Legal advice 're house sale please.

[CTO]

Evening all,

Hopefully you can settle a discussion (argument) that SWMBO and I are currently having.

I'll try and keep the outline brief.

Person A and person B separated some years back but still have a joint mortgage on a property, which person A lives in and has paid the mortgage for previous years.

The property is now for sale.

Person B has agreed to a nominal amount of 2.5k with the rest of the equity going to person A upon sale of the house.

.... and this is the point we are currently debating. (See below)

Does there need to be a formal agreement drawn up by the solicitors outlining the terms of the above and arranging for the equity to be divided up and paid into person A and person B's bank accounts.
OR.

Can person A say to person B. "Meet me at the solicitors office to sign on the dotted line to authorise the house sale, and at the point of doing so, I will hand you your 2.5k"

My view is that the latter would be fine. The house is being sold by A and B jointly and their arrangement for who gets what out of the equity is their business and the solicitor has no need to be involved.

Person A has assurance that person B will turn up and sign.

Person B has assurance that they will receive the 2.5k agreed by doing so, as it will be handed over once the paperwork is signed.

.........

Hopefully the above is fairly clear, I will add more info if required but hope that's sufficient to get a steer on it from those of you in the know.

Thanks in advance,

CTO

[Red Devil]

Without a formal agreement what's to stop Person B coming back for more?

It could go something like this. "As you very well know, we agreed that the £2.5k in the brown envelope was just a sign of good faith and the first instalment of £X that is due to me."

Option 1 every time.

[Jasandjules]

Always put such matters in writing.

[CTO]

I did wonder about the option of person B coming back for more.

However, they don't really have the wherewithal to dispute or fund a challenge to the agreed amount in future. The 2.5k is an agreed amount to smooth the wheels of the paperwork being signed.

They aren't really the sharpest tool in the tool cabinet, a tool though nevertheless

How straightforward would it be for the solicitor to draw up such an arrangement as part of the house sale? Could they do this, or would another solicitor be needed for that part?

Thanks for replies so far. Appreciated.

[jimbobs]

I had this situation with an ex about 10 years ago. I stupidly paid her the agreed amount of cash prior to the sale being finalised.

Obviously when the day came that she needed to sign some paperwork, she suddenly decided that I'd sold her short and she needed and extra 5 grand. At this point there was nothing I could do apart from swallow hard and pay her. I also had to sit through a lecture from my solicitor about never handing over cash without a written agreement.

So talk to the solicitor- it's pretty easy for them to sort out. They will arrange the paperwork and on the day of completion they'll divvy up the money according to the agreement.

[CTO]

Thanks Jim.

The scenario you mentioned had already crossed my mind, we were planning to have another couple of k with us to help things along if it did happen.

Seems the advice is to get it drawn up as part of the agreement of sale then. Hopefully the same solicitor can take care of this also.

Cheers.