Bought house with parents, now they want their money back in one go.

[DreamlessSleep]

My mum and step dad suggested that they helped us buy a house 5 years ago when our landlord was selling the house we were in, but now they want all their money back in one go (70,000 I don't begrudge them for wanting it but think they could have gone about it in a different way) and obviously we don't have this. We tried remortgaging but they won't take their names off the mortgage therefore we cant as they are now deemed too old to be on our mortgage.

Are there any other options I have not thought of apart from from selling? (Which is the option it looks like we will have to go for at the moment.) We were naive when we bought it and in hindsight we should have stuck to renting.

[bimbabirba]

They don't need proof, they have their name on the deeds as tenants on common. OP please get a solicitor to check what share of the equity they have based on their contribution as it's not necessarily 50%, depends
on what was agreed at the time.
If they want to reinvest in a rental for students, could you perhaps suggest that instead you stay in your house and pay them rent based on their share of the equity as worked out by a professional?

[DreamlessSleep]

Thought of that, but u get far more income from students.

[Oreocrumbs]

Stop worrying about them. They are not worried about you and your child(ren).

I think you need to find your fire. The damage to your relationship is done now - nothing you do from this point forward can make it any better or worse.

So you must fight for your family. They lent/gave/invested that money saying you could have it until you were in a position to return it. You are not in that position. So you have not broken your side.

Don't let them make you feel like a naughty child, just because they are your parents. You have to try and see this as a business deal. Don't let 'the other party' screw you over.

[CreatureRetorts]

I think you need to find your fire. The damage to your relationship is done now - nothing you do from this point forward can make it any better or worse

^this.

Your mum has put her husband and bank account before you, her own daughter.

You need to stand up for yourself and your family. Get the best deal you can, don't let the step father screw you more than necessary.

[outtolunchagain]

Agree you need to check deeds , the ownership will be as set out in there , if you sell the proceeds will go in pot , expenses deducted and the solicitor will , in the absence of other instruction , pay out in proportion to what is on deeds .They will not get their 70k and from what you have said they have no right to it .

You hold all the cards here .It may be as well that your mortgage company would not agree to a sale at a low price.

You absolutely must get legal advice as you have a very strong position and they are trying to bully you and rush things because they , or at least your stepfather knows this I suspect.

[bimbabirba]

IIRC from studying land law, they may not be able to force the sale if as Tenants in Common they have less than 50%. Also, as you have a child a judge must give you one year to sell the house and fin other accommodation. As I said you must get proper legal advice

[PrimalLass]

Oh poor you OP, what a horrible situation. TBH, as I could not have a relationship with someone after this, I would say that either you buy it from them or you don't sell at all.

[WhoNickedMyName]

If they put in 70k and aren't making a contribution to the mortgage payments, and the understanding is that if and when you sell, they get the first 70k of equity (plus maybe a nominal amount of interest) then I think that's fair enough.

I agree though, that the way they've gone about it, totally out of the blue is shitty.

The thing is, all this should have been written into a contract at the time. You haven't really explained how they're written in on your deeds/mortgage, and so you need to get proper legal advice.

I do sympathise. DH and I learned the hard way when a financial 'favour' from his step-dad and DM ended up leaving us 12k worse off and them in clover. Never again!

In this situation I'd feel exactly as you do - get rid of the house, give then their 70k back and cool off the relationship.

[DontMentionThePrunes]

But if the value has gone down, then they would be getting lots more than their share if they get £70k + interest on selling the house.

[WhoNickedMyName]

But they put 70k in to start with. If that was done as a loan then that's what they should get back.

If it was done on the understanding that it was an investment for them, and they were taking their chances on property prices going up, then I agree that's a different matter entirely.

It all depends how it's written up.

[RandomMess]

I would:

1. Tell your Mum that you are concerned for her as you can't believe that it is her wanting to do this as makes no financial sense and that she would never want to see you homeless. (Just state this as fact so she knows that you will support her if she decides to leave her arse of an H)
2. Offer to pay them some "rent" on the £70k now and they maintain there investment in the house - like a shared ownership scheme works.
3. If she doesn't think that option would work then you will be following the advice of your solicitor which is x y z - presumably you will have a year to find a new home and they will only be entitled to x amount as per the tenancy is drawn up etc.

[DreamlessSleep]

I have tried number 2 already but they aren't interested, they just want one lump sum.

[PuggyMum]

It is a horrid horrid situation dreamless.

It might be worth testing the water by saying...

Sorry mum but our only option here is to remortgage to give you your money back. If you won't let us do that we'll need to seek legal advice....
If we sell the house, which has one down in value by x% you'll only get £x back. We wouldn't have accepted your money if we'd have known you would want it back already. You've put us in a very difficult position here.

[friday16]

they aren't interested, they just want one lump sum.

Your relationship with them is, for practical purposes, over. Tell them that you have no intention of giving them a penny but they are welcome to sue for it. In order to do that, they will have to present a case, in writing, as to why they think the money is due to them. That alone would clarify matters. Their nonsense of wanting the money but also having their names left on the deeds would obviously be laughed out of a court, so even if they got a judgement against you, you would at least have the option of extending the mortgage (tricky given the equity position, but not impossible) and buying them out.

[Herisson]

If I were you, I think I'd appeal to their greed. You could say, look, there are two options. Either we remortgage, which means you take your name off the deeds and we pay you back your £70K. Or we sell the house, in which case you will only get back a proportion of your £70K as there will be a loss which we will absorb in proportion to our current liabilities so if the house is worth £210K, they take a third of the 27K loss and you take the other two-thirds. I imagine that since they are so keen to get their money, they are likely to take the first option.

[RandomMess]

I think it may be worth doing everything in writing from now on.

So so so so for you

[DreamlessSleep]

Yes I will RandomMess.

Feeling so down right now.

[PastaBeeandCheese]

Oh dreamless it is a rotten situation but it's not of your making.

Your offer to treat it as a loan, remortgage and repay in return for them coming off the deeds was very reasonable.

You just need to think about yourself and your children now. Just tell yourself that whatever uncomfortable correspondence is to come it is for their sake and that you've already made a very reasonable offer that they chose to turn down.

Your hand had been forced in all this.

[lljkk]

They can't have one lump sum.
(Do I need to shout that??)
The best they should hope for is to get back a fixed percentage of their investment, which sadly for them, seems to have lost value.
Can you even get a mortgage to cover the £70k if the property has lost that much value??
I can't believe how badly they are treating you. :( :(
If you are resolved to sell, not least to cut ties with them, then your conveyancing solicitor would be able to advise about what their fair share of the proceeds or debt would be (be able to advise without you spending too much money for that advice, I mean).
I'm with others that in the ideal world you would refuse to sell, go all heartless & force them to sue you. I don't know if I could do that, either.

[Helliecopter]

Try to be strong. I know it's probably not much, but we're all behind you, as 5 pages of messages here should show you!! Any time you want to come here to rant about things or ask for support, you'll get it.

[Kewcumber]

Offer them the choice of two ways of doing it:

1. the £70k is a loan and if they want it repaid then you convert the equity into a loan and they come off the deeds in order for you to remortgage (always assuming you will get a mortgage for that much)
   
   
2. they have a share of the equity and you will sell the house and they will get 70/purchase price x net proceeds after legal costs.
   
   Just tell them to pick which they prefer. And sit it out until they decide.
   
   Don't be bulldozed, just sit tight - they can't evict you and if your relationship with them is damaged anyway then you might as well get a sensible result.

[Fluffycloudland77]

It's a minefield renting to students though, they have higher expectations now & you've got HMO regs to comply with, I think someone's been watching homes under the hammer.

Looks like your step dad makes the bullets & your mother fires them.

If its going to get nasty be ruthless, she's not prepared to fight for her child but you can fight for yours. The legal board on here is very good for advice.

[RandomMess]

Post with all the financial details of the house - type of deeds of ownership percent shares mortgage in whose name for how much etc etc over in legal.. There must be someone who can tell you on here what the law of loss and ownership is as a starting point.

[Kewcumber]

Legally I'm pretty certain they would be viewed as part owners as they are named on teh deeds. If they loaned the money they would not be on the deeds unless they have a charge on the property and can force you to sell if you don't make repayments but that also needs to be registered with Land Registry. Assuming from what you have said that its not, then they are just part - owners and they get their share of the net proceeds. If they can persuade you to sell.

What happens if you say to them "Sorry its ridiculous to sell now at a loss, we will return your money when the market picks up"?

[Fluffycloudland77]

You're not the only one to go though this. When I met dh all my parents wanted was the keys to my flat.

Not really heard from them since.