time limit

[Janbuck]

My husband signed over his half of the house he was buying with his ex in lieu of maintenamce payments for their son, this was in 1976. His work was erratic at the time and he couldn't commit to regular payments. He made up for this as and when his finances were better, buying his son clothes, school uniforms and other items to help his ex. The paper he signed had a proviso that if the house was ever to be sold he would receive half of the profits. However my husband had forgotten about this over the years and has no contact with his ex although he sees his son regularly. He's just found out that his ex was on the point of signing the contract to sell the house (which she no longer lives in and was renting out) when the solicitor told her she would have tp pay some money to my husband. She promptly refused to sign and did not sell the house. Does my husband have the legal right, after all these years, to force the sale of the house. It's worth about �80,000. He's not bothered about getting half, he would be quite happy with about �20,000 but is not sure how to go about it.. Could I just have sensible answers to my question and not a load of abuse aimed at my husband. Thank you

[MustafaTickl]

If he is named on the Title as a tenant in common or if the agreement to which you refer is registered at the Land Registry as a Restriction then he can apply to a court for an order to sell. If you do not know then go to this link
http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/
and read the Register - it will cost you �3 - you can make a copy. If it is neither of the foregoing he will have to wait until it is sold.

[Ethel]

Can you clarify a few points - you say he 'signed over his half'.

Was there a mortgage on the property at the time? If not, all well and good for his case.

If there was - how many years had he been paying before he signed it over? Has she paid most of the mortgage herself?

[Janbuck]

The house is not on the Land Registry as it has never been sold since the new laws about registering came in. There was a mortgage originally of �2000 (house bought in the mid 60's) of which about half was paid off by my husband by the time he left. His ex has obviously paid the other half. We can't get a copy of the paper he signed as the courts only keep them for 25 years. His ex obviously has something but won't let us have a copy. My husband even offered to revoke his claim if his ex paid him a nominal sum of �2000 but she refused. So where do we go from here?

[Annlinda]

I would have thought that if the house was no longer her residence and was rented out he would have a claim on half of the rent received. A court order for a forced sale is not a difficult procedure

[MustafaTickl]

Simply apply to the Land Registry for the property to be given a Title No. You do not need the consent of the owner. Speak to your local District Land Registry Office who will guide you through the process rather than me type it out here. Once the Title No is issued then apply again to the Land Registry for a Restriction to be entered in favour of your husband. You will need to employ a solicitor to do this as it requires legal phrasing but the cost should be in the very low hundreds. A temporary restriction will be entered and at the same time the LR will notify the ex who must reply either accepting or opposing. From what you say she will oppose upon which the LR will establish a Tribunal under an Adjudicator to sort things out. I will not go into the whole detail of how that works but sufficient to say that a stage called "Disclosure" will be reached at which the ex must hand over to you copies of all documentation she has relating to the property. At that point you will know all about everything and be able to decide exactly what you are entitled to and how to proceed. To get a temporary restriction issued is very important to you as without it the ex may find a way to raise money on the property and hide it away so that when you do eventually get there the cupboard is bare.

[Janbuck]

Thanks very much everyone for all your help. I'll copy your comments for him to make a decision.