forcing sale on jointly owned property

[cherelleavision]

I split from my ex-boyriend 3 years ago and we both jointly own a property which was mortgaged. I had to declare myself bankrupt shortly after leaving him as he was not in any form of employment, would not take a job and refused to allow me to sell the house to pay of creditors to whom we jointly owed money to. My bankruptcy is finished and as the trustees could not sell the property within the 3 year they had to do it, the propety has been revested back to me. My parents paid the deposit for the house and i paid the bills and upkeep for the 2 years we were living together there. can i force the sale of the house and am i entitled to any of profit so i can at least pay my parents back?

[ummmm]

Who has been paying the mortgage for the last 3 years?

[cherelleavision]

He has been paying mortgage for last 3 years though i understand from friends he has been making a payment and then missing some as apparently it cannot be reposessed unless 3 consecutive payments are missed!!

[themas]

So he's got a job now if he can pay the mortgage?

If the ownership & mortgage are joint you need to contact the mortgage lender yourself and find out what the position is. I cannot believe he can repeatedly miss payments without them being able to start repossession proceedings. [What you say implies he could go on paying just 1 month in 3 without them doing anything - that just is not on!] Once you know whether there are mortgage arrears, how much they are & what the lender intends to do about them you will be better placed to decide what to do yourself.

If you paid the mortgage for 2 years & he has paid it for 3 (assuming he has!) then on the face of it any equity should be split 40% to you & 60% to him, but only after the deposit paid by you parents had been deducted first. That too should come to you to pass on to them.

If he refuses to agree a sale you can apply to Court for an order for sale. You need a solicitor to advise you on whether this is likely to be granted, & on the likely split of equity.

Before spending money on legal costs, you should also get a realistic sale valuation as well as clarifying the mortgage situation so that you know how much equity there is.