I feel trapped in my current situation, and as much as I try to get myself out of it, I just keep hitting blocks.
I have a mortgage with an abusive ex partner. We split in November and are currently still sharing the house which is hell on earth, he's vile to me most days and the situation is toxic for our two DDs (3 & 4). He took out a £30,000 loan on top of our mortgage to do an extension, dug the footings and spent the money. I am now left with a huge hole the length of our house. The property is being valued low (but is likely to go for even lower because it's a big project for someone to take on). We also have an early exit penalty of £9k for repaying our mortgage early. As a result of this, I'll walk away with next to nothing, I won't even get my deposit back.
As things have been so tense at home I've been desperate to get out, and due to domestic abuse the council agreed to help me with housing benefit so I can find a private rental, despite having a mortgage. This is only valid for 52 weeks, so if the house doesn't sell within a year, my housing benefit will come to an end and I will struggle to cover the rent on my own as a single parent working part time around school hours. So essentially I'll be sat on a ticking time bomb.
I could keep our current house as I've been advised to get an injunction on ex, but I don't really want to do this. Even if I did, covering the bills all on my own (mortgage/utilities) would leave me really tight.
I don't want to live with him whilst all of this is resolved, I have no family to stay with. I finally found a landlord who would accept housing benefit but as I don't have a guarantor he has rejected my application.
No matter which way I try and escape this, there is always some sort of block. Getting a mortgage was one of the worst things I've ever done as I've fully trapped myself in this horrible situation.
What would you do?