around £350K.
I don’t understand how anyone does this, our house sale alone will not buy even two one bed flats.
Can one of us get shared ownership? The criteria is vague. Both of us work full time.
Neither of us have had a chance to save as he’s been renting and I’ve been paying the full mortgage and all the bills (with some CMS).
Our relationship is good and I think this is the right thing to do, but it’s so difficult and disruptive.

Surely 350k split into 2 is enough for a hefty deposit each on a new home? A bit less than half each due to costs of course, but that's still pretty hefty. If you're both working full time, you can both get mortgages?

How much equity in the family home?

How much cash will you have left over after the sale, and how much money can you borrow for a mortgage?

Unfortunately the affordability of owning a property alone is far more challenging.

What the house is worth and what equity they have could be 2 totally different amounts....

Is there much equity in the house?

I divorced 20 plus years ago - we sold the house (London) and came away with about £250,000 each from that. I then took out a £60,000 mortgage to add to my share of equity to buy a 2-bed flat. Different times of course, and different prices.

So any equity you do have would be the deposit on a new purchase.

Quite a bit of equity but unsure if we’ll both be able to borrow much independently as we don’t have great jobs. I still get UC top ups, mostly for childcare, so I’m wondering about shared ownership for my next house as I can claim the rent element through my UC claim and maybe get a two bed?

Shared ownership has some serious issues.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyz8m8jj4mo

Make sure you get decent advice about the scheme you're buying into

i don’t want to buy a shared ownership properly but I’m struggling to see an alternative. I really don’t want to move my children from their school.

Without knowing how much you earn, how much equity you will each get, where in the UK you want to buy, and what your outgoings are, it's very difficult to advise.

What does 'quite a bit of equity' mean? Is your half enough for a deposit? If it is, I'm struggling to see the problem. A mortgage will almost always be cheaper than rent.

Owning a property puts you in a much much stronger financial position now and in the future. Do absolutely everything you can to buy by yourself rather than getting into renting or messy shared ownership.

Are they his chidren too or just yours ? If so, how much of the time will they stay with him? Are you taking account of that in your division of assets , it has a capital cost as well as a revenue cost .

£325-350K for our house
50K mortgage owed still to bank
My salary is 31K
I have very poor credit as I was a student when we split
They’re both our kids. I have them most of the time as he is in shared housing.

@HoskinsChoicethe problem is that we don’t have access to bigger mortgages so our equity essentially has to buy two properties without the need to borrow more, because banks won’t lend us more (probably)

I don’t understand how anyone does this

You'll have a deposit of £150k and have a salary of £31k. It's fine. Your problem is your poor credit.

People who can do this may have the same or worse finances as you but decent credit.

Why won't you get a mortgage? If you've got one now, you have evidence of payment. If there's only £50k left on a £350k mortgage, you each have an enormous deposit of c£150k each. Unless there's something you are not telling us, I'm still not seeing the problem. First time buyers would kill to have £150k deposit!

@HoskinsChoicemy ex is still on the current one. The bank said they wouldn’t lend me anymore based on affordability and as I am a single person. I’m a bit of a liability.

Use some of the money to sort your credit rating out and you should be able to borrow at least 3 times your salary. If not more.

Regardless of the credit, banks will only lend someone on my salary a maximum of around 40K, that’s not enough to buy a two bed house

@Geneticsbunnybut that takes time. I have a CCJ (unpaid parking ticket) which will impact it for potentially years. What do I do in the meantime?

It's not about lending more, are you saying a bank won't let you lend anything?

Let's say after costs you have 125k each, how much do you need for a house for yourself 200-250k? With a 50% deposit surely you can get something.

However it depends on how bad you credit is and how much existing debt you will need to clear

Can you do an uneven split of finances? Would he be able to afford a property then? Not ideal. But if you’re intending on having the children for the majority of time, you should be able to adequately house your dcs. Otherwise a one bed and you sleep in the living room.

If you're on £31k, you can borrow far more than £40k. It's usually 3 or 4 times your salary, so £93k.

Crudely, £350k - £50k owed to bank = £300k. Minus £10k in expenses to be safe, that's £290 / 2 = £145k each. Add on your £93k mortgage and you've got £238k to put towards a home.

A CCJ will impact on that, though. When did you get it? It'll last for six years from that date but become somewhat less important as it ages. Is it settled? Is that the only negative on your credit file?

@LotaWyseWomenhe is on less than me so not possible.

@SeaShellsSanctuary1but that would be lending more. 150K deposit and 50K mortgage is all I have to buy with as things currently stand. Anything else would involve the bank increasing the amount they would lend me. In my city, 200K would buy me a terrible two bed flat or a nice one bed flat, and I have two children of opposite genders.

You don't need to speak to "the bank", you need to speak to a broker. You're the situation that shared ownership is made for. Your equity would be enough for a 30% share locally without needing a mortgage (based on your figures given) and you would get UC help with the rent.