Selling house - joint mortgage

[marcusjames]

Hoping one of you can offer some advice.

A friend has split with her husband, and he recently moved out. She has been trying to sell the house with little success. She had contemplated handing the keys back and making an arrangment for the shortfall. She finally received a offer, albeit a little lower than she wanted. After starting the process, the husband refused to agree, and made comments about wanting to see her bankrupt etc (along with death threats and abusive phone calls to her office etc).

Is there a way for her to "force" him to agree to sell? Would she have to remove his name from the mortgage to do this, and if so, would this eliminate his liability to any shortfall?

[anonymous-user]

Don't think she can force him, but if it's a joint mortgage and it came to bankruptcy he would also be affected.

Should he agree to let her buy him out, the mortgage lender will also have to agree to this. I.e. She would be assessed as if it were a new mortgage for the amount the in question.

HTH

[SplatSpeed]

needs to get divorced and get a settlement stating how much equity + or - from the house she is due

[TheCoolerKing]

The bank would rather cut off its right leg than remove someone from the mortgage, fact, you've got more chance of getting any bank charges refunded.

I even doubt this would happen after a divorce.

The only way I know is to sell the property or re-mortgage in one name.

I know its not easy when its a difficult divorce but going bankrupt will not help either of your friends and if you got into financial difficulties you've have all manner of scum ringing you up. You might even lose your house the bank would simply auction it for a lot less than you could sell it for.

My best advice is to ask your friends to put there hatred for each other to one side and try to sell the house, because whilst they are married debts and financial problesm will affect them both.

[scotal]

marcusjames said:

She finally received a offer, albeit a little lower than she wanted. After starting the process, the husband refused to agree.

That's the sticking point right there, and its quite common in divorce cases. Until he agrees to sell, whether thats an actual sale, or him selling his stake in the house to her, then she's not going anywhere.

If she can afford the mortgage then the lender might remove him from the mortgage, but again it won't be done without his agreement.
Which until he sees sense doesn't sound like its going to happen.

[TheCoolerKing]

scotal said:

marcusjames said:

She finally received a offer, albeit a little lower than she wanted. After starting the process, the husband refused to agree.

That's the sticking point right there, and its quite common in divorce cases. Until he agrees to sell, whether thats an actual sale, or him selling his stake in the house to her, then she's not going anywhere.

If she can afford the mortgage then the lender might remove him from the mortgage, but again it won't be done without his agreement.
Which until he sees sense doesn't sound like its going to happen.

I really doubt the lender would remove by agreement even if she has the means. Reading between the lines it sounds like neither can afford to keep on the property and selling would be best option especially if there is any hint of pondlfe debt collectors rubbing there grumby little hands together.

I think the solution still needs to be that one partner wants to sell. The sale would benefit them both as in a clean break, the alternative is finacial problems that could see them BOTH have difficulty obtaining another mortgage for years to come and still have to deal with stupid phone calls and childish letters.

[scotal]

TheCoolerKing said:

I really doubt the lender would remove by agreement even if she has the means.

If she can demonstrate affordabilty its possible, I've done it. Admittedly in amicable separations, not in contested ones.
It's lender dependent on whether its a new mortgage or not (basically if she's on a really good rate they'll fk her over onto something that suits them better)

TheCoolerKing said:

Reading between the lines it sounds like neither can afford to keep on the property and selling would be best option especially if there is any hint of pondlfe debt collectors rubbing there grumby little hands together.

That I agree with, but it sounds like the ex is on a mission to ruin her life. As such she's screwed whilst he refuses to accept an offer. And whilst the mortgage is currenthe can play that game pretty much indefinitely.
I'd advise against handing the keys back, it will really harm her chances of getting on stable ground financially any time in the near future.

[marcusjames]

Thanks for the replies.

The house has dropped since they bought it two years ago. The situation now is the agent's suggested price is circa the outstanding mortgage level. The current offer is £30k lower.

Somebody has suggested an "order of sale" through the courts. She is worried that this will remove him from the mortgage liability though. Any thoughts on this point ?

Thanks