Property in negative equity after divorce

Hi, I am hoping for some help. I have been divorced and remarried for 8 years. I left my previous marital home after abuse and rented alone with my dependent daughter. The marital home was in negative equity with both of our names on the mortgage. My ex remained in the property and has paid the mortgage interest ever since. He has remarried and divorced again and has a new partner cohabiting now. I could not pay towards the property after leaving and did not force a sale as his new partner had young children. The mortgage term is up in 3 years and despite my trying to resolve the issue he is ignoring the deadline saying he will leave the keys and walk away leaving the debt to me. I have been advised I could force a sale through court. I am however supporting my husband of 8 years as he was forced to medically retire a year ago and I am his carer. I need to protect any assets that my husband of 8 years owns as he is the sole mortgage holder on our home as I cant have a mortgage ( being on my ex marital home mortgage - sorry this is confusing). I am also scared that if my husband dies that I will be forced to sell his property to pay off the previous mortgage debt. I have asked my ex to sell so that the mortgage is largely cleared and we would shoulder a shortfall if the sum isn't met in full. He will not communicate and I am worried sick that this will affect my husbands security and health through stress, and my own future home should he die. I don't know how to resolve this, can anyone advise?

Im not being funny but have you looked at similar sales on Zoopla,Rightmove etc.
8 years ago we were in a recession and property prices had dropped like a brick..sorry for the pun !!
Property prices have now recovered to 2007 prices when they were high and in most areas are above the 2007 level.

Secondly I very much doubt if anyone would have allowed your x an interest only mortgage unless he had life insurance for at least the sum of the debt.

Thirdly ,but maybe not the case, unless the original purchase was a new house there was probably a deposit of at least 5%.

Much of your situation sits on the terms of the Consent Order at time of divorce which you should know the terms relating to this.

So check the current value. Maybe your x might take on a slightly larger mortgage if the figure is higher and this may enable you to get off the mortgage. You should have access to the mortgage details so have a word with the lender. You may find that there is an investment due to pay your x which will clear the debt as very few lenders would lend on interest only without the security of a payout of some kind at the end. Used to be called endowment mortgage.

Is the house and mortgage still in joint names? Was it a repayment mortgage initially or did that change along the way? You would have had to agree to any changes.

When you divorced was there any financial agreement between you? Was it informal or a court order?

The fact that you have not paid towards the costs since leaving is irrelevant especially if he has only paid interest. This will count as him paying rent for your half of the house.


The suggestion to look at current market values is a good one. You may be worrying unnecessarily and could even have a profit to share in when the place is sold.

Depending on your answer re financial agreement, there are different ways to deal with this.

Hadenoughnow

Thank you for your insight. The property ended up being paid as interest only,rather than the capital as my leaving stopped an IVA we had agreed. I was more concerned at the time for myself and my daughters safety than the repercussions of stopping the iva:dry:.we then we're made bankrupt though I was the only person who paid creditors over three years. He pleaded poverty and didn't pay anything. The eventual debt means we owe £146,000 to clear the mortgage. He has lived in and paid the mortgage since 2008 and the lender,despite my approaches, keeps saying the ball is in his court in terms of me coming off the mortgage or resolving this situation. I've drafted a letter saying that I want the property sold so we can at least clear some of the debt and intend notifying the lender of my wishes and my ex declared intention to leave the keys in two years when he reaches 65. My ex threats to walk away and dump it all on me scares me as I worry that if my husband of eight years dies..he is very ill and was told he had five years to live,that I could be asked to sell his family home to clear the debt on my ex marital home! Does that make sense? My husband is worried and this impacts on his health. After eight years I need this burden sorting as I'm struggling to earn to keep myself and family solvent, without the additional worries. I have no other debt/mortgage as everything is in my current husbands name and I worry all of this will lead me to lose my home and security.

I appreciate that this is worrying but think you need to establish the value of the property so you can work out what the potential liability may be. It could be that there is no issue.

Have a look on rightmove to see what similar properties are selling for.

When you divorced was there any kind of financial agreement? This is important.

The mortgage company isn't going to give him a mortgage in his sole name unless he applies and can afford it.

Remember you are on the mortgage but, if your name is on the deeds, you also own half the property which can be sold to clear the mortgage.

I think you need to establish values etc and work out what you would do if he said no (court?) before writing to demand a sale.


Hadenoughnow

On a practical note.
Property has a habit of going in cycles and we are currently on a high but levelling out. Predictions are still in the range of 3% increase per year which is very slightly above inflation.

The lender cannot just take the property back. There is a long winded process involving court etc.

The lender may say the ball is is his court but it must also take steps to ensure you are protected. Obviously the lender has your contact details so ask for a full account of mortgage payments made etc and to be kept informed as to the current outstanding debt. You can then compare this to the Rightmove/Zoopla valuations.

On these sites you will often see sales prices from the past on similar houses with dates sold. I am in the process of putting a charge on a property which was worth £175k in 2007 at the height of the last boom which is now worth around £250k .

For £3 you can get a copy of the land registry (make sure it is the gov.uk site not a service company) and this will tell you of any other loans/charges on the property. Nobody can put a charge against the property for a debt unless you as joint owner is informed.

You say he has 5 years left to live. I wish life was as accurate as this !! You also say that he was married/divorced again. There must be a record of the financial dealings on this. As for the current partner if they are not married then they have no claims.

So far the threats he makes are just threats. He says he will walk away. To where? He can't get help in housing due to walking away from the last property and rents are usually higher than mortgages. Im sure his new partner would be only to happy to have their cosy world disrupted.

One thing in your favour although you probably don't see it is that he cannot sell the house without your permission.

As said..check the financial settlement at time of divorce. It must have been agreed or the divorce would not have gone through.