Hi

I am looking for some advice as I don’t really know what to do or where I stand. I apologise now for this being so long winded.

I have a mortgage with my ex partner, who moved out in 2007. He obviously stopped paying his half of the mortgage when he moved out. I have kept the payments up ever since. I was advised to get the house valued when he moved out, which I did a few months later and the house then, was around £10k in negative equity and I assume still is (there or there about). If there was any money in the house, and wouldn’t have landed my ex and I in even more debt, then it would have gone up for sale when we split up.

He ran up a lot of debt on the house after he moved out (which took a long time to sort out with the debt collectors etc). Also last year, he was about to go bankrupt but I sought advice and as the house is in negative equity, I was told that the house wouldn’t be taken off me. I didn’t hear anything from him after that so assumed that the bankruptcy didn’t go ahead. Before he told me he was going bankrupt, he contacted me asking me to buy him out and saying that he should be en_title_d to some money. I explained that the house was in negative equity so he wouldn’t be en_title_d to anything. I was also advised that as the house is in negative equity, he would be liable for half of the £10k if we sold it.

I live in the house with my fiancé and the ideal solution would be for us to remortgage in our names. However, my fiancé is still on the mortgage with his ex which is currently going through court as she was supposed to have him removed from the mortgage two years ago as part of the divorce agreement but has refused to do so. Unfortunately, my fiancé fell behind with some payments (he took on all of the family debts as part of the divorce agreement) when he was made redundant two years ago and was out of work for a short while so he wouldn’t be credit worthy anyway.

I contacted my mortgage lender and they said that it may be possible to have a ‘change of parties’ so that the mortgage can be transferred solely into my name. When I received the information, I contact my ex partner and explained it to him as he would need to agree to it. However he is now being very difficult. He is saying that he refuses to sign the house over to me when he paid into it for two years so why should he walk away with nothing. That I can understand to a degree, but he didn’t pay a penny after he moved out (which is fair enough) and he has also walked away from all of the debt as I have kept up all the payments which hasn’t been easy.

I have suggested to him that we get the house valued, and take the mortgage statements to a financial advisor together, so we can find out the options. That way he doesn’t have to take my word for it or think that I am trying to do him out of anything (not that I can!). He is pretty much refusing to do that and is saying that the house should be signed over to him and if its not worth anything, then there shouldn’t be a problem. I have tried to explain to him that it doesn’t work like that. For a start, for it to go into his name they would do a credit check and judging by the amount of debt he has got himself into, they wouldn’t just let him take it on by himself. He has also suggested that I either give him £5000 to ‘pay him off’ or he give me £5000 and he gets the house. Even if it could work that way I certainly don’t have £5000 and I very much doubt he has either! I’ve tried to tell him that legally, it can’t work like that and that I don’t make the rules. He says he isn’t concerned with the law or with the rules.

I just really do not know what to do next or where I stand with this. Does he have any legal en_title_ment to the house and if so, what would he need to do to get the house? I’m not ruling out him ‘having’ the house but legally, I don’t see how he could as he wouldn’t pass a credit check for a start or how he could claim to have rights to it when I’ve been paying for and marinating the house. Do I have more rights as I have been paying the mortgage for 3 years after he moved out and if so, what do I do if he refuses to sign anything?

Apologies again for this being so long,