secured loans

[delsgirl]

What, if any, are the implications of the following, my partner and I bought a house together joint mortgage and we have earned a lot of equity etc, and now my partner has had a huge tax bill and wants get a loan secured on his half of the property to pay the tax bill, which is nothing to do with me and we have seperate financial accounts etc and pay our own bills. And he has always said his finances are private and his company is nothing to do with me. Is there any law to protect me and my half of the equity? as i do not want to be reponsible for paying any of it back out of my half.

[CheekyChops]

No - if the house is in joint names then you will need to sign the loan application, in which case they could come after you for repayment. Your partner can't just secure it on 'his half'.

[MustafaTickl]

The above answer is incorrect. If you own the house as tenants in common (TIC) with a 50/50 split registered at the Land Registry then your half is safe and he can only get an additional loan against his half. If you own it as joint tenants then change to TIC immediately (phone your local District Land Registry Office who will tell you how to do it. It is simple and your partner cannot object).

Should he later default on repayment it is possible for the lender to get an Order to sell. However, in this event your half of the proceeds would be safe.

Or you could think about buying him out now with a legal agreement that if you should later split he will not claim a beneficial interest in the property.

[delsgirl]

Thankyou for your replies. It has eased my mind. I did at the onset as I had to put all of the equity down for the house and mortgage (partner going through long divorce and complications at the time, and could not sell his property for another 2 years) I had the inteligence to get the ownership as tenents in common at the beginning so as I could protect my half. But it seems that if he defaults on repayments Im in a catch 22 situation anyway and would stil have to sell. I cannot afford to buy him out and carry on the mortgage as the property is very very valueable. It is a messy business getting into second relationships, as if anything happens to him I have to sell to give his older children their half back anyway as he has not married me (as promised before I sold my property), and I have got much younger children to think about. Not sure what the next step and maybe reverting back to 2 properties is the answer all round. Thankyou again for replying. Whish there was more law for unmarried women cohabiting.