FMH not selling,ex in occupation wont reduce price

Hi,

FMH has been on the market for nearly 18 months with X in occupation mortgage free.

Everything else apart from the sale of the house has been settled.

The Consent Order states that the house shall be sold by an agreed agent at a mutually agreed price and in default of this the agent / price will be determined by the court.

The House was originally marketed at £250k in March 2011 and has been reduced in the last 3 - 4 months by £20k in £10k increments.

The last viewing was 8 months ago and there is still no interest in the property despite the recent reductions.

I want to reduce the price further on the advice of the selling agent as I have bought another property and I do not think it is fair the X lives in the FMH for free any longer as she has the cash to buy or rent an alternative house if she chose to, there are no dependant children involved.

My ex is very reluctant to reduce further (as I would be living mortgage / rent free)

Ideally, I would like to motivate X to pay me Occupational rent @ 50% of the going rate and remain in the house unhindered with exclusive residence until sold.

Alternatively, I would like to suggest that we rent it out on 6 month AST while up for sale, it has a net rental income potential of £800pcm that we could split equally to cover our alternative housing costs and end the ongoing dispute.

I know already I have no legal right to force this so I was hoping to gain advice on the best way to motivate X to voluntarily agree.

I don’t really want to threaten to move back in, but I would if its the only option, although I have no objection to making regular visits !

I think as X is so tight with cash the best way forward may be to go back to court to have house re-valued as the agent selling it says it is overpriced by at least another £10k. I don’t really want to give it away but the current situation cant continue, there has been no interest for 9 months and the X is banking cash while its costing me.

I would particularly like help and advice on the procedure of going back to court to have house the price set by them. Any help or information on the appropriate paperwork etc appreciated, can I represent myself if need be ?

Thanks in advance.

If you want to go back to Court you will, I think, almost certainly need to have information about

The original asking price
Whether it is has been reduced and if so by what figure and on how many occasions
How many viewings
How many offers and for what figure
What other similar properties in the area have been selling for ( I think there is a website called ZOOPLA which might help but I may be wrong )

I''d ask for the advice of the selling agent as a first step.

LMM

Hi

Thanks for your reply LMM

Im going to do all you said, before I make an application I will write to the X giving her 14 days to agree a new asking price.

If she doesnt respond or we cant agree a price I will ask the court to give me conduct of sale and an award for costs in addition to setting a realistic asking price.

Anyone else got any tips or info ??

Just wondering how you got on with this as I''m in a similar situation?

Hi,

I didnt end up going to court but I wrote to ex advising her I had had enough of her messing around and I would be moving back into the property in one calender month as I couldnt afford to live anywhere else so she agreed very reluctantly to pay me occupational rent at 50% of market value in return for exclusive occupation rights.

In addition I gave her notice that I believed she was in breach of the court order and could prove it with the letter from the EA and if she didnt comply with the EA''s advice and reduce the property I would make an application to the court for enforcement etc and ask for a costs award too.

Good result I reckon ... the house has been drastically reduced and is under offer.

My advice would be to do what I did, spell out exactly what it is you want and why and then explain what will happen if there is no compromise agreed, use all of the motivational techniques you read about on these forums and make things really uncomfortable without doing anything illegal ... but you must be prepared to do what you say your going to do and face the likely consequences as if you dont its likely to make things worse as your ex will take the urine even more .... good luck !