Paying 50% Mortgage after split - Unmarried

[EmiNewt61]

Hi Everyone

I really need some help and I think I've done or tried everything I can think of and all advice online seems to be for married folk.

Basically I made the mistake of getting a joint mortgage when unmarried (I know).

Anyways after a very sort period October - Feb we split up.

He moved out and since I stayed in the property I got landed paying 100% of the mortgage and all the bills which I continued to do and have been doing for 4 months.

I have agreed to sell the property and its now on the market but no interest so far and when we bought it last year it had been on the market prior for 18 months so I'm not hopeful for a fast sale.

The ex agreed that if i moved out since I was struggling to pay everything he would pay 50% of the mortgage, So I have found somewhere very cheap to live and will be moving out this weekend.

Now in the meantime of all of this my working situation and well living situation has changed and I wont be able to support myself in my new home while paying 50% of this mistake at the same time.

I have tried everything to reason with him......

1. I offered to sign the entire place over to him for free, He spoke to the lender and they wont take me off because he doesnt earn enough and failed the affordability check.
2. I have suggested renting it until sold so that it covers the mortgage itself. which it does with nearly £1k profit a month!! which I told him he could have 100%. He rejected saying that people that rent houses destory them and don't take care of the property.
3. I have spoken to the lender and we can move onto a cheaper product or reduce to an interest only mortgage payment until the property sells but he wont do this as he says the payment then isn't making a dent in the mortgage which means its not increasing the profit when sold.

I have told him time and time again that I cannot afford it and he tells me.......Go make more money.

I don't know what to do.....I'm happy for the house be repossed as this stage because they can't take what I actually don't have. I couldn't give 2 hoots about my credit rating anymore so if I stop paying and he decides to default on the payments I'm not bothered since I am deadly serious that I can barely feed myself in this situation.

I have tried to get legal advise but they want £300 an hour and I don't think they are going to tell me anything I don't already know. which is that I'm obligated as its a 50/50 mortgage.

I have asked him to stop paying and said I will sign to say he can have 100% the profit when sold which currently stands over 100k but he wont even agree to this and says he is keeping all the profit anyway since he paid the deposit in the first place.

What do I do? Help me please.

Get a lodger. Ours pays us £500 pcm.

He may be mistaken on the deposit front unless it's very clear that he contributed the deposit (for example a deed of trust). If you're both on the deeds then I would assume that the equity would be split 50/50.

Maybe see if you can get this confirmed, to use as leverage.

(Not a lawyer).

Well firstly the legal split if you had both paid 50/50 after his initial deposit would be he gets his deposit back and you split the profit 50/50. As you paid 100% for a while you would be entitled to slightly more than 50% or your additional payments back (the 50% extra you paid during that time) but would have to be with his agreement. Either way you get at least 50% of the profit because your name is on there jointly, so don't let him tell you shit that isn't true.

You'd be better off pricing for a quick sale then at least you get 50% of whatever profit you make. Maybe use one of the 'buy your house now' sites - you get well under market value but it is more or less instant. Google 'we buy any house'. He is being a dick. Good luck!

Same here. Couldn't afford to pay mortgage myself when on my own so got a lodger in

Yep unfortunately getting a lodger and staying in the property is not an option as I'm actually relocating out of the country permanently. Another reason why I cannot afford not only because of the high cost but also I'd be converting from another currency so have exchange rates to also consider.

Yep I've tried this but he won't agree he wants to make as much money of it as he can and it's actually on the market for 15 grand more than we paid for it. He won't reduce or look at fast sales options because he rather it sit there unsold for the next 2 years if it means in the end getting more profit.

Worth noting he is living with his mum and dad so has no outgoings or pressure financially so he's loving life paying half.

Also to help there is no deed of trust in place.

If the property is priced correctly it will sell. You need 3 valuations from estate agents and put it on for the lowest. The price needs to be reduced if you haven't yet sold it. If he refuses to reduce the price, you can get an order for sale from the court under the family law act. This is not expensive and you can do it without a solicitor. The bottom line is you have a legal obligation to make the payments. However, if you can't, he is jointly and severally liable for it. That means if you don't make the payments, he must. If he doesn't the property will eventually be repossessed. Make sure you put all your suggestions in writing to him and keep a copy. He cannot force you to pay your half, so don't worry about it. If he has more money than you and won't rent it out, can't take on the full mortgage himself, won't reduce the price etc it's tough on him

By the way remind him he can't sell it without your ok as your name is on the land registry and you are entitled to half the equity once less his deposit. Check on the land registry though, because If you are joint tenants, he could in theory dispose of the property on his own although it's unlikely a solicitor would accept this without your signature.

By the way, once he has to pay the full mortgage on his own you will find he is a lot keener to sell it quickly.

The quickest way is to sell the property via a property auction. You set a minimum price if sale, you pay the auction house a fee. I would suggest investigating this route of selling

I know it's between the two of you, but could his parents talk some sense into him do you think? I live with my DP, have done for years, and we have a joint mortgage - we discussed upfront what we would do if we were to split up so we both know where we stand.

The fact is that he still needs to pay his share of the mortgage even if he isn't living there. He owes you money for the months you've been covering the mortgage on your own. It is totally illogical for him to say he'll pay 50% if you move out. I bet he'll move back in when you're out of the country.

If you've got £50k equity then don't just hand that to him! He either buys you out or you sell it and split the profit. Tell him you're putting it up for sale at a fair price and he'll have to accept it. But speak to a solicitor to find out where you stand legally. There must be a way of getting out of this legally.

Surely the answer is obvious? You've explicitly said that you don't care about any of the consequences of not paying, so... stop paying!