Being removed from house deeds

[WindUpBird]

Hi I’m separating from my husband and I’m moving out of the family home, he’s staying there.

He needs to take me off the house deeds and remortgage as the sole owner. He needs to do this before I buy new house as I will be liable for higher rated stamp duty if I own 2 properties.

my solicitor, who’s doing the purchase in my new house, says that my husband needs to get a solicitor and the deeds need to be transferred is the 2 solicitors. Husband is reluctant to spend money on a solicitor.

A friend, recently in this position, said that her and her husband just remortgaged in his name only And did not need a solicitor.

I’m now confused! Can anyone give advice on the correct way forward?

Thank you!

Did your friend go on to buy another property on her own?

@littlekipling yes, she did

If the house is in joint names now and is going to be in his sole name, you need to effect a transfer of title. Although he might think he's just changing names on the deeds, it's actually a property transaction like a sale (change of ownership). I'd be very surprised if this is possible without involving a solicitor (you probably need one each, and you should also have a financial/consent order in place, otherwise he'll be paying for a house you still have a financial claim on, whether or not your name is on the deeds). Basically, you both need legal advice on this.

Is he buying you out of your share?

You need a solicitor to organise the TR1 form. My ex sorted the solicitor to do this as he was going to be buying me out. I then had to sign it. However due to him being a prat it has completely fallen through so I'm not sure. But the buyer needs a solicitor, the seller does not but I was going to have one anyway just to make sure everything was right as I don't trust him.

Thanks everyone.
@OMGsamesame yes, he’s buying me out of my share.

OK, I've just done this the other way round. You need to get a seperation agreement in place to protect you both. It doesn't need to be particularly complicated or expensive. Mine was £400 plus vat and fees. Mine simply stated that ownership of the house would transfer to me in exchange for £x and then covered cars and housed goods. Once that's signed then you are both protected and he will need to get a solicitor to arrange the change in deeds. It's not likely that a mortgage supplier will issue a mortgage in sole name for a house that's in joint names. You also need your name off so as you aren't counted as having 2 homes. In the end I think my legal bill for removing a lender charge, applying a new lender, changing the deeds and sorting the separation agreement was about £1600 including fixed fees and doing the money transfers. DH was around £1k for his purchase (different solicitor). He chose not to take legal advice on the separation agreement as essentially we'd already agreed a simple settlement.

@BigBoysDontCry thanks for all that info. The financial breakdown is useful too. Been quoted £900 for his solicitor which I thought seemed too much, but probably just ‘normal’!

It's definitely worth agreeing everything upfront if you are still on reasonable terms. We agreed a value for the house by looking at recent sales and agreed a portion of savings and household goods and you can also get a free value of your cars on auto trader if applicable.

The lawyer then just simply stated what we'd agreed and we both signed/witnessed the agreement.

My boss is going through similar at the moment and even though they are sort of amicable, they are both using lawyers so the bill is racking up.

We ignored pensions. At the end of the day, our situation is fairly straightforward, DC are adults and both ours, we will both be leaving everything to them so as long as we have enough for our own needs then it's fine.

We are late 50s/early 60s and both say we have no intention of a future partner. I mean it but I can see him finding someone as he is pretty needy.

Good luck with it all. Whilst I didn't intend being saddled with a mortgage again at this time of life, I'm loving the peace of my own home with just me and adult DS.

I did this through the bank that held the mortgage. We had to use a solicitor for the title transfer but used the one the bank recommended who did it all online. Tell him to speak to his mortgage company who probably have a similar arrangement. They will also want you to sign something to say you have been advised to take legal advice about the transfer.

Ideally it should be two separate solicitors when signing the TR1 form.

I went through this process earlier this year, also struggled to understand what solicitors I needed! Ex husband was buying my share of the property and had a conveyancing solicitor for his ‘purchase’ and I had a solicitor specialising in wills / probate / purchase to represent me in the transfer of title and receive the funds. His solicitor charged about £850, mine £600. We had a financial consent order already in place saying he would give me X sum and I would transfer my share of ownership to him. It was actually quite fast once I’d found the right people to handle it.

Thanks so much everyone, that’s really helped me understand the process. Hopefully it’ll be straightforward from now onwards…@BigBoysDontCry I’m also looking forward to a peaceful home 😊

Also going through this the other way around. Mortgage lender is doing the legal part of going from joint to single ownership as the separation is a straight forward 50/50 split.

Complete side point. Buying a second property you will have to pay higher rate stamp duty. However you can claim this back (I just did the same) as long as your name is removed from the family home within 2 years.

I'm jumping on this a year later, wonder if anyone is still here?

We're about to look at tr1 (amicable split but we need to drop exh from deeds due to stamp duty).

My worry us my bank may say I can't carry the mortgage alone. I'm meeting with solicitor next week, but wondering if I should also have a conversation with mortgage provider first/after. Although I know I'm fine with bills, payments etc every month, I'm not sure my headline figure of a salary will meet the criteria. Chicken and egg - just not sure if asking mortgage lender would be a bad idea at this stage.

Would really appreciate advice.