equity issue

[avivabeaver]

friend has separated from her husband of 20 years. youngest is 10. house has £20k equity in it. he has reluctantly left the house and is living with other family. he is on minimum wage and gives her 25 per cent of that. she is covering everything else.

she will not be able to remortgage in her sole name in the forseeable future. he will not be able to pay any more towards mortgage. it would be mad to sell the house as it would only be £150 a month less in rent.

can he force a sale to get his £10k? Can they agree that she owes him £10k and this will be repaid when house is sold?

tbh with such a piddling amount of equity it's extremely unlikely that the court would order a sale, given the costs of conveyancing, estate agents etc. even if it were agreed that he was entitled to 50%.

It would probably more sensible to do a Mesher charge whereby the house is transferred to her (subject to him remaining on the mortgage, which is another potential problem), and then when the youngest is an adult, the house would either be sold or she'd buy him out if she was able to do so. The amount he got would depend on various factors.

She may not have to give him a full half share, depending on lots of factors which she needs to take full advice on.

150 pounds a month can be a big difference if you are not on much money plus there may be some help with housing benefit,