Splitting family home

[helloblodyn]

Hi all just looking for your experiences. In process of separating and want to try to buy ex out of the family home. Have got some valuations and have offered him the middle/average market value (out of the 3). He says he will put the house for sale as he wants 40k more- but he's priced us out of the market and is asking more than the top valuation.
I don't want to sell it and want to keep it in the family.
Can he force me to sell? Can he even put it up for sale without my say? I don't agree to fees for marketing as I don't want to pit it on open market. Anyone been in similar situation? Thanks

Whose names are on the deeds? Is it joint or just his? If just his have you registered an interest in the property with Land Registry?

Are you married?
If not did you buy as Joint Tenants or Tenants In Common?

I bc saw on another thread that you’re married - good.
You need to register home rights protection, if the house is in his name. Below is the government link, but plenty of websites explain it, if you google “home rights protection UK”

www.gov.uk/stay-in-home-during-separation-or-divorce

He cannot sell from under you. He isn’t obligated to sell to you at a lower than market value, but right now - he isn’t the only one with a legal interest in the property - you do too, so you have to get that registered. He can put it in the market, but any buyer’s solicitor would tell them it can’t proceed. Tbh, I think if you called the Estate Agent, they wouldn’t want to waste their time with it.

You really need to speak to a solicitor.

Thanks- yes married joint owners of the property joint mortgage etc.
I'm dealing with a solicitor I just thought I'd see if anyone been through similar before I part with more money getting their advice

I don’t think he can put it for sale without your agreement as you’re joint owner. Presume you are on deeds and mortgage

Hopefully his solicitor through yours will come to realise if the proposal is fair based on average selling prices in the area and estate agent valuations

That's what I'm hoping - but it seems i'm set for a battle. I thought the mid range market value was fair, i can afford this and prevent having to move with our child. We would save on selling fees etc I guess as well. It can't be sold without my say so but i want to buy it so its a bit of a stale mate I guess- I don't want to approve a sale to someone else, he doesn't want to sell to me. Hmmm!

He can't force a sale without a court order. That costs money. If you can agree a fair value for the house and your proposal is to pay him half the equity I don't really see why he should not agree bearing in mind it could be much cheaper than going to court!

Yeah... he says he wants the best price and that i'm not getting out of this with a good deal. It's a control issue. Imm trying to decide if it's worth my strenth

Courts will ask for estate agent valuations and will take an average
If you can afford that and the split agreed Is fair they won’t force a sale

Is what he is really saying that he wants more than half the equity? Or does he honestly think that the estate agent with the highest value won't put it on at that price for a few weeks cos some people are greedy so go for highest valuation but then they get you to drop it back to where it was?
Is there a reason why he might need that? Equity split is based on needs ongoing as he would expect to be able to have your child at least some of the time so needs room for them. As such if he earns a lot less he may be entitled to a bigger share.

Equally if he is the higher earner he may believe that he is entitled to more or even owns the house himself. My ex told the kids for years that because of the disparity in our incomes he owned the fmh and just let me live there, despite the fact that I came to the marriage with a home of my own and he just had a rented room.

The other side of it is that I moved out, my ex kept fmh. There are pros and cons to both and he has said that in hindsight a fresh start for both of us may have changed the dynamic a lot...

We are both on a good wage but I earn more, and I will be resident parent which has been agreed. He will have baby on average once a week. He's alluding to deserving more than me regarding the house.