Rights with joint owned home

[Dandelion26]

Hi there, this will probably be a bit long winded, but if anyone can advise I would appreciate it thanks.

I co-own a a house with my ex partner.

About 6months after having our child we were basically separated but living under the same roof.
I was sleeping on the couch with my baby in her basket beside me.
This was after having an emergency c-section and still dealing with the aftermath of that.

After 7 months sleeping on the couch, my child & I went to my parents.

He was furious. I explained I needed to get away from the tension and also needed to sleep on an actual bed.
He just insisted there was a bed upstairs waiting for me.

After almost 4 months at my parents we moved back.

Almost immediately I realised I’d made a mistake.

I held on hoping things would get better, but after an extremely long time of tension again, I asked if he would be willing to move out and let myself & out then almost 2yr old daughter stay in the home.

He refused, saying I was the one who wanted to end things, so he didn’t see why he should be the one to move out.

I spoke to the council but they said unless things escalated, they couldn’t do much.

There has been no physical violence (just threatened once while I was pregnant) and it’s really just been psychological.

So I managed to find a little place for us to rent, and have been there for coming up on one year.

However the neighbours have since become a problem and I no longer feel safe here.
Also the rent is more than I would be paying for the mortgage and I’m unable to save anything.

My child will also be starting nursery soon, and I’d like to have a fixed address/home for her.

I once again asked him if he would be willing to move out to let us stay there.

Again he refused. Says why should he be expected to have to find another place.
He says we’re more than welcome to come home at anytime, but he’s not going anywhere.

Does anyone have any advice?
I’m all over the place.
I’ve had family bereavements and my parents aren’t well, amongst several other worries and I just want a safe place for us to call home.

Is there any steps I can take legally?
What would you do in my situation?

If you’ve read all that, thank you.

Can you force the sale of the house. Clean break and both walk away with some money?

Is he paying maintenance for your child?

How much of your money is tied up in the house? Have you been paying the mortgage all this time?

I agree, i think the only option would be to force a sale. Is there a reason you haven't looked at that as an option?

It sounds as though you need to file through the courts to force a sale.

Better to be it sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't leave my home without a court ordering me to do so.

As above. You need to take steps to force a sale. That, I think, will need legal advice.

If you own the property jointly are you joint tenants or tenants in common?

If the former you also need to sever the joint tenancy. That is urgent as, under a joint tenancy, if you were to die in an accident he would get your share with no fallback to your family.

You need to see a solicitor and start divorce proceedings. If your parents pass away and you inherit he may come after your inheritance so I suggest sooner rather than later.

That assumes they're married or Civil Partners.

If they just lived together as so called Common Law spouses then the route is different.

@Dandelion26 are you still looking at this?

neither of you can force the other to move out if you both still own it.
the only option is to sell it to release your share of the equity, or one of you buy the other one out.

are you in a position to discuss this with him and come to an agreement about selling up/buying out? And/or get a solicitors letter sent. And could try mediation before court.

Either sell it and do something with your share, or apply for a Schedule 1 Children Act order which might, if the circumstances are right, enable you to stay in the property to his exclusion whilst you need it for the child.

An occupation order is risky given the lack of violence, but absence of violence is not an automatic disqualification.