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Legal matters

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Original poster

Ex won’t cooperate with house sale weeks away from completion

26 replies

exwontsell · 06/03/2026 19:52

I jointly own a house with my ex currently sold STC. Estate agent was hopeful for exchange this month. We accepted first time buyers and thankfully they seem very patient. At every step along the way my ex has been slow to respond/ignoring all together emails and calls from our solicitors and estate agent. The solicitors require a payment for something regarding the house and a signed form to proceed, which I have paid my half of. He has not and is not responding. Even if I paid it for him (and it is not a small amount of money) he would still have to sign and fill out his form. I’m really anxious now. Relevant context is that he is currently occupying the family home on his own after refusing to leave when we split. Without going into the situation it wasn’t safe for me to stay with my young child and he refused to leave so we had no choice but to move in with very supportive family. I am still paying half the mortgage each month as per my legal obligation to. I am increasingly worried the sale could collapse and have no idea what next steps could be from here. I can’t afford to keep paying the mortgage as a single parent now living elsewhere.

What can I do? We are all in limbo and it seems like all the estate agent and solicitors can do is repeatedly email and call.

Thanks if you read this far.

OP posts:

WheretheFishesareFrightening · 16/03/2026 15:39

Marmight · 07/03/2026 20:27

You don't need to pay the mortgage while you are not living there.
Mortgage is 'joint and several liability'.
If you don't pay, the mortgage company will insist that he has to.
You need to remind him that if the sale does not go through, you will cease to pay towards the mortgage.
He has sole use of the property.
Hopefully that will concentrate his mind on being a little more amneable to facilitating the sale.

From Shelter

'...where there is a mortgage in joint names, both parties are jointly and independently liable for the mortgage payments, regardless of who is occupying the property. In a relationship breakdown situation, if one party leaves the property and stops contributing to the mortgage payments, the lender is entitled to require payments from the remaining party to cover the entire mortgage, and it is not possible for the remaining party to argue that s/he is only liable for a particular share. This is known as 'joint and several liability'

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/relationship_breakdown/housing_rights_of_married_joint_homeowners/mortgage_loan_and_maintenance_payments_after_separation

What Shelter has said is right, you’re just misinterpreting it - it’s written as advice to the person who has stayed.

If OP’s ex stops paying, she would be liable for the full amount, or her credit rating would be impacted. If she stops paying, then ex would be liable for the full amount. If he chose not to pay it then both their credit ratings would be damaged.

Joint and several means they both are required to make sure 100% of the mortgage is paid, and if it’s not they’ll pursue both parties regardless of who’s living there. So not paying the mortgage is terrible advice, and not what Shelter are advising .

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