Transfer of Title? Can I kick ex out?

[Howdoesremortgagework]

Hi there,

I’m in Scotland for property law purposes.

I’m in the process of buying my ex out of our joint home. I have started the process of transferring the title and mortgage to just my name. He has agreed to this for a sum of money.

When I was speaking to my (soon to be) solicitor, she asked if ex had bought another property yet or had anywhere to go? I said he was in the process and had a couple of viewings. This could take a while as he is being a bit unrealistic about what he can get with his money to be fair. She then asked if I thought he would be difficult (it’s taken me 2 and a half years to get to the point of him agreeing to actually leave), I said he would definitely sign the title and mortgage over, he’s accepted the relationship is done now.

However, she then said to me well what will you do if the title is transferred but then he doesn’t leave? How will you get him out? As far as I was aware, when all paperwork is signed and the house is mine, then if I say leave, then he just has to, no questions asked. But she intimated that wasn’t the case, something about owner/occupier rights. She didn’t explain further but said there was a couple of options that could be considered just incase and she would get back to me next week. She said I might have to take him to court if he doesn’t go. I was trying to avoid this by giving him the amount he asked for without a fight.

I have Googled myself to death with this and can’t find an answer.

Surely when the title and mortgage paperwork is signed by both parties and is in my name and he has his money, the house is legally mine and I can legally tell him to get out? I’ve seen many threads on Mumsnet with posters telling people to just change the locks when a man is dragging his heels to leave and it’s legal to do so when their name isn’t on the house.

Does anybody have any experience of this?

Thank you.

Were you married? If so he has the right to live in the marital home regardless if only you own it

If not he can apply for occupancy rights, usually 6 months but it can be extended

Thank you for your reply.

No, not married.

How does occupancy rights work? I’m not handing over a large sum of money for him to continue living in my house dragging me down. Is there any way I can avoid this?

Nope he can apply regardless but the court should look at the circumstances, how long he's lived there, financial contributions made during that time, etc. plus his current circumstances. If he's been left financially disadvantaged and will struggle to secure suitable accommodation it could also be extended beyond 6 months.
He's likely to get the first 6 months if it was previously a joint mortgage that's only very recently been changed to sole owner.

I wouldn't give him the money until he has left the property. It's a bit like me selling my house but not moving out to let new owner in.
Is you buying the house part of a financial.order as part of divorce?

@JoyousPinkPeer

Yeah that’s the way I was thinking. When the title was transferred to us from the previous owner, the keys were then ours and they longer had a claim to the property.

We’re not married so there’s no other legal stuff happening apart from the transferring of the mortgage into my name.

@FallenRaingel

We’ve not even lived in the house a full 3 years yet. There’s not a lot of equity in it, I’m giving him more than half of what he could expect if we had to sell. I’ve been sending him houses for months but it’s only in the past couple of weeks he’s started looking. And as was the way in our relationship, I said wasn’t going to do everything for him and now I’m going to have to.

He’s got a full time well paid job so has the means to find somewhere to rent or buy.

He has been paying the mortgage and CT but I’ve been paying all the other bills and child related expenses for our toddler. That was the agreement we came to.

He probably feels that he’s been disadvantaged financially because he has no other savings due to his weed and alcohol addiction.

I imagine getting an occupancy order at court would involve solicitors and having to pay a bit of money?

Ask your solicitor to include a provision that he has to move out of the house and agree never to return in exchange for the money that you will pay him. He will need to acknowledge and agree to that, but it doesn't sound as if he's likely to refuse, given that he also wants to move on with his own life plans.