Mortgage affordability report. Can anyone help me understand if Ex's report is misleading?

[Onedaystronger]

After a long frustrating divorce process my solicitor wants to move towards making an offer.

As part of the process we have both obtained mortgage affordability reports.

I initially used an online calculator, which gave me a low affordability figure which although worrying is fair given my personal financial situation.

STBEXH's solicitor was unhappy with my report, and asked that I obtained one using a paid mortgage advisor. In the spirit of being amicable I paid for the report they wanted and it showed an even lower affordability figure.

I am currently living in marital home. I've accepted it will need to be sold and I will need to rehouse, along with DS (16, STBEXH's stepson).

STBEXH has moved into a properly which he owned pre-marriage. We used to rent it out but he decided to leave the marital home and move in there himself whilst the divorce was settled. This was entirely his choice, I had suggested he stayed in marital home and DS (17, his step son) and I moved in with a friend to help finances until things were finalised. He is intending to stay in the house he's already moved into post divorce.

STBEXH's report has confused me because I don't think he has given information which accurately reflects the position he / we will be in once the divorce is settled. He has stated his outgoings as being the total mortgage payments for both houses. This is inaccurate as I pay half of the mortgage on the marital home, plus it will be sold in the future as part of the divorce and he will then only have the mortgage on the home he's living in. So as far as I understand he's not given accurate info?

My solicitor agrees with me, she's asked for a new report but the other side have ignored every request and I don't want to pay her to keep banging on a closed door.

Can anyone help me understand if his approach is incorrect? I want to feel confident before deciding what to do....

Thank you

His approach will be correct if his intention is to buy you put after the divorce. Is that the case? But then you can point out to the court that his intention is to keep two properties and that he needs a lower share of equity ro house himself

He may be planning to buy you out in which case technically he is correct.

However he does not need two houses to house himself plus some fraction of the time with kids if there are any so possibly the outgoing of mortgage on one house should be set against expected rent.

Not sure I see why you both need mortgage affordability offers anyway; sounds like it is already adversarial so I guess he's just fighting for the sake of fighting.

Thank you both. There's no indication that he wants to buy me out. He always said that he wanted the marital home sold asap. Although TBF direct communication has broken down completely. I don't really want to ask my solicitor to ask his if he is thinking of buying me out as every piece of communication costs me money and I can't afford it! I could email and ask him directly I guess?

I don't really understand why my solicitor is insisting on a mortgage affordability report from him TBH. He earns huge sums, has lots of assets and despite not giving a full or transparent financial disclosure it's clear that he has a great deal more than me. My solicitor wants me to try to obtain a mortgage affordability report on my STBEXH myself using the financial details that we have. But again this will cost me money.

This is all very confusing for me.

I'd suggest asking your solicitor to explain their strategy.

As you say, in the circumstances it is not obvious why a mortgage affordability report is needed.