Property Law- Cheating girlfriend

[r4zorb4ck]

My friends girlfriend has been cheating on him. She has moved back in to her parents. My friend wants to buy her out and early last night she agreed to let my friend buy her out. Signing the relevent documents to release the deeds. Then changed her mind and ripped up the form, then decided she is moving back in. He is the main income provider, but she does work. What my queston is.

She states that she is going to fight him all the way to sell the house,just because she does not want him to have another woman in the house when she has gone.

What rights has he got to stay in the house without selling. He can afford to buy her out,but she cannot. You would think she would take the money and run. There are no children involved. The citizen advice website was not much help. Any more advice would be great. Thanks in advance.

[WendyS]

This is a difficult one. If both their names are on the deeds, then they both have a right to live in the house and it looks like they will end up fighting like cat and dog in the meantime if she moves back in. . Neither can legally lock each other out either. However, if he name is also on the mortgage loan but the house isn't in joint names the legal situation might be different.This is a recipe for a real cat fight unless somebody sees sense and agrees to either sell out their share, or they both put the house on the market. I suppose he could put pressure on her by refusing to pay the mortgage any longer but that would only cut off his nose to spite his face as the building society would eventually threaten to repossess. However, it might concentrate her mind to take the money while she can. Has your friend consulted a solicitor? I imagine this situation happens quite frequently with couples splitting up but I doubt whether he will be able to offer much practical advice if neither of them is willing to compromise..

[gammaray]

She can't stop him moving in a new woman though! This might concentrate her mind even more than not paying the mortgage. If his new girl is looking like she's making herself at home and starts suggesting decorating styles and mentions that she's going to be very happy there, the ex will agree to sell the property from under her just to P**s on her fireworks.

[123paul]

She would have to apply to the court for an order for sale in the absence of agreement from the other co-owner.

If one co-owner can afford to purchase the others' share the court will almost always provide for that to happen; staying any order for sale to enable the other to purchase. The identity of the purchaser should be irrelavant provided the share is sold for market value & the court recognises this.

[erimus1]

One other thng that you fried must bare in mind is that even if he manages to get his ex to sign, it is still up to the lender at whether they allow her to forefit her liability on the loan.

Provisions for the co-ownership can be found in the Family Law Act 1996 (as ammended - recently).

It would be to your friends advantage if he could show that he had made all the payments towards the mortgage and the original deposit.

Speaking from experiecn, when I broke up with my wife, I offered to purchase the house (solely in her name as she had purchased it before we met). She refused, but never made another mortgage payment after we split. This was just her being vindictive as she could well afford it.

Law degre and a Masters later, I think I can quite confidently say that he is in with a good chance. If I were him now though, I would make things concrete by applying to the County Court for both an Occupation order for him, and an exclusion order for his ex. Then get his solicitor to formaly request the buy out. As the ex is already out of the house, by making a compulsory sale order, they would probably do so knowing that they were not making one of the parties homeless.

Goodl luck to your friend.
Steve

[paddy_36]

bare in mind? forefit? formaly? And you have a degree and a postgraduate qualification, erimus1?