single mum and father pushing to sell house

Sorry to hear of your situation which must be very frightening for you and your child. Are/were you married? If you were, have the finances been settled formally with a Consent Order? Have you agreed the split of all other assets?

I believe that priority is always given to the housing of young children and the primary carer so would be surprised if your ex would be able to convince a judge to force a sale unless the property is much bigger than you need. Can you afford to keep up with the payments on the house yourself?

Are you saying that he''s asking you for more money than the house is worth or more than the equity?

I would be furious if my ex had sent Estate Agents around without my permission. Most estate agents would insist on a signature from both owners before marketing a property. How long has your ex been moved out? Depending how long he''s been gone you could have rights to privacy in your own home so you might need to think about changing the locks.

Estate agents I believe are regulated by the FSA, so they have serious obligations to be competent in law.

I am astounded to hear that an estate agent walked into your home stating that they were told by the owner not to talk to you. Firstly it sounds like you are joint tennents (so in law joint owners) and secondly even if you are not and your are basically a tennent (someone either renting or with rights in law) that your rights are being set aside in all of this.


Do not stand for it: if he and his family are bullying you which it definitely sounds like they are make sure your rights and that of your son are protected whilst this is sorted out.

Hang in there and if you have any more information which may be relevent such as other assets, his parents involvement and any company involvement post it up as it might help.

thank you for your replys..

some details

We never got married, been together for 7 years, our son is 5 years old.

we brought our house when our son was born, it;s a small 4 bed house (4th room a box). I have no family here my family are very supportive but 2 1/2 hours drive away .. we choice to be here because of my partner. So if the house was to sell my son and myself would need to move out of the area thus change of schools and more upset for him.

We have been separated for 13 weeks.

My ex gave his father who was the one who instructed estae agents not to communicate with me.. one EA refused and he went into their office and was shouting saying he was the client!! - to be clear he has no rights or hold on the property other than my ex''s father. He had to be removed from the office.

As he half owned the house i thought i couldn''t change the locks or stop him coming in... he has been turning up whenever he likes, saying he can.

I am being pushed around trying to keep the peace but now i need to stick upfor myself or i''ll find myself homeless and a very upset little boy.

Natasha, you say you are not married but you bought the house together. Do you have a joint mortgage? Are both names on the deeds? If in his sole name then you need to register your rights.

In the meantime I think maybe you need to ''lose'' your house keys and have to get the locks changed. After that he can let you know when/why he or family or estate agents need access. Good luck x

yes we are not married, we have a joint mortage in both our names and the house is in both our names on the deed.

His family, are very controling and his dad thinks it''s his way or noway .. as you can see by his actions.

He wants to sell the house..and seems to think he can do it if out me or bully me into it.

I am scared and very stressed by it all.

I hope someone else on here can advise but I seem to remember reading a post recently that said that there are rights under the children''s act for you to stay in the home, or to have more of the equity.

The law is a bit confusing about his right to enter as he does have a right as co-owner but you also have a right to privacy. The longer he''s away the stronger your rights become. His Father clearly has no right to enter so you could argue that you needed to change the lock to stop him entering. You could look into getting an occupation order but I think you would have to prove that you feel threatened by your ex to be succesful at that.

Hi
As I understand things he can''t sell the property without your signature as you name is on the deeds.
If you have not done so already call your mortgage company and register a ''marital'' dispute with them.

LB