Split with Ex - Quickest / Easiest way to get off the mortgage?

mortgageadvice

Myself and ex girlfriend purchased a home 10 years ago. Both first time buyers. We recently split and I am currently not living in the country nor plan on returning any time soon. I am just looking for some advice as I would like to handle this in the right manner and also know kind of what to expect before I start to reach out to the bank.

The house is definitely not worth what we paid for it.
She does not want to move.
It's a one bed so there's no hope of renting out a room.
She can definitely afford to pay mortgage on her own.
We are on very good terms so I am sure there will not be any issues from our end.

Ideally I would just like to sign the house over to her and pay for my half on any negative equity. Or is this not how the real world works? 

Thanks in advance.

Luckysasha

Went through this myself recently. Basically you have to get the bank to agree to take you off the mortgage. Then your ex needs to reapply for the remainder of the mortgage on her own including everything that goes with it i.e.: house valuation ber certs etc etc. If she doesn't meet the criteria the bank will not let you take your name off the mortgage, this was my experience anyway. Also if you have a tracker they will be very reluctant to let her keep it so she needs to bear that in mind so whilst she maybe able to afford the mortgage repayments now she might struggle with the new mortgage repayments. She will also need mortgage insurance in her own name Also both of you will need separate solicitors to handle the legalities. It took me about 6 months to get everything thing sorted so it won't happen overnight. It cost me about 3 grand all in

mortgageadvice

Luckysasha wrote: »

Went through this myself recently. Basically you have to get the bank to agree to take you off the mortgage. Then your ex needs to reapply for the remainder of the mortgage on her own including everything that goes with it i.e.: house valuation ber certs etc etc. If she doesn't meet the criteria the bank will not let you take your name off the mortgage, this was my experience anyway. Also if you have a tracker they will be very reluctant to let her keep it so she needs to bear that in mind so whilst she maybe able to afford the mortgage repayments now she might struggle with the new mortgage repayments. She will also need mortgage insurance in her own name Also both of you will need separate solicitors to handle the legalities. It took me about 6 months to get everything thing sorted so it won't happen overnight. It cost me about 3 grand all in

Thanks for the quick reply. It's pretty much everything I needed to know. If you don;t mind me asking. Was your home worth more or less than what you originally paid for it? And how did you handle this ?

Luckysasha

It was worth less in my case. I didn't have to part with any cash as such and I didn't want to peruse my ex for anything so it was amicable like that. The biggest hassle was the remortgage part it was basically treated as anew application so you can imagine how painful that was. Lucky enough I was the one with the good job and had made sure all the repayments where up to date so that helped. Also as my solicitor explained to me at the time that because I had the good job that if we stayed joint mortgage holders and she stopped paying her half the bank would go after me for the full amount. They tend to follow the money in circumstances lie that. So I don't know your circumstances but if your the bread winner as such get yourself off the mortgage asap

mortgageadvice

Our cases sound extremely similar, so this has been very beneficial to me. Thanks a lot for your time mate much appreciated.

Luckysasha

No problem let me know how you get on