Hi, This is long and complicated so apologies. The ex and I have a consent order with a mesher order whereby I was supposed to sign over my share of the FMH and a charge be registered on the FMH. This never happened because the ex had their solicitor send a letter to me shortly after the second hearing saying not to bother as they wanted to sell the house and move on to live with their spouse in a property they already own and there would be no point to do this.
So I did not sign over my share and the charge is not registered (this was over a year ago now).
The ex began to drag their feet on the sale, had it marketed way above it's value (bear in mind we had it valued for the second hearing). The ex remarried in summer last year and no buyers were interested in the property. Earlier this year the ex defaulted on the mortgage and I had to pay it in order to protect my credit status. After much argument and threats by the ex to reduce my share of the 'charge' and trying to prevent me having joint conduct of sale, which was agreed in the consent order I involved a solicitor. The house price was dropped and a buyer found.
Now the sale has just collapsed, and this is no fault of the ex, but the ex now wants me to agree to rent out the FMH to the buyer so they have somewhere to live whilst they try and sell their property in order to keep the chain in tact.
There is no mention in the consent order about renting out the FMH. The mortgage lender says it is possible for a short period of time but would require my signature.
I do not want to do this without seeking legal advice, but I cannot afford to pay for it. Last time I had to involve a solicitor it cost far too much money, and I have a baby due soon and need to save for this event. So I have told my ex that in order to consider this they would need to pay for me to seek legal advice.
I am not a legal expert, and my ex has tried to sting me for things before, I am being told that if I do not agree to this then they can't afford the mortgage, which she is court ordered to pay. However I know they have bought a new car and are having a 2 week summer holiday soon. I say this because the ex is very good at making things up in order to get me to agree to things which I then later find out not to be true. Why should I have to pay for advice? I do know that I cannot afford to pay for the mortgage on behalf of my ex.
I also have no idea whether or not I have breached the terms of the consent order by not transferring my interest in the property by the deadline stipulated although it was on my ex's request.
Does anyone have any advice for my situation?