Forcing a house sale

[sophmum31]

I am divorced but living in the family home, my EXH has moved out and is living with his new girlfriend. The house is in my EXH sole name but I have been awarded 70% of the proceeds in our consent order from the divorce, in the consent order it states the sale of the house is a JOINT sale but my ex has blocked me out at every point he possibly can, leaving agents and solicitors too scared to speak to me because he is a bully.

We are currently in the conveyancing process. Everyone in the chain is ready to exchange except for one piece of paperwork which wasn't lodged with the land registry when the house was built, my EX is supposed to be finding this paperwork (He has known about this for weeks) or we can pay £200 for indemnity insurance. He will not discuss this with me at all (I would happily pay the £200 to get rid). I am under time pressure as my buyers need to move by Christmas because of a help to buy scheme. I cannot speak to my EX about anything, he will not have a reasonable conversation and to be honest, it doesn't matter to him if we exchange because he has already moved on and started a new life while I am stuck in this awful limbo and once we have moved he loses control over me.

I wanted to ask if anyone has experience of forcing a sale at this point through the courts? How long does it take? How long does he have to delay before I can start the process? Is there any proof I need?

Yes - my now DH forced a sale of his FMH with his EW.

The EW had been issued a Mesher order for 5 years. 2 trigger points had passed (the was a date it had to be sold by, in addition she had moved her new boyfriend in - so was co habitanting).

She absolutely refused to discuss the sale.

DH was forced to take it back to court for breach of the signed consent order. The judge wasn’t pleased at all that she was in breach. She wouldn’t cooperate in court so the judge took the sale process out of her hands. My now OW instructed estate agents, solicitors etc and a clear timeline was given on when she had to sign documents. If she didn’t adhere to it - the judge ordered that he would sign the documents on her behalf.

From memory - the house went on the market in March & it was sold by June.

My advice would be - don’t hesitate, go to court and don’t allow him to drag his feet (you would think he would be happy that he’s being released from the mortgage / house).

Good luck 🤞

Yeah you would think he would be happy and also desperate to get it sold considering he's paying a mortgage on a house he isn't living in. But I think his own anger and hatred for me is overtaking any reasonable thought. Every single thing is over complicated and blown into a massive issue, he just can't move on despite the fact that he has physically. I will contact my family law solicitor tomorrow and see what I can do. Thank you!

They are so often like this. Can you not contact whoever might have copies of the original paperwork? Or take out indemnity insurance yourself? A letter from your solicitor will end up costing more than £200

Oh I’ve just seen it’s in his name. I would be tempted to just leave him to make his own bed. He’s paying the mortgage.

If you have a court order stating that you have joint conduct of sale, you should be able to show this to the estate agents and conveyancers.