Relinquishing equity to ex husband

[fantasyworld]

My ex and I share an interest only mortgage on our flat, but my name is not on the deeds, only on the mortgage. We are still married, I moved out of the flat into rented accommodation a couple of weeks ago, the flat is on Airbnb. I was just wondering if it would be possible for me to relinquish my equity on the flat and sign it all over to my ex? I won't go into the reasons why, but I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience of doing this? I'm not bothered about getting any money out of it. Thanks in advance.

That is possible as long as the bank thinks he can afford the mortgage on his own.

I thought if you are on the mortgage, you are on the deeds. Not sure if that makes any difference though. He just needs to remortgage in his name only. But if he's fallen behind in payments etc this is unlikely. Do you think he's still paying?

I'm not on the deeds, because he originally bought the flat. About a year later, we got married and my name went on the mortgage, but we never changed the deeds. We haven't missed a payment yet TG. I don't know if he could get a remortgage in his name only, he is self-employed, but maybe he can.

You cannot be on the mortgage without being a registered legal owner of a property.

Joe I'm pretty sure you can...I have a friend who was in the same situation and as soon as her husband said he was leaving her she rushed to get her name on the deeds, otherwise she would have got zero from him...

You wouldn't personally changed the deeds it would have been done via your solicitor / mortgage company. The mortgage company put a charge against the property, which means incase of a sale they get first dibs on their loan. In order to be able to pursue you both incase of default the names on the deeds must match those on the mortgage.

Right, thanks for the clarification. I married very young and left all this to my ex to deal with, so I'm on a steep learning curve. I'm starting to wonder whether this will involve solicitors, stamp duty etc...would it be naive to call the bank and, without identifying myself, asked for what one would do hypothetically in such a situation?

As being on the deeds is the way ownership is legally recognised, not by being on the mortgage.

There would be no problem in ringing up, and letting them know who you are. You're not doing anything illegal! Although I doubt they will confirm to you there and then, they'll explain how you'll go about removing yourself from the mortgage. As it would just be in your ex''s name, they will need to reassess the risk and underwrite it again. Most lenders just use the remortgage process for this. Solicitors will also be involved to update land registry etc and probably get you to sign something agreeing that you understand gifting the equity to ex. Are you on a fix rate? There could be penalties if it's in its tie in period and not portable. But exs income is going to have to cover mortgage. Otherwise you'll have to enforce a sale to get out of the loan and the commitment to service the debt.

Got it. We are on a variable rate, but it's stayed very low for the last few years. To be honest, right about now we are actually trying to sell the flat and it's on the market. But he wants to move back in, and I strongly suspects that he will call the sale off once he does. So I'm wondering whether I can get out of the mortgage now, to avoid a situation whereby I am responsible for the mortgage AND a rent- I don't trust him to keep up with payments...sorry if this is complicated

I would rather sign it over to him and be done with it. But part of me wonders if I should wait for a sale to come through, the question is when...

Ohhhh tricky situation. I can see why you'd want shot of it. Is the sale price realistic? Ie cheap? I understand that you'd not want him back in either. He could make it hard to sell by making it messy etc. Are you both paying half each at the moment plus your rents? Or are you paying it in full? Would it be easier for you to buy him out and then sell / rent it out?

The sale price is not cheap, but in line with other properties in our area. It's a very nice flat in a desirable area, newly redecorated, but the market has been quite slow, hoping it will pick up in September/October...at the moment the mortgage comes out of our joint account, which we both pay into, my hope was that the Airbnb would cover the mortgage and bills for the flat until it's sold...that was the plan we agreed to, he is now however asking me to cancel all the bookings so he can move back in (we are fully booked until mid-November)! I just want out...unfortunately I've looked into buying him out, but I don't earn enough.

Can you say the only way he can move back in is if he buys you out. Though it does sound like neither of you can afford to? A sale sounds like the only option. When I said cheap, I really meant competitive, so yours looks more attractive than other similar ones for sale. Sit tight, when I worked in a mortgage dept it died a death in the summer months as people focussed on summer hols. It should pick up now, as people now want to be in a new place for Xmas. This may sound drastic, but could you change the locks so he can't swan back in? Or would that antagonize him if he found out?

Don't want to change the locks, that would take it to a whole different level...Ok thanks for the advice, very appreciated. I'm meeting him tomorrow so will see what he proposes.