Remove Name from a Joint Mortgage

[Zara23]

Hello All,

I would like to remove my name from a mortgage, which is owned by me and two sisters. I left home after years of mental and physical abuse and no one from the family is aware of my whereabouts. This is the only thing they have to keep any kind of hold over me. I recently spoke to a solicitor whom agreed to send a letter asking them to remove my name from the mortgage, the contents of this letter stated I would be happy to sign away any rights on the property as long as my name was removed from the mortgage, they ignored the letter. The solicitors have said this could be a costly process. I just wanted to know what the process is and how I could go about getting my name removed from the mortgage? Any advice/assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks

[bednobs]

are you stillpaying the mortgage?
anyway, they might not be ignoring you, they might well not be able to do anything about it - they would have to remortgage on their own and they might not be able to. Mortgages are hard to come by at the moment and have much worse rates than mortgages taken out previously. Your sisters might end up paying a LOT more and they may not want to!

[Zara23]

The mortgage was taken out in 2007 and none of us have paid anything towards the mortgage as the property has always been rented. All we paid initally was the deposit, which if I remember correctly was 10%. The property is rented at £700 a month and this covers the mortgage nicely.

[factor-fiction]

I'm confused. If you are only renting then who owns the property and why are your names on a mortgage?

[AlBags]

I think Zara meant that the property is rented (and always has been) to a third party (outside the family)

[buildersmate]

Yes but if the property ceases to be rented for any reason, the mortgage has to be paid. In those circumstances you (and your two sisters) each have a joint and several legal liability to pay it (which means the bank can come after one, two or all three of you to pursue the debt, and/or sell the property if it can't get its money).
I doubt that you can do what you wish - because of what bednobs says, starting from her 3rd line.

[AlBags]

... the rent easily covered the mortage (so no other contributions were required) right?

[AlBags]

Maybe, if the house was valued, they might buy you out (presuming equity has been accrued)

[factor-fiction]

ah- so they have been paying the mortgage but they get the money from tenants and then pay the lender (or the tenant pays it directly to the mortgage company?)
Well if the tenants leave someone has to pay the mortgage and I can understand why your sisters might not want to be wholly liable for future repayments.

[Zara23]

All I want is for my name to removed from the mortgage. I am happy to sign away my rights as long as my name is removed from the mortgage. Sorry I meant to say, the property we own, has been rented outside the family since we've owned it. The mortgage is around 550.00 a month and we receive 700 a month in rent from the current occupiers. Surely there must be some legal route I could take to get my name removed from the mortgage? I made several applications to the court previously, which all include power of arrests so the family stay away from me and do not contact me. Saying that, as I previously stated no one is aware of my whereabouts and I prefer to keep it this way!

[factor-fiction]

Teh debt is owed by all 3 sisters.You can't just walk away from it unless they agree. If you could pay off your share that would help. Maybe you need to strike a deal and pay off maybe a sixth of teh debt and thenwaive your rights. But you need a solicitor

[Zara23]

The tenants pay the £700 to my sister directly and then TMB take the money from her back account, which I believe is £550.00. My sisters are extremly well off and would not have a problem what so ever in paying the mortgage. The family are being difficult as initally went I left home they caused £2000 of damage to a property I solely owned but as I have sold this, they have no way of getting to me. So the only way they can hold on to me is by not removing my name from the mortgage. They seem to think they are the mafia and can get away with taking the law in to there own hands and to be fair, the police to date have done nothing to stop them - On each occasion the police come back and say we have no evidence even though the last time they smashed my property before it was sold, there was a trail of blood leading from my house (which i solely owned) to my parents house!!

[Zara23]

The property is currently valued at £100k and the mortgage is only £65k! I do not understand why I would need to waiver my rights by paying a sum towards the mortgage when I am willing to walk away from the property, giving up my rights on any interest as long as my name is removed from the mortgage!

[bednobs]

you can't make them take on the mortgage on their own. When you took out the mortgage together, you tied yourself together for 25 years unfortunately. Perhaps you could get a court order for the sale of the house like a couple who have split and no longer want to be tied together with a mortgage? Your solicitor will advise you

[boxtops]

I think I agree with bednobs - when I split up with my husband 20 years ago, he wanted to stay in the house and for me to come off the mortgage, he bought me ought. You say you don't want to benefit but you will lose out if the house is already valued at some £35K than the mortgae, surely you are owed a share of that?

[boxtops]

^he bought me out.

[Buenchico]

As other's have indicated, the bank which lent the money has a legal obligation to its shareholders to ensure that the mortgage payments are made. If your tenant moves out (and can't be quickly replaced) someone will still have to keep up the mortgage payments. The bank currently has the choice of who they'll pursue for the money if the payments aren't made. They can take legal action against all three of you or simply pursue the person who looks to be in the best position to pay up. (i.e. if the mortgage payments aren't kept up, the bank can insist that you alone pay the outstanding money in full). If your name comes off the mortgage they will be left with only two people to demand the money from if things go wrong. Unless (a) the two sisters agree to such a change; and (b) the bank is wholly convinced that they can manage to pay the mortgage without your help, that simply isn't going to happen.

You should get your solicitor to apply for a court order enforcing the sale of the house. It's almost certainly the only way you'll be able to get out of your contractual obligations imposed by the mortgage.

Chris

[buildersmate]

......... which is what I said 3 hours ago.

[Zara23]

Thanks for all your response. I'll be contacting a handful of solicitors tomorrow and i'll let you know how I get on.