STBXH stopped paying mortgage 18 months ago, share of equity?

[Redpolkadotpot]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone might have been in a similar situation and could share their experiences of how money was divided.

No children involved, pay, and pensions are roughly similar. Equity of around 170k if the house sold at the higher end of the agent's quotes.

I got 2 agent quotes and they were £290-300k, with the higher end achievable if some painting and decorating was carried out. I've since done the work myself as the quotes I received to do it professionally was around £1500.
I've also been doing up the garden, as the previous owner had left so much crap in there which is going to end up being at least 2 trips to the tip on top of general gardening maintaence.
Ex has agreed to pay £450 towards all of this work. Fine, whatever, I cba to fight this.

I'm hoping to buy him out of his share now which is annoying, as now I'll end up paying more for the house that I put my own time/sweat into, I wish I'd just left everything and lived in squalor to save myself £5k.

What I'm now left disputing is that there was approx £4k kitchen debt that started just as he moved out....I've been paying the debt pm on my own since. There is £600 left to pay which he's said he will pay half of.
Surely he should pay me back half of the overall £4k debt, as the new kitchen is one of the reasons the house is worth the top end.

Also, as there will be no agent fees, he's agreed to deduct his half of an agent's fee off what I need to pay him, but he quoted the fee of Purple bricks which I would not use if we were to sell the house, I feel he should deduct more or the average agent fee.

Another thing. As well as not paying a penny towards the mortgage in 18 months, he has been storing his stuff in one of the sheds that whole time for free, so I've referenced that as another saving he's made off my back to get him to realise how easy he's had it.

He feels I'm the lucky one being able to live in this house, but the way I see it, I've had to manage this house on my own, plus have lodgers in to help me pay for everything which has been stressful, whilst he's been able to live at his mums for free, savings I'm sure at least 15k over the last 18 months.

A friend has suggested I contact lawyers to fight my corner of receiving more equity because he has not paid any mortgage since he's left, is this worth doing?
I was not bothered about him having half the equity, despite not paying anything, it's mainly the kitchen debt, decorating efforts, storing his stuff, and agent's fee I am not happy about.

I'm not sure whether to just suck it up and lose thousands in this debate or to let it go to mediation and end up paying for that service.

He has said I could end up paying for all of the court fees if it ends up going to court because of my unreasonable behaviour (his whole accord of the breakdown is trying to paint me as being abusive, which isn't true).

Trying to figure out what's fair, I also want this to be over ASAP so I no longer have to communicate or think about him as his communication style is at best, poorly written yet condescending with repeated red and bold sentences - joy!

Anyone with some advice and encouragement?!

Consult a solicitor. Nothing is final on the finances until you have a financial order. A solicitor who is in possession of all the facts will be able to advise on what the split should look like, taking into account your earnings, his earnings, pensions, any other assets, etc. Assuming he is asking for more than the courts would give him, you will then have to decide whether it is worth fighting him.

If this goes to court, whoever applies for the financial order will pay the court fees and you will each pay your own legal fees. The courts will only order you to pay his legal fees if you behave outrageously, e.g. failing to turn up to hearings.

Heya,

I am in a similar position like you, my estranged husband initiated separation in 2018 and shortly after stopped all of his financial responsibilities towrds the flat, hence I paid everything during the last 2 years.

I will surely take this off the equity from his share at the buyout... I mean, hello, the guy has responsibilities, not taking them and thinking he can just cash in on everything, on top of the increased value of the flat etc. no way!

As we are already in Court, I will just submit it as is to the judge... they can then make a decision and I hope they will decide in my favour.

As for solicitors in the past, they told me all kind of things that were not accepted by the Court, hence I stopped wasting my money onto them.

Wishing you good luck with this!

Honestly if the last thing you need to reconcile is splitting the house which you own 50:50 then do it.

The kitchen really won’t add much in terms of value and you have been the one to use it for the past 18 months. He hasn’t had access to it. Cost should have been included in the lodgers rent.

The work to get the house to market should have been agreed with him up front. Don’t see anything wrong with purple bricks. If you want to pay more then you can.

Using a shed he owns wasn’t really a cost to you.

My advice move on and don’t waste energy or emotion on the trivia.