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Severing tenancy

3 replies

Vaz66 · 13/03/2024 11:27

My DD’s relationship has been ended by her (ex) Fiance and Father of her reception age child.
They have a house/mortgage as joint tenants, it will have to be sold as neither would be able to buy out the other.
Thankfully there’s enough equity for decent deposits for them both to be able to buy homes, they both earn similar amounts.
Unfortunately there was no deed of trust - DD put in 2/3 of the deposit 3 years ago ( we gifted it to her ) , so she wants 60% of the equity ( £50k ish) but she might go 50/50 if he agrees to pay all the selling costs and the ERC on the mortgage from his half, which was only fixed a year ago 🙄 I don’t know how long the fix was for.

Would it be wise to sever the tenancy or is it not really an issue ( unless one of them dies whilst it’s all being sorted of course) because they will both have to agree to the sale either way?
I’ve advised her/them to go interest only once the house goes on the market, it will save around £400 a month jointly, which will cover utilities and council tax - he is moving out.

I’ve advised her to get rid of him as beneficiary for her Teacher’s pension death benefit and get her life insurance written in trust for her child, presumably with him as trustee?

Is there anything else to consider?

I’ve also advised her to rent somewhere for a while after the house sells so there isn’t the added stress of trying to buy a place at the same time plus there isn’t a lot for sale around where she currently lives, which is a few hundred yards from DGC’s very good school 🙄 I don’t think the house will take long to sell but it will be the top of the chain, it’s a large 4 bed detached but at the ‘cheaper’ end of the market so good value for money.

She will have a fairly small area of choice because I do the school runs so I’m there at 7am 4 mornings a week and 3pm x 3 afternoons, we currently live 10 minutes apart. She won’t want to have to move schools, there’s enough bloody upheaval.

I’m trying to be practical because she’s obviously devastated and her sole focus is my DGC.

OP posts:
Propertylover · 13/03/2024 17:28

IANAL as I understand it severing the joint tenancy would mean a 50:50 split unless a deed of trust splits it differently. I doubt he would agree to a deed of trust now so leaving it for the financial settlement may make sense but honestly get a legal advice asap.

I would recommend she writes a new will along with sorting out the pensions (good call).

WRT the property two belt and braces suggestions, update the register to include her email address as one of the contact addresses https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updating-registered-owners-contact-address and register for a property alert https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert . Both are free to do.

Update registered owners' contact address (COG1)

Keep your contact details with HM Land Registry up to date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updating-registered-owners-contact-address

Octopuslethargy · 13/03/2024 17:33

I would be looking carefully at the figures and seeing if there was anyway you could support her to stay there until the mortgage ends.

Is the total equity £50k or is that 60%. How much deposit did she put in?

BorgQueen · 13/03/2024 19:15

I’m the OP, can’t find my other log in details 🙄
She will stay in the house till it sells, tbh I wish he’d stay put and she move out, she wants nothing to do with the sale process. Two of the bedrooms are for his older children who live there at weekends 🙁
Whole equity should be £90-100k, she paid £20k of the £27k deposit. Their rental deposit refund paid the conveyancing iirc.

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