Splitting up - home ownership nightmare

[TrueFriendsStabYouInTheFront]

Please please please can anyone advise on this?

So my sister and her H bought a property 20 months ago. According to the statement roughly 5k equity paid off so far, the rest has been interest.

Her husband is a vile abusive piece of shit alcoholic, and to cut a very long story very short, she needs him out.

She has phoned her mortgage provider who have said she won't be able to go solo on the mortgage. She doesn't have any money to attempt to pay him to leave, and has a tonne of unsecured debt related to work that has been going on to the house. She is and has been paying everything fine, but obviously the debt is stopping her from being approved for the mortgage solo as her earnings are really good.

He is saying he's not going but isn't paying and hasn't been paying fully his share for the whole time they've been there. He can't hold a job down so certainly can't take it over. Anyhow she is desperate to keep the house and CAN afford the bills but according to the bank, computer says no. So she's well and truly stuck!

Selling the house would absolutely break her plus I'm pretty sure they could make a massive loss as potentially couldn't get what they paid for it plus the debt outstanding she'd be left with?!

If she applies for a mortgage and the house is valued at less than she paid, then she won’t have enough money via that route either. There will be a shortfall between the new mortgage and what she needs to pay off the existing one. Therefore she needs to sell and use the equity to pay off the mortgage. I cannot really see any other way around it. Then she needs to clear the debt and start again. See a solicitor about the husband.

Start divorce proceedings, make sure she keeps a record of every penny she has spent on mortgage, improvements etc and everything he has contributed to including bills etc. I often see court orders which have been made saying either property is sold and assets split a certain way or one party is given a period of time in which to buy out the other which would give her the opportunity to pay off the debts and improve her situation to be able to take over the mortgage alone. Also, she can use the evidence of being able to repay debts and consistently keep up the mortgage payments herself which will hopefully convince the bank so long as it fits with their calculations.

On divorce it will be up to the court to decide what should happen with the property.

Are there children? The court will want to see them housed so the comments below assume there are no children.

If there is definitely negative equity which neither can afford to pay on sale the court might allow sister to stay in the property. The court can order the transfer of property even though the mortgage lender won't release the husband. the property would go in to her sole name but the debt stays joint, with her giving him a promise to remortgage as soon as she can.

If there is simply very little equity the court may order a sale to make sure he doesn't remain liable under a mortgage on a property he isn't living in.