Can DH walk away from mortgage

[WorriedHullg1992]

Hi,
DH and I have recently decided to split after a relatively short marriage. We bought a house together 1.5 years ago and own it 50:50. DH would like to ‘give’ me the house, I.e I take over it and own it myself. I do not want to buy him out as I cannot afford it but I can afford to pay the mortgage bills etc on my own. Has anyone done this before? I think I will need to get approval from lender first before he transfers equity? It’s all very new and I am concerned that if we sell it we would lose a huge chunk of the deposit due to breaking our mortgage contract. Any advice would be much appreciated. The stress of this on top of all of the heartbreak is so difficult to manage 😟

Hi, I went through this recently. To transfer you need to get a mortgage in your name, agree a buy out if needed, and then you both sign papers with land registry to get the deeds transferred over. Don't expect the paperwork to be quick though. Mine has been transferred over for 14 months and the paperwork still isn't updated. Covid delays apparently!

Pressed post too soon. Are you using a solicitor to manage your divorce? If so they can advise about this along with a good mortgage advisor. Don't let him rush you. He legally can't force you out if you have children. If you don't have a solicitor then book for a free consultation that they all do.

I hope it goes ok. The heartbreak eases in time x

Mty partner and I did a separation agreement and I carried on solely paying the mortgage and when the fixed term came to an end I managed to buy him out. I couldn't just take over it

I'm doing this at the moment albeit I'm also paying STBEXH a share of the equity so borrowing more.

It's costing £185 fee with the bank to transfer the mortgage from joint into my sole name and then about £500 in solicitors fees to draw up the other paperwork to remove him from land registry etf

Sorry you're dealing with this.

PP is correct, you will need a mortgage in your name alone. Can you afford a mortgage on your home alone?

How much equity is in the property? Does he want any of it?

You will need to agree through a Solicitor but it isn't as straightforward as you being 'given' the marital home.

Thanks for the quick replies, it’s all very recent so we haven’t begun properly talking about getting divorced, I’m just quite worried about continuing to pay for everything and then down the line having to split it. I was hoping that I could contact the lender and hopefully not have to start from scratch getting a mortgage when it’s difficult at the moment with rates etc.

He doesn’t want any of it, I have paid for everything, deposit all mortgage all bills to date. I am the higher earner so financially him being gone makes very little difference to me. We have no children.

In that case crack and you'll need a new mortgage. Even if you go with the same lender. You'll have to go through that process and take a hit with the rates. You could even start the mortgage process now, let the divorce rumble on in the background.

Crack on**

Thanks @BecauseICan22 that’s really helpful, I will look into it. If I was the one that initiated the end of the marriage it wouldn’t be so bad to take the hit but there you go, crap happens. I’m just very lucky to be in the financial position to take care of myself and not rely on anyone, there are many women on here that cannot say that so I am grateful 🥲

I've done this. Just call your mortgage lender and tell them whats happened and what you'd like to do. Then they start the ball rolling. They do this every day OP. Go and see a solicitor to facilitate legal aspect of the process. Its just like buying a house but in this case you're only acquiring half of it and don't need to move

Strange normally he should be entitled to some equity.

He is entitled to 50% so he could force me to sell. However, the value has not gone up in the last 1.5 years and if we sold we would lose a chunk of the deposit as we are breaking the mortgage agreement as it is a 5 year fixed term so I’m not sure either of us would get anything and both then be left with very little. He says he doesn’t want anything from it as I paid majority. He could change his mind, I’m just curious as to how to go about it if he doesn’t want to force a sale.

You won't necessarily take a hit on the interest rates - my mortgage is still fixed for 2 years and the bank and said it will just carry my mortgage over in my sole name with no change to interest rates.....

@isthistheendtakeabreath wow, that would be amazing! Thanks so much to all of the replies, at least now I know what options I have when the time comes. Hoping to just get to Christmas and enjoy some down time with family and friends and perhaps I can raise these discussions with DH in the new year

As long as mortgage continues to be paid and divorce rattles on...the mortgage company are not bothered who funds are coming from. When the time is right and divorce nearly final approach them. By that time you'll have a period of evidencing that you can manage to pay it on you own under your belt and can ask mortgage company to merely transfer into your sole name. You shouldn't have to end this fixed deal early, taking a financial hit and have to negotiate a new deal.

Talk to your mortgage lender; it is quite possible that after only 1.5 years you may have no actual positive equity in the home. Depending upon fluctuations in the market, you may have a negative equity position assuming you did not make a substantial deposit. If you sell the house after such a short period of ownership , you may not even recoup the actual deposit amount.

Thanks for the suggestions. No, you are right @Mari9999 it is possible that we would lose a big chunk of the deposit as we bought at peak and the value has definitely not gone up, that’s why I would like to try keep it on myself. If I could do it without renegotiating/getting a new mortgage that would be perfect