Transfer of equity/taking name off mortgage

[MrsMime]

Does anyone know how this process works?
My DP is still on the mortgage with ExW and has continued paying into it since they split up and he moved out.
Me and DP are now in a position to buy a house together but, because he is still on the mortgage at his old house, he would have to pay extra stamp duty which we can't afford so he would like to be taken off the mortgage at his old house but we don't know how that will affect his equity share (which he obviously wants to retain to this point) and how gets the process started.
Any advice would be appreciated. I will also post this on Property board.
Thanks in advance.

It’s a bigger deal than I suspect you think it is. As far as I know it would mean exW remortgaging to take the mortgage on herself, and then solicitors involved to formalise the transfer of equity (ie her buying him out). There may be an agreement possible different to this, but I don’t know of it.

Did they formalise this arrangement, is there any Consent Order etc?

Oh lordy op, you're in for a bumpy ride!

Put the brakes on the new house ASAP - he is still financially liable for the FULL outstanding mortgage on his ex's place should she choose not to pay it.

A few questions I'd be asking - why is he still on that mortgage? And more importantly why is he still paying it (unless part of child maintenance agreements)?

Stamp duty aside, most lenders will include his existing mortgage debt in with his liabilities, vastly reducing the amount he can borrow with you.

This will take months and months to sort op, assuming his ex is both willing and financially able to take on the whole mortgage, otherwise he could be looking at court proceedings to force the sale of their old house, which could be £££.

The final question for me would be how do you feel about him continuing this obligation with his ex, that now means YOU are now unable to take this next step in your life/relationship?

As @Couldhavebeenme3 says, this will also affect his mortgage raising capacity - have you spoken with a mortgage adviser yet?

Unless the other mortgage is small and he's a high earner, it is going to impact massively on what you can buy together.

Honestly, big red flags all round until you know this is all sorted. I wouldn't be risking any financial involvement with someone in this risky situation.

He needs to get divorced and sort out financials and consent order properly before you two stet buying anything !

What they all said ^^

Property professional here - it is not a quick process to remove someone’s name from a mortgage they have signed up to pay for until repaid (or the house is sold and repaid from the proceeds). I assume his ExW can’t pay it all herself and won’t be able to be solely responsible for repayments? Has your DP spoken to her?

Lots to unpick and it will be complicated. Really you need a divorce/family lawyer to advise your DP on maintenance payments, his other liabilities, splitting assets and settlements. You don’t say if they have DCs together, which could be important.

OP I posted above and have come back to add that I post from personal experience. The situation ended in us separating - after 4 years together and ready to buy a together home, I was utterly blindsided that he'd not even tried to resolve the situation, nor fully understood how much his own financial freedom/future hung on his exw paying the mortgage. Plus how little he thought of me, that I'd be happy with him supporting his exw whilst limiting what he could afford to buy with me (I had most equity, and he wasn't happy with me wanting to protect that from the outset, never mind his borrowing capacity).

He needs a plan and you need to set some non-negotiables with regard to actions, timelines and expectations.

Oh wow. Sorry op but adding to the doom and gloom above. The exW will have to agree to whatever happens - if she can afford it then she could take on the mortgage but then an agreement would have to be reached as to what happens to his equity share - you would have to get house valued and his share may get “frozen” now… or he may need to force sale of his house which is v v v lengthy and costly. Sorry - it’s complicated. I know because currently going through it with my ex - he has stayed on mortgage for past 3 years but fortunately I can now afford to buy him out so going through that right now

I went through this 17 years ago, finalising a divorce involving house & young children, and it was necessary for two solicitors to be involved on my side - my divorce solicitor and the conveyancing solicitor. Presumably my ExH had this too.

Additionally we needed to agreement of the building society with whom we had the mortgage, and I had to apply to take on the mortgage on my own (I only just made it by the skin of my teeth), and then buy him out.

I had to borrow money from family to buy him out - not every woman has that privileged position. Your partner's ExW might not have the means, OP, especially in these austere economic times.

And there were lots of fees to pay. Lots.

And dear god, the stress of it all ... Just awful.

But as others said - did they not sign a consent order? If not I’m guessing they aren’t actually divorced yet. This really should have all been sorted and agreed by now. What does the exW think is going to happen? That she is just going to stay in the house for the foreseeable future? They need to have a proper discussion

Thanks all - this is very helpful.
She is able to take on the mortgage herself. There is very little remaining and I believe she is moving in/buying new with her DP although I don't know for sure about that.
We have spoken to an FA (he is the one who flagged up the extra stamp duty etc). I want my DP to sort finances before we move forward - I perhaps didn't make that clear in my OP - and this is the first thing to do which is why I was asking for specific advice on this.
Thank you to everyone who has responded.

I’m going through this at the moment - STBX is buying me out of our home.

Process for us is - mortgage provider agree to lend to him only (so they had to review affordability for him etc), we transfer the mortgage into his name. He pays me my share of the equity. Then you transfer title deeds with land registry. You can’t do that until the mortgage / equity has been sorted. The forms are horrid but you can do them yourself bar one which has to be done by a solicitor. It hasn’t taken too long - we haven’t finished the land registry bit but have sorted everything else in under 2 months.

The forms are horrid but you can do them yourself bar one which has to be done by a solicitor.

I remember paying nearly £550 for that one essential signature 17 years ago, on top of everything else. Lord knows what it costs now. But it does have to be done.

OP, I'm glad this has been helpful. Tread carefully. The fact that you don't know what the ExW's intentions are regarding the property, or any property, and your DP doesn't even know, or can't tell you, is a massive red flag tbh. This is like a chess game where you don't even know how the pieces move on the board yet.

Look after your best interests by taking your time and accumulating facts. Protect your equity if you do buy (which I think will be a long way off tbh).