Court order to remove name from mortgage and deed

[Peachesandcream20]

Hello, hoping for some advice with this.

I bought a property 4 years ago with a friend.

We own the property as join tenants and are both on the mortgage. I own 98% and they own 2%.

I paid the full deposit and have lived in it and paid all mortgage payments and repairs.

we have fallen out and the mortgage term is about to expire.

I am able to get a new mortgage in my own name but they are not responding to the transfer of equity letter. The mortgage product expires in a month and I don't want to move onto the standard variable rate.

Can I get a court order to remove their name from the title and deed?

I hope you mean you are tenants in common and that there is a deed of trust in place. If you are joint tenants, you both own 100% of the property and are entitled to 50% of the proceeds if it is sold.

Have you offered to buy your co-owner out?

You should try mediation before taking the dispute to court.

Hi, sorry yes. I meant tenants in common! Yes, I have offered. I think they thought I would not be able to acquire a mortgage on my own so it would never happen. Now that I have, I fear they are not replying to be vindictive.

I am not allowed to take on the new mortgage (when our current one ends) without them completing the transfer of equity.

Unfortunately they don't want mediation and are not responding.

In that case you need to consult a solicitor. You need to be aware that sorting this out via the courts is likely to take a few months. You don't have that long. However, it may be that a solicitor's letter will be enough to persuade your co-owner to respond and get the situation resolved.

Of course, if the situation is not resolved and the current lender decides to take action, it will affect your co-owner's credit rating as well as your own. If the lender repossesses the property and fails to raise enough money from a sale to pay off the mortgage, they are entitled to go after either of you for the full amount, notwithstanding the fact that your co-owner only owns 2% of the property.