Co-owner's brother buying my share of our flat - is this possible and, if so, how?

[RainyWednesday]

Not sure whether this should be in property instead

Housemate and I bought a flat together about four years ago. I paid the deposit and since then we have split bills/mortgage etc 50-50. Now-DH moved in around two years ago and paid us rent. DH and I got married last summer; I am now five months' pregnant and we are planning to move out of the area over the next three months.

There has been some talk about housemate's brother buying my share of the flat (and then renting it out) so that she doesn't have to move out (can't afford it on her own). I am assuming that we would have to stay with our current mortgagee (Abbey) in order to avoid early repayment penalties and because housemate has an IVA, which made remortgaging difficult last time round.

The flat has increased in value over the past four years (thank goodness) plus of course I want the deposit + interest back.

Is it possible for housemate's brother to buy me out and how on earth do we do this? Is it just a matter of talking to Abbey, remortgaging and getting them to change the name on the mortgage, or is it more complicated than that? Housemate is dragging her feet and I am hormonal and starting to worry about the whole thing!

Yes, perfectly possible. I did it in the reverse situation - my boyfriend bought out my sister's share of the flat we co-owned.

Before you go to the bank you need a proper independent valuation that you both agree on. How serious this is can depend on what you feel comfortable with, but bear in mind that an estate agent's valuation will usually be optimistic, and a bank valuer's evaluation will usually be pessimistic.

Work out what your housemate's brother owes you in % terms. If your deposit was 10% of the value at the time, then he would be buying 55% of the current value.

After that you both need to choose a solicitor (because there's still conveyancing to be done) and then go to the bank to ensure that your housemate's brother can afford the mortgage.

Then instruct your solicitors accordingly.

Very simple! much easier than selling on the open market. (well, it shoudl be, as long as everyone's reasonable)

Thanks - that's really helpful

good luck!! Hope it all goes smoothly - ours was brilliant, much the easiest house purchase/sale we've ever done.

Actually I'd ring the Abbey first though, and make sure they are prepared to lend to your housemate and her brother as joint mortgagees (just give them your best guess at value and you can work out the details later).

It's got really tough to get mortgages recently and I wonder if your housemate's IVA might count against her more than it did 4 years ago.

No point in starting the negotiations if it does have to go on the open market, and if it does you'll want to get cracking as it would take considerably longer and you don't want to have to hang around with the baby on the way etc.

Fingers crossed her brother is loaded though!!

Yay, we've finally got going on this

She didn't have the IVA when we bought the house, that came later. Abbey don't seem too worried about it though so hopefully it will all go through okay.

Out of interest (and in danger of duping the thread I've started in property!) how did you and your sister split the costs? I thought the buyer paid most of them but is the situation different here?