Joint Mortgage with friend

[dean t]

Can you help me i took out a joint mortgage with a friend who i used to work with, that was back in August 2003. In Dec 2003 she moved out due to meeting a new partner, She has never paid a penny towards the mortgage since dec 2003 to present date.I paid the deposit on the house and paid for all the home improvements new kitchen,windows, extension etc all since she has left. I had a agreement drawn up at the time to say she would be entitled to 30% of the property value if we ever sold. This was based on her paying half the mortgage payments untill i decided to sell. At the time she was always telling me and my friends, she would never take anything from me, if i sold the house this was a couple months after she left the property,last year i recieved a letter from her solicitor saying she wanted her name removing off the mortgage, and she wanted a pay out of �10,000 which shocked me as i had paid all the mortgage payments and the deposit and all the home improvements were paid by me. Her letter from her solicitors stated she appreciated she has not contributed to the mortgage since dec 2003 but felt i would not be living in this house if it was not her . I owned my own house for ten years prior to buying this one, she was living at home with her parents, we worked together and was best friends and she at the time needed to get away from her parents and offered toget a joint mortgage together, she said it would help me because i could use my money to buy a property that needed work doing to it, and weith her on the joint mortgage it would help me as she would pay half the payments , so i bought a house that needed work doing to it in a good area used all my money to do it up, this was always under the under standing she would pay half towards the mortgage.I think i need to take her to court as i cant afford to give her any money, i dont want to lose my home please help , how can i go to court.Thank you

[lady_p_gold]

Well ... this may not be the best legal advice as I am not a lawyer, but I would try to find a way of paying her the �10,000 and getting her name off the title. Are you managing to cover the mortgage ? I suppose if you are struggling you could always rent out a room as you had envisaged sharing your home anyway and this could offset the payments she was supposed to be making. Legal wrangling is expensive and might soak up the money anyway, and who knows what the outcome might be. Whether that agreement is enforceable and would force her to pay pack mortgage payments someone else might answer - but even if you got judgement for it then she would then still be entitled to her part of the agreement which is 30% of the proceeds and she can be bubbling under at any time and demand that, which I would imagine would be greater than �10,000 and is increasing every day. Get her off your back, get her off the mortgage and title and chalk it up to experience is my advice and then you can regroup, but as I say this is also taking into account the stress and the anxiety and the months or possibly years it could all take with bitterness.

[spaced]

go to Judge Judy if all else fails. Never mix money with friends or family, without getting a contract written up.

[Evorg Enaj]

You say that you had an agreement drawn up:

1. was this a proper contract drafted by a solicitor?

2. does it contain any provisions saying what happens if either party were to breach or abandon the contract?

3. does it say how either party could terminate the contract and what happens then?

If "yes" to 2 and/or 3, could you please post the exact wording so that I can give it some thought before further replying.

[michelle1973]

hi, you need to get yourself a solicitor who deals in this area secondly has the mortgage always been paid by direct debit from your bank account ? you need proof of this if you have speak to your bank and ask them to send you a year on year statement of your mortgage payments you need to do this with all of your utility bills too, just to basically prove its all in your name and that you have paid, with regards to all of the work you have had done on the property have you got reciepts, if not reciepts gaurentees? once again this will go in your favour as you will be seen as the main payee.

Basically you need to prove that you have paid for every thing. you need to sort this out quick and p.s you friend is absolutley abismal!!

if you had to go to court, unless your friend could prove that she has paid half of everything to-date then she will end up with egg on her face and with nothing

dont worry just seek some advice from a solicitor.

[Evorg Enaj]

dean t asks for help, but as there is a written agreement it all depends upon what is and what is not in the agreement. If dean t does not tell us as I have requested then there is no point either to the question or the answers and no help can be given.

[La Diva]

Couldn't you offer her the �10k LESS half the mortgage payments (since the date she left) that she agreed to pay but hasn't?

I'd contact the Citizens Advice Bureau who will be able to provide you with details of a solicitor, if needed.

[wannaknowit]

Im sorry i cant help but on reading ur question was rather disgusted she could do that!!!!!! If i were u id put an extra 5 grand on ur mortgage, offer her that, tell her u dont have any more and other than that its losing the house!!!!!! if she accepts, get her off the mortgage, tell her to **** off and print this off so she can see that we think she's a cow!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!

[Booldawg]

i'm sure a hitman would cost alot less than 10k (joking!)

[BlueSkies]

The first thing you need to do is go and get some proper legal advice! Legally, because her name is on the deeds she is a named owner of the house as well as yourself, the point of whether or not she made any mortgage payments is outside of this. However, you do mention that there was an agreement drawn up that she would be entitled to 30% of the re-sale value but only if she paid half the mortgage (was this clearly stated in the agreement you both signed?). I am unsure whether or not this would be recognised as a legally binding contract, however, if it is she has clearly reneged on her side of the bargin which would therefore mean that she has forfeited her entitlement to the 30% you agreed. However, unless there is another stipulation in your agreement that she gets nothing if she contributes nothing, (never mind the 30%), the fact remains that her name is on the deeds and legally, she is an owner in the property in the eyes of the law. This is purely a personal opinion. I am not a lawyer and I do not have any experience in legal matters. This is why I think you should make a point of going to obtain some proper legal advice on how this is going to affect you and how you should proceed.