Selling house - at a loss!

[SparkleUK]

Hi everyone, just hoping to 'rant' in an area where people may have some experience and non judgement. I'm 25 and this is my first house.

Bought a 3 bedroom semi in 2017 with my ex. Very soon after we split up and because of finances needing sorting and he didn't want the responsibility of the dogs, I stayed in the home and he moved out stating he didn't want anything from it furniture or money wise. House is mortgaged with a fairly rubbish rate lender as he had a terrible credit file so at the time, it wasn't suitable to remortgage as would've been tied in for another few set years so whilst everything was being sorted, the mortgage remained the same although we told them the situation.

House is up for sale as it was never my intent to stay here and since he's still on the mortgage, ex has came back saying he now wants money (not disputing this as fair enough, he's still on the mortgage, although slightly annoying as he hasn't paid anything towards it for over a year), he has no understanding of the property market or the mortgage figures as due to the mortgage rate, there will be barely any equity in it but he still has a figure he's saying he should get, he's even suggested I should get a loan to pay him this figure he's come to. He was always adamant he wasn't coming off the mortgage too and says he only will if I sign something saying he will still get money on sale. House is up for £110,000 but mortgage is still in the region of £102,000 and once you take fees into account etc, there won't be much left equity wise. My ex thinks that he can have this figure regardless and if he doesn't get this figure, thinks I should still be responsible for giving him it, even if the house sells with less to offer.
Had a buyer and that fell through and the market seems a bit slow at the minute now. I'm also pregnant so don't want to be in a house with his name still over it. I'd happily reduce it to attract a sale but issues with the above and his figure demanding!

Just really don't know my options and wondered if anyone else had any suggestions? Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance!

Dont give him a penny until its sold... if at a loss then he owes you money... if at a small profit I would split it in half and deduct half of the housing costs since he moved out and take that off of his half

Get proper legal advice.

Get your solicitor to advise - I had similar although 16 years ago and did have some equity however as I'd paid mortgage (had to prove this) I could claim his half back, plus half of any upkeep on the house, half of any insurance that is required for mortgage purposes, half of the utility costs (even if house was empty would still need heating, water, council tax etc), half estate agents fees and half of solicitors fees. Work out how much this has cost you and deduct it from his half (he may end up owing you money) tell him how much he'd owe you and then he might sign the house over to you. My ex ended up getting about £10,000 less than me.

I was reading something here the other day that said you will still need to split the profit 50/50 - as although he moved out and you paid for the property, he has had to pay rent during this time which he wouldn't have had to pay if he was still living in the house (as he would have been contributing toward the mortgage instead). So you can't penalise him for not having paid the mortgage....does that make sense. So unless you have put a lot extra in for home improvements in the year - just offer him half after costs. (You might want to get your solicitor to write him a letter to this effect.)

Thanks all for your replies.

He has said he's considering going bankrupt once the house is sold but the difficulty is getting him to see how little the house has to offer as realistically, we aren't going to get the full market price for it to get a sale

Unless there was a deed of trust drawn up when you both took the mortgage out saying any different then his share should be 50% of any profit. But if there is no profit then he will get 50% of a big fat zero!
But tbh you should get a solicitor’s advice.

Tell him to jog on... he gets his share less a deduction for the mortgage payments you made!

There may be zero equity

Share the profits share the losses