Selling jointly-owned (50/50) property

R

Reg

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Just wondered if anybody had any knowledge or experience of a situation like mine. I am joint owner of a house bought three years ago with my ex partner (we were not married). Shortly afterwards we split up and now live in different, separate residences, said house having remained as a weekend home. Although the property deeds and mortgage are in both our names, 50/50, I have financed, and am still financing, the entire operation (downpayment, mortgage, bills, furniture, upkeep, taxes, etc. etc.) with many years of mortgage still to go. We are both now in new relationships and I need to sell the property. Despite having financed everything, I totally realize, and agree, that I have to give my ex partner 50% of the money received on the house after deducting the remaining mortgage, and will just have to consider it a lesson learnt. However, she says she refuses to sell, and given that she makes no kind of contribution whatsoever (no mortgage, tax, repairs...) she stands to gain far more if I spend the next twenty years paying the entire mortgage off and she then claims half the worth of the house. I saw some interesting articles on another thread (buying together) about how sensible people who are buying a house together make special agreements in the event of the relationship breaking up, or one party wanting to sell the house and the other wanting to hang on to it. Unfortunately I’m not one of those people and I would like to hear if anyone knows the procedure to follow if one partner steadfastly refuses either to sell or buy the other out, nor to contribute to any of the costs. I believe that in the event of one co-owner wanting to sell (50/50 ownership), the other owner can eventually be made to sell by taking them to court, but what happens if the unwilling party does everything to make the process as long and as drawn out as possible while refusing to make any kind of contribution? What is the best way to deal with it? How long could it take? Also what is the minimum sale price the unwilling co-owner would be obliged to accept?
I am particularly interested in knowing if the person who does not want to sell, or places serious obstacles in the selling process, can be obliged to repay costs incurred (non-payment of their part of the mortgage, legal costs, etc.) from the moment the other owner makes clear his wish to sell, and is looking for or has found a buyer. I feel this could be the only leverage I might gain in my attempt to prevent an interminable legal process, given that the main motive for my ex’s attitude is financial benefit. If there were a choice between gaining X quantity of money today, and X quantity of money at a later date minus costs, I’m pretty sure she would suddenly have a change of mind.
I will shortly be consulting a lawyer about the whole process, but would like some “real input” as well as to have an idea of what to expect from a legal professional.
I’d greatly appreciate any insights.

Thanks!
 
Reg said:
I totally realize, and agree, that I have to give my ex partner 50% of the money received on the house after deducting the remaining mortgage, and will just have to consider it a lesson learnt.
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I don't think that this is necessarily the case.
Unfortunately I’m not one of those people and I would like to hear if anyone knows the procedure to follow if one partner steadfastly refuses either to sell or buy the other out, nor to contribute to any of the costs.
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Ideally you should try to negotiate a settlement between the two of you on selling and splitting the proceeds. However, if this proves impossible then it may be necessary to consider getting legal advice. If you do this try to get an idea of the costs and implications first.
 
A last resort for you might be to stop making payments and let the bank repossess the property. I'd agree with Clubman's advice to get legal advice first.
 
Many thanks for your replies,

Clubman, I originally posted my question in the property section a couple of days ago, where it was suggested that it was more pertinent to this section. Someone there answered me with the same observation regarding the 50/50 sharing of benefits, saying that the fact that the mortgage and deeds are in both our names does not necessarily mean that both get 50/50 if it can be proved that the operation -mortgage, maintenance, etc. - has been funded entirely by one of the parties. I'm not sure that the only cases in which this percentage changes is if one of the parties voluntarily recognises that the other co-owner is entitled to more (not likely to happen in this case!!), but it is certainly worth asking about. For many complicated reasons I am currently prepared to go 50/50 on the benefits of the sale of the house if we sell it now, even if the law permits me to fight for more in the circumstances. However, if your observation were right, it would provide fantastic leverage in combating her refusal to sell now with a very reasonable settlement that could disappear into thin air if I have the right to claim the percentage I have paid, i.e. everything.

I think I will inevitably have to seek legal advice. I am going to try OASIS first and then, as you suggest, try to find out how much an independent lawyer could cost for a consultation, and for representation.

RainyDay, I played with that idea as a very last resort but I assumed that I would be blacklisted if the bank had to repossess my property for non-payment of my mortgage (and my ex's, even though she never paid it anyway!) and I would dearly love to be able one day to afford to get another property, no matter how modest, for which I would need a mortgage - particularly after all the money I have lost with this transaction! Even if I didn't, not ever being able to use a credit card (cheap internet flights etc) would make life difficult. Your suggestion did make me ask myself, however, if I was being over pessimistic and that there may be some way of making that happen without losing my credit rating, so that's another thing I will bring up with the lawyer/bank manager.

Many thanks again for taking the time to answer.
 
The sooner you gets a solicitors letter out to his ex the better. She is obviously bitter and twisted but solicitors don’t care. They will eventually be forced to come to an agreement. You should gather all evidence of any payment you have made. Your solicitor will give her seven days to reply or instruct a solicitor to act on her behalf and if the letter is scarey enough she will. You should also try and make sure that his solicitor sells the house on behalf of both of ye ‘cos you will have more control then.

 
Hello Reg, having read your post, I really do feel the best option for you is to immediately take legal advice. Yours is not a straightforward situation and would benefit from some expert input.
 
ok. Here goes.

If she doesn't want to sell you can take her to court and force her. Expect this to take 12 months.

Can you prove she has never contributed? If you can then she won't get anything (depends how long you lived there as a couple).

First thing is to get her name removed from the property and that will cost money for legal advice.

Then you can either sell or let.

I went through something similar many many years ago. Ex wouldn't sign property over so she received a letter from my solictor with notice she was going to taken to court to recover 50% of all payments she had missed (a few £K). However I was willing to write this off if she signed over property within one month. (less hassle to write it off)

She signed.

The day after the property became 100% mine she picked up the last of her bits... and met my new tenants moving in. She weren't happy!!
 
Thanks very much to all for your answers.

Smi1er, I was particularly interested to see that that in your experience a forced sale, complete with court proceedings, took around 12 months. My idea is to do exactly the same as you, not claim any extra I might be entitled to just to get the whole thing over and done with.
In my case it will be more complicated and my leverage will be seriously reduced because (I don’t know if you saw a similar thread I put on the property forum where I mentioned this) we have a daughter who I maintain and, although my ex partner has custody, spends at least half her non-school time with me. The house was originally bought as a home, but was only used in that context for only a little over a year, after which my partner moved out and in with a new partner – and, no, she didn’t work during that time, or since. But then we are talking about what is now a holiday cottage, not a home (nor do I own any other property) I don’t foresee too many problems.


More importantly, a child does, of course, complicate things emotionally particularly in terms of not wanting her witness an unpleasant legal wrangle or place her mother in a precarious position no matter how unreasonable she is. In this case her mother is amply provided for by myself and she has a partner, a home (which is more than can be said for me – I have had to move back in with my parents) and I'm afraid if I want to resume a life anywhere near normal I need to sell the house.

As Joe and Vanilla ponted out, I think it's a question of getting a decent solicitor.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
 
Hi all - my situation is my girlfriend and her brother inherited their father's house and own it jointly 50/50. It's good to know that you can force a sale because that's what she wants to do - we think it'd be too much hassle even to rent it out and split the proceeds because their relationship is less than perfect. Sad that siblings would be serving solicitor's letters on eachother but there you go. We plan to buy a house together but hoping that turns out better than your experiences, Reg and Sm1ler, although the fact that we're not married could raise its own issues - that's another story though.
What I'd be interested in though is how Reg's situation panned out, as it's most similar to ours - so Reg please let me know if you read this. Hope it's resolved - it would be nice to know, as the current situation with me and gf is causing a lot of stress
 
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