What can I do to protect myself - house following separation

[OhBondageUpYours]

I left my partner a few years ago. We owned a property as joint tenants - there was no equity in it and I left everything there with my ex. Left with only the shirt on my back.

Ex did not earn enough to take on mortgage alone. Didn't want to sell. It was agreed that they would pay the mortgage in full and continue to live there. As soon as they could get the mortgage put in their sole name, they would.

Two years later and my ex shows no signs of remortgaging or selling. Has actually moved a new partner and children in.

I am wondering what - if anything - I should do to protect myself?

For example, I am worrying that if I die, the mortgage company would insist my estate pays off the mortgage now lived in by my ex and his partner. If that is the reality, would be it be wise of me to change my ownership to tenants in common so at least I can then control via my Will who owns my share?

Is there anything else I can do to protect myself in this situation?

Any advice gratefully received. From what I understand I don't have many rights here.

If you still own it as joint tenants and you die, the house automatically belongs to your ex.

As an absolute minimum it would be sensible to sever the joint tenancy so that whether either of you dies, their share of the equity passes to their chosen beneficiary if they have a will, or next of kin if they don't (I'm presuming that we're talking low sums here).

Severing the joint tenancy is very straightforward. You just send notice of severance to the ex by recorded delivery and then download, sign and post form SEV to the Land Registry.

Thanks mumblechum - thought as much. I shall get on to it.

Let me know if you want me to ping you a precedent Notice of Severance

Thank you so much mumble, have PM'd my email address

Good advice above.

In addition I would press on with sorting it out. You cannot get a mortgage whilst you remain on the old one presumably. Does he earn enough now with his new partner to take on the whole mortgage? If so I woudl press for that and give a time limit in a letter eg if no progress within 21 days then you will have to take matters further eg court order to force a sale and divide proceeds (although you may not have to take it that far but pressure of that might get him to start sorting it out).
Did you have an agreement about shares? Eg 50/50 whoever pays the mortgage? Is there now equity in the house? If so you may well be entitled to half of that even though he has paid all the mortgage.

Hi OP I've just emailed the docs you need

Hi Lucysky2017,

I don't know for certain whether as a couple they earn enough but I suspect they do, as he was only just under what was required on his own. It's a difficult situation - he is hurt at my leaving, communication is often ignored or if I do get a response, it is often hostile. I am hoping severing the joint tenancy will give him pause for thought.

You are right though, I can't get another mortgage while this drags on and he will realise that. No agreement re shares and I jointly paid the mortgage for eight or so years. Was a 100% mortgage and the property lost value in the last recession. When I left, the property value and the mortgage was about even. I have done some research in the last few days and it's now got about 15-20Ks worth of equity.

I agree I need to press this and am feeling a bit more confident about it all. Once the joint tenancy has been severed, I will email him with a time limit and if he ignores that I will instruct a solicitor.

Thanks for replying.

I suspect if you both sold now the stamp duty costs of your both buying new places and 3 sets of solicitor costs on a sale and 2 purchases plus removal costs would eat up £15k of equity easily plus do check sold prices locally as asking prices are always over inflated.

I don't think it would be particularly silly if you wrote off that potential £15k entirely as long as he agreed urgently to take you off the mortgage and pay all the costs of the property transfer to his name and that is on the basis you are then free to get your own mortgage (I would sever the JT now anyway) and you are removed from the liabilities on the current mortgage which probably he has been paying alone since you left but on the other hand he could only buy it and make the £15k equity gain because you came in with him at the start so may be he should be doing all the property transfers and remortgage and pay the costs of that plus hand over say £5k to you?

I'm not fussed about the equity to be honest - I really just want off. I guess I would only become interested in it if I have to spend money on solicitors fees. I will make that clear to him as a further incentive.

My worry is the fact that as children are now living there, I may not get an order of sale. Not children I have financial responsibility for, admittedly.

I think the best compromise then is that in return for your not claiming half the equity as long as he gets you off the mortgage very quickly and copies you on each stage you write off all claims relating to the house as long as he takes on all liabilities relating to the house and it must all be that he pays all the costs and perhaps try to give him a deadline. My daughter bought her flat last month and with a lot of pushing that was exchanged on in 6 weeks (very fast, no chain) The slowest thing was getting the mortgage broker to send out the valuer - that took about 4 weeks which was ridiculous. So your ex might find it takes a while to get the valuer to act. Also when I divorced we had all the consent order approved by the court etc etc but the slowest thing at the end was the remortgage into just my name and the work of the property lawyers to transfer the title just into my name (my ex would only move out when all that was done and the money transferred to him for his pay out). That took a few months and needed someone to be chasing it up every few days throughout.