fatscoobyfella

My brother has ended up in a bit of a dilema..He has split up from his missus after 21 yrs together,no unusual circumstances,just got sick and tired of looking at each other!!He has moved out back to mums..

He wants a divorce and to sell the house.
His missus doesnt want a divorce and rants and raves about having the house sold from underneath her,she flatly refuses to discuss the situation.
The position is that my brother is still paying the mortgage,she hasn't got a job,and i have never known her to have one.So she aint got a pot to pi** in.

He has been to a solicitor who has said that it could be very costly to get her out of the house if she doesnt agree to selling it.Basically he will be paying £150 an hour while she will be getting legal aid to fight the case.The solicitor said it could easily go into 5 figures in fee's!!!!

So whats his situation?? What would happen if he just stopped paying the mortgage?Would the mortgage company repossess and keep all of the proceeds?(Only owes 9k on 120k mortgage).

he just wants to sell and split the money and move on,but she wont even discuss it..

Any help or advice appreciated.

Hanslow

Get him to lurk outside the house. When the (soon to be very) ex goes out to do some shopping, nip inside, change the locks, job done.

fatscoobyfella

Thought of that...She would just have someone break in and change the locks for herself..She is pretty determined to stay put!!

boxst

Hello

Are there any children involved living in the house? That adds complications.

Steve

fatscoobyfella

No mate.......No kids at the house at all..

fatscoobyfella

Any idea's fella's??

Gordo

tell him to move back in and make her life so miserable that she'll want to get out of there . e.g. when she's out take critical life items such as the TV, oven etc and put them in storage. They're his anyway, right?

cancel the gas / electric / water (presumably they're in his name). he can eat, have showers etc at your mum's. when she re-instates in her name (assuming she has some money?) start using them excessively.

I'm assuming they no longer have a joint bank account? If they do, empty it.

A car she has access to in his name? sell it.


Gordo

fatscoobyfella

Cheers Gordo...Good advice.Some of them steps have already been taken.The moving back in thing may not wash with her tho..In her head that will mean he wants to go back.She is a little flaky to say the least!!

Oh yea..I would have thought everything in the house is his...Unless you get some kind of award for sitting on your fat chunks all day.??

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Get your brother to tell her it's all over and that he WILL be getting on with his life without her. Then in a couple of weeks / months he should take his new girlfriend (either for real or *cough* 'hired') back to the house and have great sex on the safa while the ex is watching TV. That way she'll either leave of her own free will, or try to kill him with a carving knife and end up doing a 10 stretch, either way, jobs a good un.

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

you could stop paying the mortgage and get the house repossed, however this will probably **** up your bros credit rating and will make getting another mortgage a tad difficult. Also as the mortgage co are only owed about 9k then they will sell it probably at a cheaper rate for a quick sale so they are paid off. Best bet is loosen the carpet at the top of the stairs (not to hurt her but just to aid the removal of goods when she agrees to sell)

Mrs WRX

Here is what your brother has to do.

Go to a solicitor and tell them that he wants to go to court to enforce a sale. This costs about £140 for court fees. When it goes to court the percentage will be worked out for who gets what. As there are no children the court will give the ex 6 months to raise the money to buy your brother out. If she doesnt raise the money in that time then the court will enforce a sale order inwhich the house has to be sold no matter what the ex says.

As there are no children involved no court in the land will agree to the ex staying in the house and not selling it.

Hope that helps

Edited to say that it wont always end up with thousands of fees. Some solicitors will bill your brother for some and when the enforcement is in place they will take their fees out of the profit of the house. If he tells the solicitor what he wants and pushes to go to court there is no reason to why his fees should be more than £2000. And he can claim his fees back from her part of the settlement.

fatscoobyfella

Excellent.......Just the info we needed.I was sure you could enforce the sale,but im not sure even if his solicitor mentioned this too him.My brother certainly didnt mention it too me..

will have a word and see what the situation is...At the end of the day £2k-£3k even in fee's aint too bad to get the job done!!

thanx again

Brendan Hughes

You can try, but a friend of mine got that court enforced thing, his ex tried to buy him out via a 3rd party thus squashing any form of sale (he would sell to anyone but her), and she ended up changing the locks and living there while he got nowt. Not nice.

Drunken Bungle Whore

One word of warning to pass on. Make sure he remains in very close contact with the mortgage company. I got seriously badly stung in a similar situation when they had all of my contact details - and had used them - but then decided not to. Don't get me started!

It will be tough selling the house though - if she decides not to tidy it, or clear the garden, or generally be awkward around viewings it can put people off.