Advice needed on renting out property

Hello

I am hoping someone can help me.

I have Consent Order with my ex that amongst other things states our former home (jointly owned by he and I) will be rented out and he will bear all costs related to this (i.e pay the mortgage if there are no tenants).

He has given me 4 weeks to empty the house (everything in it is mine - furniture and all) it is a 3 bed semi. I have been in the house twice over the last year, since he removed me and our daughter. I live 2 hrs drive away in my parents home, work full time, and have full care of our child.

He has also stated he will rent out the property, but refuses to involve me at all - he won;t share the details of the agreement he has signed with the agent (hasn''t even told them its a jointly owned property), has taken on an expensive full management contract - which the rent won;t cover - even if he finds tenants.

I am really worried that he is going to incur all these costs and then lumber me with them.

The house had to stay in joint names, as he could not afford to buy me out, nor I him. And its in negative equity.

Can he just do what he wants simply because the consent order states we agree to rent it? or do I have some rights here still - given I still own the property with him?

I don;t earn enough to cover the mortgage and support our daughter - if he doesn;t pay it, or doesn''t find tenants - I am going to be in a mess very quickly.

He had told me he could afford to cover both the mortgage and his new house with his girlfriend, but then yesterday - when he told me I had no right to be involved in the rental, that he also couldn;t afford both the mortgage and the rent.

Can he just go ahead and sign up to whatever he wants??

If he has signed the agreement with the leting agency than it is his responsibility -unless you countersign it, you are not liable for any of the management costs.

As the mortgage is still in joint names you are entitled to know that this is being paid, and you should be able to arrange directly with the mortgage company for them to keep you informed.

If neither of you lives in the house or can afford to buy the other out, why didn''t you sell it?

Jointly owning a rental house with an ex sounds like a really really bad idea to me. It raises all kinds of problems such as the ones you mention. Did you get advice from a solicitor before signing this consent order?

We were going to sell it, and his Dad had offered to pay the negative equity - we even had a buyer -but then he decided he wanted residence, so launched correspondance between our lawyers, making all sorts of wild accusations of me in respect of our child - it cost me £10K, so I assume it cost him near enought the same. He used the money his Dad had given him to pay his legal fees....so we couldn;t sell anymore without incurring huge amounts more of debt.

My ex wouldn''t do a disclosure out of court so my lawyer couldn''t advise much.

It is a bad idea, but it seemed better than bankruptcy...

I wanted to live in the house, but he fought this as our home is 3 hrs drive from where his girlfriend lives -so contact would have been impacted. He basically refused to pay me anything unless I lived nearer him - as I earn very little compared to him, I had to compromise.

twiggy123 wrote:

I wanted to live in the house, but he fought this as our home is 3 hrs drive from where his girlfriend lives -so contact would have been impacted. He basically refused to pay me anything unless I lived nearer him - as I earn very little compared to him, I had to compromise.

I don''t understand this. You did not have to compromise at all. His girlfriend''s location is not your problem. If he refused to pay you then you could have gone through the CSA for child maintenance and applied for maintenance pending suit for spousal maintenance. In fact it sounds as though he was being completely unreasonable, so you could have applied to court anyway. This would also force financial disclosure. I am bit mystified why your solicitor said he couldn''t advise much. The obvious thing to do in your circumstances would be to apply to court.

But, I guess that''s water under the bridge now...


Now that you have the consent order you both have to abide by its terms. If he does not then you can apply to court for enforcement and also make a costs claim. If you need to do that then you should inform him of your intentions first, to give him a chance to co-operate. This is necessary for a costs claim to be successful.

I did apply to court - he adjourned the hearings for a year claiming he wanted to settle out of court - then would find a reason not to - then started the whole residence thing - and because of the very serious nature of the acccusations made of me - it put residence into question until I was cleared and it concluded that everything he said was uttter nonsense. He then decided he did not want residence.

The court date was ultimately subject to a court order - so he HAD to attend. Before the hearing, he refused to exchange form E - and sadly after all this wasted time I had to make a decision one way or another as I have to get my daughter into school this year - I didn;t want her to build comfort here and then have to move again.

He presented the consent order to the judge at the hearing - I either agreed or had months of litigation. TBH, I just wanted an end to it.

Sorry to throw a further spanner into the works but has he checked with your mortgage lender and buildings insurance about letting the house?

You should be able to find out who the letting agent is by looking on Right Move. My letting agent insisted on signatures from both me and my ex to try to find a tenant for our flat, and also needed mortgage details and insurance details.