mortgages etc - whats the best way to resolve this situation?....

[hatesponge]

Ex P and I jointly own a house, subject to mortgage of about £80k. We also have about £25k in savings between us.

Current value of house is a bit iffy, as the upstairs is unfinished (no bathroom etc - long story!) BUT finished it would fetch £350-400 I would hope. However, Ex is doing work himself, it will take him a good couple of years to finish at the rate he works

I dont live there, Ex does. I am in rented property, I pay rent for that, ex pays mortgage.

I have unexpectedly found a perfect house to buy. Problem - it goes to auction in a fortnight. Has a very low reserve price as owners need to sell immediately as moving abroad.

I can on my own salary get a mortgage for up to 90% of the likely sale price (I've allowed for it going up to 25% over the guide), and use savings as deposit. however, I know there is going to be a problem with already being on the other mortgage.

So do I get Ex to remortgage our house in his name only (effectively he is already paying it all now anyway) & then get a mortgage in my own name on auction house

Or Ex suggested maybe we should extend mortgage on current house to buy auction one, however I'm not sure how that would work or whether that is likely to cause problems.....

And in either case is there any chance of arranging it in time? am conscious of the impending auction....

Or do I just give up now?

You would need to do a transfer of equity to get your name off the mortgage. It would be highly unlikely that you could get this done in a fortnight in time for the auction.

Is there no bathroom at all in the current house? If there is no bathroom then I'm not sure if you would be able to get a further advance as it might be deemed unmortgageable. Even if you could do a further advance it would be touch and go if you could get it done before the auction.

Sorry this seems so negative. Hopefully someone will come along who can give you some constructive advice.

bugger i was worried there wouldn't be enough time

In the house Ex lives in, there is a WC/sink downstairs which is all finished, upstairs there is plumbing (& all fittings bought & waiting to be put in) for a bathroom and ensuite, none of it is connected - Ex took old bathroom out to make it into a dressing room, and new fittings not installed in the other rooms as he has to tile them first which he has only half done so far.

I really have my heart set on this other house though......

Don?t give up just yet?.you probably won?t have time to do a Transfer of equity?.but you may have time to raise a further advance with your ex on your existing property. It depends on who your lender is, some work quicker than others and some still have branches were you can go and see a mortgage adviser who can push things through faster for you.

The size of your loan compared to the value of your property is currently so low that even with no upstairs bathroom your lender would have good security, even if you borrowed more money.

Your current lender already has a charge on your property which is why the money can be arranged quicker than a branch new mortgage?..if that worked all you would have to do is make sure you and your ex could work out the finances happily. I used to work in mortgages and a few customers had separated but still had join mortgages and things?it all works well all the time you are both earning and happy to pay.

I?d book an appointment to see an adviser?..they still have targets and low LTV (Loan to value) lending is the sort of stuff they should be able to do if they are a good lender?..

T&B- we currently have an offset mortgage with Barclays (used to be Woolwich). Don't know if that is good or not? Will try & get an appt with branch on Monday to go through it....feel a little better knowing it MIGHT be able to be done.

Also, the one thing Ex & I haven't argued about since the split is money so it could work.

I will prob get it all set up, go to the auction & it will sell for double the guide price

The Woolwich are fast. They have just got a mortgage offer to me 8 days after receiving my application and that was for a new house we are buying. Hope it all works out for you.

given you have 28 days to complete after the auction, things will be very tight. extending current mortgage on current property seems most likely/doable. depends on how your ex feels tbh.

I?ve heard Barclays? are good too?they still have advisers in their branches as well. Good luck with it all! Funnily enough my ex husband and I didn?t argue about money after we had split up?. Good luck with it all!