Desperately need advice but not sure who can help

[WhereCanWeTurn]

My partner has been separated from his wife for 8 years. Naively he allowed her to stay in the house without getting a divorce which would force the financial issue to be resolved (no equity in it and has been in negative equity) with their son for that time. She has paid the mortgage and he has paid CM to her. 2 years ago her new partner moved in.
2 weeks ago she announced she was moving out and putting the house on the market. She then moved out and he was concerned about the mortgage. He asked and she said she would continue paying it and partner would be paying the rent on the new place. Today he received a letter from the mortgage company. It transpires she hasn’t paid for the last 3 months and said nothing to him despite him asking and asking.

We simply don’t have the money to cover her mortgage payment. We’re concerned she will now completely wash her hands of the house-won’t put it up for sale, won’t do anything which will leave him with solicitors fees, estate agent fees as well as the mortgage payment for months until it sells. Is there anything at all he can do?

Sell it?

It gets more complicated (sorry, not thinking straight). There’s a second charge in the form of a 25% payment owed to the builders. It should have been paid last year as part of the original shared equity deal. She should have paid the mortgage and then there would have been enough equity to pay the builders too. The housing market crashed and she paid interest only. No money to pay the second charge. Ffs it’s horrendous.

Is it just his name on the mortgage?

No both his and hers but she’s refusing to pay any more. She’s moved out and seemingly has washed her hands of it completely. She says she knows she’s being selfish but doesn’t care what happens to him or to us as a family.

He really needs to get professional legal advice ASAP. It sounds suspiciously like he's been burying his head in the sand and taking the path of least resistance until now. He needs to step up, bite the bullet and sort his affairs out properly. If he doesn't, the worst case scenario is that the house is repossessed, auctioned for much less than it's worth and he finds out to his cost exactly what "jointly and severally liable" means in practice.

He has been naive yes. He thought he was doing the right thing by his son.

Get him to a solicitor, tomorrow if he can. The money she's not paid is almost certainly lost from his point of view. He now needs proper advice to limit the ongoing damage and his options are probably very limited. The bank doesn't care who pays the arrears, they will pursue both him and the ex and take whatever they can of whoever has anything. They will not blink at bankrupting both of them just to close the file. Sorry, not trying to gratuitously scare you but that is the simple reality. The very worst thing he can do now is to procrastinate further.

Do you think it’s a solicitor he needs? That was what I’m asking really I suppose. We don’t know where to turn for advice. He’s spoken to the mortgage lender today who are going to call him back tomorrow. Will a solicitor not just tell him he’s liable? We’re of course prepared to pay if a solicitor can help but is there actually anything they can do? I’m worried we’ll just be spending more money that we can’t afford and that we’ll need to put towards this mortgage really. Oh god I have no clue and am probably not making any sense-sorry, and thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

I'd say yes, absolutely. There will be a lot of devil in the detail that a solicitor acting for him will be best placed to consider. He may end up paying for legal advice that ultimately tells him he's screwed either way but they may just be able to find some options that make it something less than a financial apocalypse for the pair of you. I can empathise with you, but think of this. There are potentially thousands or 10s of thousands at stake here so chancing a few hundred to get someone professionally qualified in his corner must be a no-brainer.

Speak to the mortgage company. You can often take a 6 month break in payments which might enable it too be sold.

Yes, he needs a solicitor. And she needs to wake up. She can't just wash her hands of the mortgage. They are entitled to go after her for the whole of the amount owed.

And, as an aside, does he have a Will? If they’re not divorced, she’s his next of kin.

You go speak to a Solicitor and let them deal with her.

If there's no equity and a charge on it then it will impact them both. If you haven't got the money to pay the mortgage then the house will be repossessed and both your credit ratings will be screwed. Can you move into the house?

Meant to say your partners and his wife's credit rating will be screwed it won't impact on yours.

Thank you for the replies. No option to move into the house-we live 30 miles away and need to be here for jobs/schools. He’s speaking to a couple of solicitors and the lender again today so hopefully they can shed some light on this mess. Unfortunately the ex doesn’t seem to care about any impact on her credit rating at all.

If it were me, I would go over this weekend and check out the state of the place. I would book estate agents for a valuation and change the locks and read the meters while I was at it.

At the same time I would be sorting out possession with the mortgagees and getting solicitors involved.
She has shown she can't be trusted so don't let the debt build up. If you have possession, at the very least you can rent it (subject to permissions). This situation is going to be a total ball ache for a while, but at least you will be in control (relatively) and you will be in possession of the facts.
If it were possible and a nice property I would consider moving into it myself in the short to medium term and renting out rooms in my own house while it gets sorted out.

Agree with pp that I wonder if renting would work.