What rights does ex boyfriend have over house
Discussion
My sister in law received a letter this morning off her ex boyfriend ( long story short, they bought a house joint mortgage in 2006, had 2 kids, she caught him cheating in February 2013,he left on his own accord for the other woman , he took all his stuff so she bought pretty much everything new, his name is still on mortgage as she can't get one on her own, he hasn't paid any child support or anything towards the mortgage or the £4000 arrears they run up whilst together, she cleared the arrears in the meanwhile and has kept up-to-date with the payments).
The letter says he wants a key to the house by Christmas day at the latest so he can enter the house any time he wants ( him and his new girlfriend are renting a house together) or he will take legal action.
Does anyone know if he has any rights over the house ( by the way the house in in negative equity, the mortgage balance is about £120,000 but the house was recently valued at £110,000) and is he entitled to a key.
Thanks in advance for any advice it's just really stressing her out just before Christmas and it doesn't help she can't get an appointment with citizens advice until after Christmas
The letter says he wants a key to the house by Christmas day at the latest so he can enter the house any time he wants ( him and his new girlfriend are renting a house together) or he will take legal action.
Does anyone know if he has any rights over the house ( by the way the house in in negative equity, the mortgage balance is about £120,000 but the house was recently valued at £110,000) and is he entitled to a key.
Thanks in advance for any advice it's just really stressing her out just before Christmas and it doesn't help she can't get an appointment with citizens advice until after Christmas
t posts in between.e39darren said:
My sister in law received a letter this morning off her ex boyfriend ( long story short, they bought a house joint mortgage in 2006, had 2 kids, she caught him cheating in February 2013,he left on his own accord for the other woman , he took all his stuff so she bought pretty much everything new, his name is still on mortgage as she can't get one on her own, he hasn't paid any child support or anything towards the mortgage or the £4000 arrears they run up whilst together, she cleared the arrears in the meanwhile and has kept up-to-date with the payments).
The letter says he wants a key to the house by Christmas day at the latest so he can enter the house any time he wants ( him and his new girlfriend are renting a house together) or he will take legal action.
Does anyone know if he has any rights over the house ( by the way the house in in negative equity, the mortgage balance is about £120,000 but the house was recently valued at £110,000) and is he entitled to a key.
Thanks in advance for any advice it's just really stressing her out just before Christmas and it doesn't help she can't get an appointment with citizens advice until after Christmas
If he's on the mortgage, he'll be a part-owner at the Land Registry. Are they tenants in common or joint tenants, and if t-i-c, is there a split other than 50/50 registered?The letter says he wants a key to the house by Christmas day at the latest so he can enter the house any time he wants ( him and his new girlfriend are renting a house together) or he will take legal action.
Does anyone know if he has any rights over the house ( by the way the house in in negative equity, the mortgage balance is about £120,000 but the house was recently valued at £110,000) and is he entitled to a key.
Thanks in advance for any advice it's just really stressing her out just before Christmas and it doesn't help she can't get an appointment with citizens advice until after Christmas
Sounds like the pair of them need to get over their past differences and sit down like grown-ups, and discuss the best way out of it. She has the prospect of the CSA getting involved on her side, but the downside that she's going to have to move if she can't mortgage it herself.
R8Steve said:
I suppose the main question i would have is why does he want a key?
"It's my house, I want a key"...Or, since these things always have two sides, perhaps he's trying to force an ongoing issue to closure, because he doesn't actually want to be responsible for the mortgage on a house he doesn't live at and which is in -ve equity - but she isn't making any attempt to do anything, because she's in a house she can't actually afford to stay in otherwise.
TooMany2cvs said:
R8Steve said:
I suppose the main question i would have is why does he want a key?
"It's my house, I want a key"...Or, since these things always have two sides, perhaps he's trying to force an ongoing issue to closure, because he doesn't actually want to be responsible for the mortgage on a house he doesn't live at and which is in -ve equity - but she isn't making any attempt to do anything, because she's in a house she can't actually afford to stay in otherwise.
Why did he not just keep his own key when he left with all his stuff if he's that bothered about it.
Citizens Advice would seem like the first port of call, if she doesn't want or cant afford legal advice, although some of the lawyers on here might comment.
However there is presumably some reason for this demand which is probably as mentioned he does not want liability for the house going forward.
I would have thought the solution is seeking a lawyer to respond and making various demands including an amount for maintenance, an mount towards the negative equity and then an offer to take him off the deeds and mortgage. The hope being that your sister can reduce the amount outstanding to a level that enables her to get a mortgage.
However legal advice is definitely required, if nothing else to prevent a ruined Christmas.
However there is presumably some reason for this demand which is probably as mentioned he does not want liability for the house going forward.
I would have thought the solution is seeking a lawyer to respond and making various demands including an amount for maintenance, an mount towards the negative equity and then an offer to take him off the deeds and mortgage. The hope being that your sister can reduce the amount outstanding to a level that enables her to get a mortgage.
However legal advice is definitely required, if nothing else to prevent a ruined Christmas.
I am not a lawyer but if she has received a letter from him threatening legal action and not his legal representative she has some breathing space. I would suggest that she organizes her meeting with CA as early in January as possible and go from there. They will be able to point her in the right direction regarding her rights (if she has any these days) and who may be a decent legal person to talk to about how to manage the whole thing. I very much doubt any legal issues could be aimed at her before Xmas if the Ex hasn't spoken to a solicitor by now.
voyds9 said:
Don't confuse
1) wanting a key, being part owner of the house
2) maintenance for children
3) parental access rights to children
they are 3 separate issues and should be seen as such.
Having been in a very similar situation myself a few years back, I agree that these are the key points.1) wanting a key, being part owner of the house
2) maintenance for children
3) parental access rights to children
they are 3 separate issues and should be seen as such.
My ex and I were joint owners of the house - she had every right to a house key, but access was under my terms as a number of my items had gone missing in the early days of what started as an amicable split. I couldn't refuse here entry, but she couldn't insist on me not being there either.
Once the threats of violence started from her new circle of friends, then I could change the locks at the advice of both the police and my solicitor. Things went rapidly downhill from there, I initially offered to pay her £xx in settlement which she agreed to, but once the new circle got involved, solicitors got more involved, things got a bit nasty and she finally agreed to around half what I had initially offered.
Thankfully there were no kids involved in my situation, but until the house ownership, and also the mortgage is formally split, then both parties do seem to have equal rights to access. But as above, get a solicitor in early, as it will turn nasty.
IANAL but:
If he paid anything towards the running of the house then as far as I understand it he has some rights. I would tell her to start here https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/... also here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/relationships/re... and here: http://www.terry.co.uk/cohabs.html
If she has some cash to hand it may be worth filing for an "occupation order" https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/relationships/re... which would at least park having to give him a key by 25/12 as you would need to wait till that was heard by a judge. It would also flush out why he wants a key as he has to file a response to her application.
It might be worth seeing if she has legal advice wrapped into any insurance she has.
If he paid anything towards the running of the house then as far as I understand it he has some rights. I would tell her to start here https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/... also here https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/relationships/re... and here: http://www.terry.co.uk/cohabs.html
If she has some cash to hand it may be worth filing for an "occupation order" https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/relationships/re... which would at least park having to give him a key by 25/12 as you would need to wait till that was heard by a judge. It would also flush out why he wants a key as he has to file a response to her application.
It might be worth seeing if she has legal advice wrapped into any insurance she has.
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