I was wondering if anyone has ever been in at situation similar to DH and I and if you have any advice.
DH owns the current house we live in with his ex-wife. She left the house and him over 2 years ago since then DH has been paying the mortgage by himself and she no longer has keys to the property.
The house is in the same condition as it was when she moved out. No Kitchen, plumbing in the bathroom exposed as it needs to be re-done, no central heating, a wobbly wall that needs to be seen to ASAP. There are other problems in the house but these are the main concerns that need to be dealt with in order to make the house more habitable, they are also the most expensive to put straight.
Because of the condition of the house DH and I moved out for a year but have just moved back in as it was getting expensive paying for 2 properties.
We can find the money to pay for these repairs but are worried about:
- If we were to sell the house in it's current state it would possibly not clear the mortgage,if we do the repairs it will not only cover the mortgage but also the cost of repairs bringing it up to value with the other houses on the street. If DH Ex-wife was to find out (she is a very bitter woman) about the repairs and force the sale, is there anyway to ensure they the money we spent on re-pairs is repayed to us out of any equity?
- We are terribly worried that ex-wife has amassed a lot of debt over that last two years about 30K she is a low earner and is struggling to keep up with repayments, possibly even on the brink of bankruptcy.
Last year the banks agreed that DH could be the sole name on the mortgage agreement, ex-wife pulled out of that agreement last minute. She has now agreed to sign over the house again but now the bank is saying no.
If she goes bankrupt will they automatically foreclose on the house or will DH be able to force an agreement with the bank?
DH is a fairly high earner but he runs his own business (also has a silent partner) and can prove that he has been paying mortgage on his own for almost 3 years.
We are so worn out and frustrated that we have run out of idears.