Total f**k up with mortgage/ house and ex. help! (really long, sorry)

[froggies]

I'm sorry, there is quite a lot of backstory, but I will try to keep it to the point.

Ex and I were never married. We bought 2 houses (old knackered ones) outright 8 years ago. At the time house A was live-in-able, house B wasn't. Since then we mortgaged house A to fund the renovations of house B, and then used house B as a holiday let to help pay for renovating house A.

At the time we split up (nearly 2 years ago) Exp went to live in house B (the finished one) and I stayed in house A with the 3 kids as there are 4 bedrooms as opposed to the 2 beds in the other house, and it was less disruptive for the kids for them to stay put, even though there is still a lot to do renovation wise.

I had the houses valued (House B was valued £15k higher than House A). We agreed that we would have a house each, and exp would raise a mortgage of his own on House B to pay of half of the joint mortgage, and we would remove his name from the joint mortgage.

So in march exp had his mortgage approved, so I contacted the bank we had joint mortgage with, they said they were happy to take his name off if he paid in half the value from his own funds, but i would need a solicitor to do this.

I then called a solicitor, who said that I would need to take a new mortgage, and my new mortgage and his new mortgage would pay off the joint one, and then the title deeds would be transferred to individual names on each property. I said that's fine, sent him a letter to say that was what was going to happen, and i wanted them to act on my behalf. ExP's solicitor was also made aware that this was going to happen. The bank sent me a letter that needed to be signed to transfer the mortgage into my name and approved me to borrow the full amount of the mortgage, and then exp would transfer his funds into it. (which is not how my solicitor had said it would happen, but I figured ok, and signed it).

The title deeds were written and sent to us both to sign, and sent back.

I heard nothing else until last week when got the solicitors bill, telling me the deeds had been sent off to the land registry and the matter was concluded. I checked the bank, his money hadn't gone into the mortgage, so I phoned the solicitor and left a message. She didn't phone me back (this was last Friday).
No return call on monday, so I checked the bank again on Tuesday and still no funds had gone in the mortgage, so I called again.

The solicitor said she had not been instructed to do anything with money, and the file indicates that it was a straight forward title deed transfer. When asked what I should do now (he has a house B, I have twice the mortgage I expected), she said she didn't know, and would go and speak to the partner of the firm.

She didn't phone back, so I called again, she said she had looked at the file, and still maintains that she was told it was a straight forward title transfer. In my initial conversation with her partner, had said i wasn't interested in chasing extra money because of the difference in vaule of the houses, just wanted them divided between us, and the mortgage split, but she has taken that I would be arranging my own mortgage, and had nothing to do with taking money from his new mortgage. She still didn't know what I should do next!

So, I have asked her to call ex's solicitor to see where the money is (I know he has got the mortgage to transfer the money). But I suspect he can now just walk away if he wants to as the deeds have already been exchanged, and his name has been removed from the joint mortgage. If he does that, I cannot afford to pay the solicitor, I can barely scrape the money together to pay the mortgage, and there is no way I can raise the cash to finish renovating the house (I still have one room with no electricity in it)

I live in Scotland, so am aware that propert law is different up here compared to England, but any advice of what he fuck I do now would be welcome. My last resort is to ask exp outright where the money is. He was emotionally and verbally abusive towards me and my DS (and think physically towards DS too) during our relationship, WA are involved with support for all of the DC's and myself, some of the things he has done since we split have even amazed my WA support worker, so believe me, going directly to him really really is a last resort. Although weirdly I don't actually think this fuck up has been orchestrated by him.

Gosh!
Surely irrespective of the fuck up, the agreement was clear though? You never said, here have the house and ill double my mortgage did you? Also, what did the bank do? Their solution seems to be you taking on mortgage and him paying it off, was this supposed to be simultaneous and arranged by them?

All this talk about him paying off the mortgage is very confusing and misleading. Are you saying that he would pay you £15k, you get your house, he gets his and you both remortgage your respective houses? There's no need to over complicate it.

Look at the initial letter you will have got from your solicitor in which they should have outlined the transaction they thought you wanted them to conduct. That's your opportunity to pick up the phone to them and explain that they've misunderstood what you want them to do.

Do you have anything in writing summarising your initial instruction to solicitor?

Collaborate, I'm sorry if I have over complicated. In summary what should have happened.... He has house @£185k, mortgage at @£35k, I have house @£170k, mortgage a@£35k. What has happened he has house @£185k, I have house @£170k, mortgage @£70k.

He has borrowed the money, but hasn't paid it to me.

I have it in writing in my initial letter of instruction, and also confirmed by his solicitors that we were supposed to each be raising new mortgages, and paying of the joint one in equal parts. I have it in writing that I was retaining the original mortgage in my name and he still needed to raise his own funds. But that is all. Nothing in writing to say that he still had to pay his money into my mortgage. (stupidly i assumed the solicitor would do that automatically based on the original instruction).

You need to request an urgent meeting with the solicitor,the partner not the assistant to find out what the legal position is and what your options are.To some extent you have 2 different but linked issues,did the solicitors do what you instructed them and either way do you have an enforceable agreement against your ex.You need to move quickly ,the longer the ex has the money the less likely he is to hand it over.Phone the solicitor now and demand an appointment Do not be fobbed off by the assistant or receptionist.If you have a problem ask for the client relationship partner Start from the basis that you have not got the outcome you expected and see what they suggest for sorting it out.

Were you married? Surely your solicitor can write to his requesting the funds be transferred to you asap?

RedHelenB, no, not married. Almost wish we had been now!

Rangirl, thank you. I spoke to solicitor (again) this morning, before I saw your reply. She has been trying to contact ex's solicitor, (last spoke to her Wednesday, and was stuck at college all day yesterday) but he has not returned her calls. So she is sending a fax, detailing how much is to be transferred and where it is to go.

I am not sure if I have an enforceable agreement with ex. I have a letter from his solicitor stating that we were to pay off the mortgage equally with new ones. But that was before the bank agreed to let me keep the existing one, so the exact arrangment changed, I'm not sure if my solicitors letter saying that i was keeping the origional mortgage but he still needed to raise his own funds is specific enough, because it doesn't say that he has to pay those funds into my mortgage.

She said she wasn't expecting to hear back today as his solicitor has been difficult to get all the way through this, I am fully aware that the longer it is left the harder it will be, I will let you know how I get on. Thank you.

That all sounds ok but I do think it might be advisable to get a bit higher up the priority list at the solicitors.If you think they have done something wrong( and I think rightly or wrongly you do) make sure the partner knows that ,if they think they are at least partly to blame they are likely to treat matters more urgently Is the solicitor you deal with a partner ? The fax is unlikely to produce much of a response on a friday afternoon While it might all be ok ,basically you are not one step further on than when you first phoned them

I had a basic misunderstanding of solicitor/client relationship when I instructed mine. I thought I'd been clear at the initial meeting and I thought the sol would act in my interests advising me if there was any concern that I'd not spotted.

He didn't. I now realise that I had to be prescriptive, detailed and specific and have it in writing

The one thing I'd been clear about was what my financial limit was and was x possible within this limit. The answer was yes it was (but obviously events might mean extra costs)

My limit was spent before x as a legal proceeding was even commenced. At our initial meeting he was warned exH would up my bill if at all possible and all communication had been explored. I now wanted to spend my money on action. This was not listed in the instructions however.

ExH rang him and sol had 'prolonged' conversation trying to negotiate a result. No success and then announced my limit had been reached. I cannot tell you how upset I was to have spent money I could ill afford on 'negotiation'. Yet my instruction had a caveat that meant it could be.

Sod the money.
Now he has made an allegation against DS and social work have told him to keep DD's at his until it can be investigated.
Have had the evening from hell with police visits and pohne calls, and my daughters will be interviewed tomorrow.
Fucking 5.15 on a Sunday evening he text me to say he had phoned social work and police, 15 mins before they should have been back home, and he lives n hour an a half away.
This is he second time he has one this, last time it was a false accusation and he ended up beng investigated for abuse against DS, report sent to procurator fiscal but not enough evidence to charge him.
What else is he going to do to us???