Stuck on a mortgage

[Lunapot]

Bought a house with BF 22 years ago , after 3 years I left and just walked away due to breakdown in relationship . Since then I’ve requested 3 separate occasions to be removed form the mortgage (don’t want anything just need my name off ) 2024 I now need a mortgage, I can’t get one as still being used as a guarantor on the original mortgage by ex . Solicitor has asked him to make me an offer and to buy me out (he can’t as he used the house as security against a loan that he has defaulted on, so even if he was prepared to do this mortgage comp won’t release me ) so now I’m stuck on his mortgage . Solicitor has advised I take him to court to force a sale where she believes I will get 50% of equity . Does anyone know what this will cost me . Solicitor has said it could be between 2 and 10k !!!! and he might have to pay my fees . Can anyone shed more light on this pls .

You cannot just 'request' your name being removed from a loan you voluntarily took out. My ex was the same mindset as you, walked out and paid nothing and then was shocked when I 'got' the house in the divorce on the grounds that the title deed and mortgage be transferred into solely my name once I could prove I was a secure person to repay. It took me 16 years of grovelling and overpaying the mortgage I took out with my ex who never bothered his hole paying his part of the loan cos you are jointly deemed responsible for the repayments but finally I did get the permission off the mortgage company to remove his name, remortgage in my own name and then I still had to pay to get his name off the deeds.

You left him in dire straits, you didnt pay back a loan you took out and now you want to what be absolved of any debt? Absolute insanity. If your ex has been paying the entire loan by themselves all these years they need to go to the mortgage company and explain things to them and get a new mortgage in their own name etc but you cannot do this without their consent and the banks consent. If your ex cannot do this and has a bad credit rating due to this it will affect you and you wont get a mortgage anyway. You cannot just walk away from a loan and assume you are in the clear.

Just to add unless you have been paying your share of the loan from the day you walked out then your solicitor is talking out of their trousers because you cannot benefit from something you never paid towards. You should have instructed a sale 22 years ago when you decided to walk away from your debt if that is what you have done.

Sans a deed of trust, an unmarried couple owning a property together, it is 50/50.

He had the benefit of living there, she did not, and lost the opportunity to buy elsewhere.

She is more likely to get 50% than not.

Yes it'll cost around 10k (or a lot more), and yes the loser will pay the winner's legal costs.

this isn’t correct.

I don’t have a deed of trust I am named in land registry as joint owner . I actually don’t want anything I just want to be able to get a house . My solicitor is quoting that I am a beneficial owner despite not paying anything for 20yrs . Ex has so far ignored 3 letters from solicitor and will not make contact . What option do I have other than to take him to court . I am not trying to rip him off or steal the house from under him . But I’m stuck !! And scared that I might have a huge court bill !!

The problem is if he can't afford to take on a mortgage on his own then the house will have to be sold.

If you have to take it to court then what you will need to do is ask for a sum of money of money for your share of the house that covers your legal fees plus say £10k for your time and hassle.

By starting the legal process he may decide to crack ok and sort it out.

If he can't get can't get a mortgage to take on the house and doesn't want to sell as then he'll be homeless then he will stall as long as possible.

I never remember the terms, but do you own half the house or do you both own the house? Either way you may have to ask him to buy you out, if you don't care you possibly let him buy you out for a nominal sum, but that would not be a good financial decision.

Thx he hasn’t cracked yet !! My fear is I take him to court and the judge says stop wasting my time you’ve never paid a penny you won’t get anything even money to pay your court fees !!! 🤦‍♀️. I know he now earns over £80k on the rigs and there is approx £55 left to pay on mortgage but he has debt that the house is being as security against .

We are joint owners so both have equal share. If I walk away with money great but my aim is to be able to go and get my own mortgage and not have a huge court bill . The unknown is scaring me into not starting the court process !

The judge will not think you are wasting his time.

It's a legal contract, you have asked 3 times in writing for him to sort it out without you receiving monies and he has ignored.

Going to court and asking them him to deal with it and cover your legal costs is entirely reasonable.

Your solicitor has given you good advice. Listen to them. If this goes to court, you will almost certainly get 50% of the equity in the property. The judge won't say you are wasting their time. Your solicitor has told you the likely cost. If you win, you will be able to reclaim your legal costs from your ex.

If you want to settle for less than 50%, that is up to you, but settling for substantially less than 50% would not be a good decision in my view.

Don't let your fear of the unknown stop you from sorting this out.

How was he able to secure debt against a house he only owned half of? Surely the OP would have have to agree to it

The judge certainly won't think you are wasting his time, as that is the only way to get your name off the mortgage and you have made entirely reasonable attempts to resolve this amicably. Yes, it will involve some legal costs, but you will recover most of those from your ex and there will be no problem getting the money out of him because it can come from his equity in the property. In fact, if starting legal action means he goes to see a lawyer, there is every chance the lawyer will advise him that he can't prevent this and he needs to negotiate with you - so the case won't even come to court.

How as he secured another loan against the house, you would've needed to agree and sign that agreement. Are you suggesting he has fraudulently done thus?

It's surprisingly easily to do this. Ex-BIL had a load of debt secured against the jointly owned marital home that SIL knew nothing about. Credit card debt that they then decided against the house!

I didn’t even know it had happened as I wasn’t in his life - I have always suspected that he has taken some random women with him to sign docs claiming to be me !!! Not sure if that is even possible tho

It is very easy to do or at least it was. After my ex moved out he took out a 25k loan against our home without me knowing for about 7 years. He never defaulted on it but it was not me who signed the papers.

I know people are saying you are entitled to equity but do you know if there is even equity in the house? Maybe it was different for me cos at the time we were divorcing we were in recession and the house was worth fuck all. I walked away with the house and paid his loans but he paid his own legal fees and there was no equity anyway but the judge would not have given him anything as he kept saying 'you chose to walk away from the property, you chose not to maintain said property therefore you cannot get something that you did not put in'. Similar words but this was about a decade ago.

Has he been paying the mortgage by himself since you left?

So have you reported him for fraud?

I don’t know that it was fraud I’m speculating that it could have been . When I take him to court it will come out and I’ve mentioned it to my Sol that I didn’t sign for the house to be secured against the loan . I’ve instructed solicitor to apply for forced sale now .

@JustACountryMusicGirlInCowboyBoots yes I have paid nothing - I didn’t expect to get anything either but solicitor is adamant that I am beneficial owner . Therefore will get 50/50 . I’ve asked him to talk to a solicitor and figure out a way to remove me without all this but he’s ignored it .

I hd this. I started court proceedings myself by paying the court fee (approx £400) and got solicitor advice via email which cost about £200, as soon as he realised it was court proceedings he removed me from the mortgage.

Hi OP, I think you need to take some tax advice too before filing the court application.

If the legal position is that you own half of the house (even if you don't want it) then you need to be careful that you don't make a gist or other transfer of value to your ex, without first checking the tax implications.

@Psychoticbreak I didn’t have the strength to fight him at the time - I had his baby to consider and he was determined to stay in the house . There is equity about £120k I don’t know if it is different now but I do fear the Judge saying you walked away so your getting nothing and now you have court fees to pay !!! But solicitor is telling me otherwise . I have asked him 3 times over the 20 years to remove me and he has refused . I haven’t really got any alternative at this stage as I must get my own house .

@rowboat5 that would be great and I’ve been told recently that in these cases he wud have been advised to ignore all solicitor letters just in case I don’t see it through -but to act when the court letter arrives !!! So I’ve already wasted £600 on 2 letters 🤦‍♀️