Any legal experts out there? Owed money by an ex

[garswood]

I'm sure the answer to this is probably that there's nothing I can as I was stupid enough not to get an agreement in writing but I just thought I'd ask.

4 years ago me and my ex bought a house. In joint names but it was all my money for the deposit and also, I contributed about 5 times his income during the period we owned it. Two years ago we split up, he signed the house over to me as we hadn't actually paid any capital off on the mortgage, it was worth less than what we paid, and it was all my money anyway.

However, a couple of months before buying the house I transferred £4k to him when he was buying a small business so that he didn't have to get a bank loan. Stupidly I didn't get the agreement in writing, just a verbal agreement that he was borrowing it from me instead (stupid, stupid, stupid I know). He is now lying through his teeth and claiming it was gift so he doesn't have to repay me.

Is there anything at all I can do? All I cn show is the transfer on my bank statements to his account. The business is in his sole name

Thanks

Not a thing I don't think. Although seek comfort in the fact that he didn't force the sale of the house, meaning you would have had to get a loan to pay off the negative equity. P

Thanks Geordieminx.

I realise he could have done that, it wouldn't have resulted in negative equity, i would have just lost some of the deposit money that I put down.

My own stupid fault for trusting and not getting anything in writing. You only make that mistake once!

Thanks for taking time to reply

I left a house that I shared with my ex at 19 with more or less the clothes I stood up in, despite furnishing and decorating it entirely out of my own pocket. We bought the house for £39k, it's probably worth 5 times that now. You live and learn

You can try to reclaim the money through a small claims court. It hangs on whether it was a gift or a loan. There is no doubt you transferred the money to him via bank transfer or cheque rather than giving him a wodge of cash?
I suppose its worth a go as its his word against yours. Maybe a judgement of soloman thing where you got half of your money back! Small claims courts a relatively cheap.
On a balance of probabilities investing 4K in a business for both your financial futures is more feasible than 'Happy Birthday Darling heres 4K' !!