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Original poster

Mortgage - ex misled court

78 replies

SultansOfSwing · 05/03/2021 14:33

DH separated from first wife in 2010, divorce finalised in 2013. He was happy for her to have the matrimonial home if she could take on mortgage herself. Court agreed she could keep the house and relinquish him of all financial responsibility. We married in 2014 and bought our house in 2015. When we applied for mortgage, husband found that his ex had not told the lender they had divorced nor had she made any application to remortgage in her own name. It was found that she would not have been approved for the mortgage at the time it went to court due to affordibility and she knew that. Even so, she took him off the deeds with land registry and did not inform the lender. She did not tell the court any of this and actually told them she would do everything she can to make sure he came off the mortgage straight away. As of December 2020, the mortgate has 104k over 17 years left on it. She will not make any application to remortgage and continues to fob him off. She has worked as a NHS nurse for 17 years, so we know what she earns and cannot think she would be turned down for £104k on her own. She has not met anyone else since 2010 so no partner she could apply with. He fully intends to see a solicitor but in the meantime we are anxious to know where he stands. The judge made a ruling after being deliberately misled by her. If neither could have the mortgage in their sole names then regardless of who wanted what the house should have been sold and equity divided IMO. If anyone know much about family law, could this be brought to the attention of the court via a solicitor for the particulars surrounding the ownership of the house be reviewed in light of evidence proving she misled them?

OP posts:

VinterKvinna · 07/03/2021 10:38

@SultansOfSwing

It is a joint mortgage and the lenders stance is that they must be notified of separation and of intention to transfer ownership so that they can assess affordibility first. She has not done that. It is all on their website. When my husband contacted the lender in 2015 they told him that she had not informed them of the separation and had not informed them that she had transferred the deeds into her name. Surely they need both names on the deeds and mortgage? Not on the mortgage and not on the deeds? It was agreed in court she is to remove him from the mortgage and all financial responsibility but if she could never get a mortgage in the first place how could the court let her keep a house she can't afford? Her monthly income was the exact value of the repayments - £650. Our local solicitors are closed so we are waiting to make an appointment.

Her monthly earnings at the time were 1120 a month

Her monthly income was the exact value of the repayments - £650.

VinterKvinna · 07/03/2021 10:39

Sorry, missed your update

huitlacoche · 07/03/2021 10:50

if she can't remortgage to her own mortgage because she doesn't meet affordability, what do you expect her to do? Make herself homeless? how sad and infuriating for her that she wouldn't be able to 'afford' a mortgage she's been paying for 10 years. I understand this is annoying for you and your husband but she is a human being too that deserves a home...

Soontobe60 · 07/03/2021 10:51

I think its sounds like your DH hasn't told you the full story, and did indeed sign the deeds over to her, or she forged his signature. It is impossible for one party to change the names on the deeds without the permission of the other party. I had to do this with my divorce, once my ex remortgaged the house.

SeasonFinale · 07/03/2021 10:54

You stated yourself that your DH signed the transfer documents so she has not done anything illegal by forwarding them to remove his name from the Deeds. He should not have signed these and handed them to her until such time as he was happy that he was removed from the mortgage.

Your DH himself knew that on paper she was unlikley to meet afforability criteria so it was even more important that he did not transfer any share until the mortgage issue was resolved.

She may (or may not) have made attempts to get a mortgage in her own name as detailed by prh47bridge above.

Your DH has made a costly error in signing over the property before it was resolved. You even state that his solicitors said it was ok on the provision she remortaged. He chose to sign even though she had not remortgaged so therefore against what they had advised to do.

I am afraid you are very much reliant on her goodwill now in sourcing a remortgage. Maybe your DH could do some own investigations as to what lenders out there may lend to her in her situation and then present these to her.

SeasonFinale · 07/03/2021 10:59

One other thing : at the time both the ex and your DH would have had to make full financial disclosure to the court. If your DH believed there was an issue with her income and affordability that was the time he should have raised that issue.

CardinalCat · 07/03/2021 11:05

If what you're saying is correct then it sounds like there is some solicitor negligence in here somewhere- if the lender has a charge over the property it seems implausible that the deeds could have been altered without their consent (unless some professional negligence was involved.) I'd get your H to call a solicitor first thing tomorrow morning to look into this matter.

TuesdayinSeptember · 07/03/2021 11:11

What would happen if she fell behind on the mortgage? Presumably he would still be liable?

SendMeHome · 07/03/2021 11:13

Does your husband have copies of what he signed?

It seems he may have signed away his name from the deeds on the proviso that she’d “try” to get a mortgage, that he will have reasonably known she wouldn’t get.

Regardless, he needs to see what he signed.

How much out on affordability are you? Would a part time job for a while help, or are you a long way off where you want to be?

frazzledasarock · 07/03/2021 11:31

@TuesdayinSeptember

What would happen if she fell behind on the mortgage? Presumably he would still be liable?

the mortgage company would write to both parties to recover the debt then move to repossess the house

Pickledpenguin · 07/03/2021 11:35

And it would affect both their credit ratings.

TuesdayinSeptember · 07/03/2021 11:41

That was my concern frazzled. I remember the term 'jointly and severally liable' from my first marriage unfortunately.

The OP's DH is surely in a precarious position if the XW lost her job or became unable to work.

WeatherwaxLives · 07/03/2021 11:49

It definitely sounds like when his solicitors said it was OK to sign the land registry paperwork on the provision he was off the mortgage he has misunderstood what they said.

They meant, you can sign these once you're off the mortgage.

He's heard you can sign these if you tell her you're only doing it if she promises to take you off the mortgage.

I'm not sure he's got any come back as she's not forged anything, and if she simply can't get a mortgage alone then she has 'done everything she can' as ordered by the court. It's just not possible.

It's a shit situation, but you're going to need proper legal advice to find out what, if anything, can be done.

Only solution I can think of is, as she clearly can meet the payments herself, does she have a family member that will go on the mortgage with her instead of DH, just to make the sums work?

Throwntothewolves · 07/03/2021 12:09

I don't think you can have a mortgage on a property without being on the deeds. Doesn't that amount to fraud? I know the opposite applies; you can't be on the deeds if you're not on the mortgage

Redtartanshoes · 07/03/2021 12:16

I wonder if he has any claim on the house given he is still on the mortgage... that might encourage her

namechange53848593 · 07/03/2021 12:51

Hello

I am in the same position but that of your h's ex.

Jointly owned a house with mortgage and then split.

Couldn't afford to buy him out and he couldn't afford to buy me out. This was due to it being a financially abusive relationship and so my credit was shot to bits, so I didn't have the option to remortgage as would have been refused a mortgage, even though I can easily afford the payments now he's not taking all my money.

We came to an agreement that I would give him a lump sum (my family provided this) if he agreed to remove his name from the deeds giving up his legal right to the house.

This was done via a solicitor. For it to be changed with land registry, it had to be agreed by the lender (mortgage company). Part of their conditions was that it had to be done through a solicitor so we both understood the implications. They agreed he could remove his name from the deeds but would remain on the mortgage. I'm guessing as it gives them two of us to chase if they ever needed to should payments not be made. It means that regardless of him being on the mortgage he has no legal claim to the property and it is now in my sole name on the deeds.

He will remain on the mortgage until it is paid and ends unless I remortgage before then.

I intend to remortgage as soon as I can and have been furiously working on improving my credit history. However I couldn't be forced to do this and am only looking to do so as I would like to see if I can get a better rate. I also understand his circumstances might change and although right now he has no intention of taking out a mortgage he might want to in future and this would hinder him. I just feel it's the right thing to do. He was a shitty person to me but that doesn't mean I'm going to be one in response.

Due to the nature of the agreement and that in future if he wanted to take a mortgage out his affordability would be affected due to him being on another mortgage (albeit with no legal claim to that property) he was advised to take independent legal advice before he agreed to coming off the deeds. He did and decided to go ahead anyway.

It sounds like your h didn't understand the implications of what he signed at the time. Did he take legal advice before signing the deed of transfer?

namechange53848593 · 07/03/2021 13:00

Sorry should have added we weren't married though and no court order

prh47bridge · 07/03/2021 13:18

@DorisLessingsCat

Did she forge his signature on anything?

No. The OP says that he signed the transfer.

prh47bridge · 07/03/2021 13:20

There’s a hole in this story.

No there isn't. The OP says that her husband signed the transfer.

frazzledasarock · 07/03/2021 13:20

@Redtartanshoes

I wonder if he has any claim on the house given he is still on the mortgage... that might encourage her

He won’t as there will be a clean break order and the removal of OP’s DH from the deeds will have been a part of that.

This isn’t all that unusual I had exactly the same ex was removed from the deeds of the former marital home and I undertook to remortgage to the best of my ability (or some wording similar).

frazzledasarock · 07/03/2021 13:23

@TuesdayinSeptember

That was my concern frazzled. I remember the term 'jointly and severally liable' from my first marriage unfortunately.

The OP's DH is surely in a precarious position if the XW lost her job or became unable to work.

Her be jointly and severally liable. But if he refused to pay the mortgage the bank would repossess the former marital home. It would affect the XH’s credit rating but the ex-wife would be the one who’s would be homeless.

TrustTheGeneGenie · 07/03/2021 13:26

@huitlacoche

Why can't she rent? Buy a cheaper house?

BlueThistles · 07/03/2021 14:05

this is incredulous ... he needs to speak to his lawyer or at the very least the mortgage company

StellaDendrite · 07/03/2021 14:20

Familylawsolicitor · 07/03/2021 14:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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