Need advice on getting rid of half share in house (complicated situation)

[TheArmadillo]

I own a house jointly with my mother. There is a mortgage on this house in our joint names (though no idea who with, what rate or any other info).

I know there is different types of jointly owning a property and that in my case it is of the type where if, say, my mother died, she could leave her half to whoever she had nominated (I think it's my sister) rather than it passing to me. Same if I died I could leave it to e.g. ds rather than it going to my mother.

I want to get rid of this half share. I don't care about getting any money from it but it is a legal tie to my mother and also would cause me problems if e.g. I was made homeless etc (as I am in a privately rented property that my landlord is planning to sell this could potentially happen in the future - although obviously I would seek out any other options first).

The complicated bit comes in that I do not wish to have any contact with my mother. But I do wish to have my half of this property not in my name. I don't want money from her or to force her to sell it (she rents it out atm - she also owns her own house. I get nothing from her renting it out).

My mother does not want to do this as she believes it is easier for her to get a mortgage with my name on it, rather than solely with her name (and income) taken into account. I also have no idea what she declared my income as (I work part time in a just above minimum wage job). Plus it gives her control (in her mind anyway) over a part of my life. Something she does not want to relinquish.

The mortgage was taken out for £100,005 with the extra £30,000 of the price being paid for by my mother. That was a few years ago and she has I am sure remortgaged since then so not sure how much the mortgage is for now. The house is almost certainly not in negative equity (as house prices there have stayed relatively stable if not increased and whatever else she may be my mother is very good with money).

How would I go about getting rid of my half of house. As I have said, I am not bothered about any money from it, I just do not want to own it. Also I have no money to pay solicitor or similar so don't know if that would be a problem. Plus my mother is likely to be extremely resistant to the whole thing.

Have I any chance?

Should have said the only contact I have with my family now is in writing and almost always instigated by them.

I'm thinking on my feet a bit here.

I think you will struggle if it's jointly mortgaged. If you sold you would have to redeem the mortgage.

Having said that, if your mother has remortgaged, then if it's in joint names you would have had to sign the forms.

Would you be giving it to your DS?

Meant to add, I think if you go to Land Registry you can get details on who owns a property and who has the mortgage.

anything legal is going to involve solicitors bills, and this doesn't sound like a DIY scenario. Hope one of our legal eagles comes along in a min to help you out.

She should n't have been able to remortgage without your counter signature. Likewise if you cease to own a share they and she have to know. Agree you need proper legal advice as to how to proceed. Get a solicitor to write on your behalf if needs be.

A few things worth reading

www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/feb/07/expertsproperty.property1

www.avforums.com/forums/general-chat/1132936-getting-out-joint-mortgage-advice-solution.html

Try going to the CAB and see if you can get some free legal advice?

It seems like which ever type of ownership you have you can sign the house and mortgage over either by forcing the sale or her agreeing to take it on - read the whole way through that 2nd link and someone explains it.

It may be worth getting free advice from CAB and the deeds to find out what sort of ownership you have etc. Then write to her and tell her that you are no longer prepared to be on the mortgage and house ownership with her and that if she does not agree to sort it out amicably with you then you will go the court route.

Is there a way where you can legally relinquish your interest, for instance in favour of your sister, or (evil grin) someone your mum really doesn't like and can't push around?

Thank you for these - especially those links.

With regards to the remortgage they did get me to sign some papers - but as they were refusing to return my ds at the time I didn't read them. Just signed them to get my son back.

I think what I will do is send her a later stating that I no longer want to be a joint owner of the property and see what the response is. Then if she says no, try threatening court action and get advice from CAB.

The papers you signed probably wouldn't be valid anyway if they were signed under duress -- i.e. they weren't returning your son.

OMG!!!!!! I knew she was a witch but I didn't know that she'd pulled that stunt on you.

Actually your first step is to speak to CAB and ask them for legal advice about the fact that she got you to sign papers under duress, I wonder if you can take that complaint to the police.

She really does have the power to potentially financially screw you if you have signed something that says you are jointly liable, that you ear £x or something. You need to address this asap.

How are the wedding plans going btw, I was so when I read that you are planning to get married!

The wedding plans are fine thank you - people (in RL) keep asking me how they're going. So far I have booked a slot, booked the appt to register intent to marry and told a couple of people when to turn up - that's it all done lol. It's my idea of a perfect wedding

WRT to financially screwing me - it would be worse for her tbh. I have no money. The worst that could happen from my perspective is that the mortgage company could take possession of the house. It would solve all my problems. I have no assets (I don't even own a car), no savings and my credit rating is non existant as it is. My mother on the other hand is alot better off than me plus gets very worried about that kind of thing and has plenty of assets/savings.

WRT to them possibly claiming I earn more than I do, I don't know. I do know their solicitor was complaining because I didn't sign the papers in front of them and they had to push to get the solicitor to agree to it. But proving that they heavily implied they would not return my ds if I didn't sign would be difficult. They deny the whole incident as it is. It would be down to my word against theirs.

I am going to check the land registry though to see if I am still named as owner as not sure why you would need solicitor for remortgage. Is all very confusing.

I don't want to get the police involved and I don't want to go down a legal route unless absolutely necessary. I will stoop to threatening legal action though. All I want is to not be joint owner of the property. I think I will get dp to help me draft a letter and see how we go from there.

done the land registry thing online and am still joint owner. That was quick and easy.

Does it say whether you are joint tenant or tenancy in common that is the next thing to find out. You need to know which bank/building society holds the deeds if you can't find that info out on line.

BTW I really really want to see some wedding photos, you and your dh-to-be very happy and all that. I'm so happy that you've come so far in escaping your parents and keeping your ds away from them.

I guess she will be reluctant to let you off the mortgage - as you said earlier - the b soc will prob not grant her sole mortgage if she doesn't have necessary income. Although if there is a history of rental income - it may cover it - though the b soc will make her pay commercial interest rates prob.

the land registry should be able to tell you who holds first charge on the property. handily enough the details of the charge will give you the mortgage company and might even give you the mortgage account number.

you can speak to the mortgage co and ask to carry out a transfer of equity from you to your mother. she will need to prove that she can afford the mortgage.

It gives the name of the mortgage company but not what kind of agreement it was wrt joint tennants or tennants in common.

My mother is now earning a very good wage (above average) adn has now paid the mortgage off on her own house so would be in a better position regarding a mortgage than she would have been a few years ago. Having a go on mortgage calculators (with rough figures) she would just be eligible for a mortgage of that amount.

I'm not sure if she's declared that she's renting it out to the mortgage company

I'm going to give it a try and see what happens.

I'm not sure what first charge is?

It gives the name of the mortgage company but not the policy number.

first charge is the primary claim on the property, essentially who has dibs on it if it is sold to get their share.

Go to the mortgage company and ask for a copy of the deeds. They can look up the property from the address etc.

She can't stop you from transferring your half to another person if you want to surely.

So the first charge I assume would be the mortgage company? There is nothing else secured on the house (AFAIK - it would be very unlikely for this to happen).

I think I'm going to approach my mother first. See what happens and then try mortgage company and other stuff.

Thanks for the advice - it has been very helpful

first charge = mortgage company. the mortgage co will know how the property is split i.e tennants in common.

because you have a joint mortgage you are both responsible for the mortgage debt so you can't just give up your half as an assett, someone has to take on your responsibility for the debt.

From the link it seems you can. With one kind you can sign it over, with the other force sale.