Richard.

I know.  My degree is in law, but I was just a little aggravated by your slightly snippy tone when replying to Northern. 

Sometimes, the best solutions start off as the daftest of ideas, and everyone who is posting on this thread is doing so out of a wish to help.  We may not always be correct, but we do try to be, whatever our professional qualifications....

Cat

Catastrophica:

If more people understood about a trust for sale, Court probably wouldn't be necessary..... 

Likelyhood is that the OP and friend are already tenants in common seeing as they are not married nor cohabiting in the usual sense, so severing the tenancy really doesn't apply, whichever way round you get your terminology. 

And you can get mortgages on half shares.  Shared ownership schemes are increasingly common.  Even I  know that and I am no solicitor.

Cat

You can't get a mortgage on half of that kind of shared ownership!   In this case both people have their names as registered proprietors of the same registered title so two signatures are needed for ANY disposition - mortgage, sale, whatever.  Nobody is going to want someone else's mortgae on the proeprty partly owned by them.

Housing Association etc shared ownership works differently.   Take a house to keep it simple.   Hsg Assn owns freehold and grants a lease of it for a percentage of its value - say 50% and charges the lessee rent equivalent to 50% of the rent that would have bene charged had it been let by the Hsg Assn.   So the person who buys the "shared ownership" property gets a separate title for the lease at the Land Registry and (subject usually to restrictions) can sell this to someone else and can also have a mortgage on it.  When the buyer "staircases" (buys further shares) the rent goes down proportionately and when it gets to 100% the Hsg Assn transfer the freehold and the lease falls away. 

 As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

If more people understood about a trust for sale, Court probably wouldn't be necessary..... 

Likelyhood is that the OP and friend are already tenants in common seeing as they are not married nor cohabiting in the usual sense, so severing the tenancy really doesn't apply, whichever way round you get your terminology. 

And you can get mortgages on half shares.  Shared ownership schemes are increasingly common.  Even I  know that and I am no solicitor.

 

Cat

 

You just can't do that!    The property is jointly owned and has a mortgage on it so what happens to the mortgage?   You need the other person's signature to sell a half share reagrdless of whether it is a joint tenancy or tenancy in common.   Nobody could get a mortgage on just a half share either. 

OP would probably have to go to court for an order for sale arguing that the purpose of the joint arrangemetn had a come to an end and you wanted your investment out.

And finally get your terminolgy the right way round - you sever a joint tenancy to convert it into a tenancy in common!

 As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

 

 

"why pay rent or live with parents?? get yourself on the property ladder and live the bacholar lifestyle in style. sick of mam bugging you to clean up? now you don't have to! enjoy cold pizza?? me too! house slob comes free!"

 

i'm sold!

Oh, I understand about the TiC; just wondered how you might market and carry out the sale of a property share.

Cat

easy, offer the percentage for sale! their's shared ownership schemes with housing associations, this is just a shared ownership with a slob! loads of single ppl who can't afford property by themselves so it's a way for them to get on the property ladder and build a deposit for a property of their own using the growing equity in the shared property. once the tenancy in common is severed, the other person cannot dispute the sale of your share.

In practice, though, how would you sell a portion of a property; an interest in it?

Cat

when property is bought jointly it can be held either as joint tenants, or as a tenacy in common. all property bought by more than one person is held as a tenacy is common, this means that if your friend cops it, you get his share, the rules of survivourship apply. it is deemed that you own both and all of the property together, like husband and wife i suppose. you can severe the joint tenacy at any time, you will then hold the property as joint tenants, meaning you both own a share of the property, a percentage. you can do this by issuing ur wish in writing (serving notice) or by acting upon ur half, ie, you can sell your share and by doing so you serve the tenacy. if you serve the tenacy you can't bump ur friend off and claim his share thou!

Thanks, thats a little more promising, I have decided to see the citizens advice people and see what they see, and look into a consultation with a solicitor.

 

All property that is purchased jointly is bought on the basis of a legal construct called a Trust for Sale. You absolutely DO have the right to force a sale.

You should speak to your house mate and, at the same time, hand over a letter giving your reasons for wishing to leave. You should offer him the opportunity to buy you out which Daddy may take you up on. If not, you can insist that the property be put up for sale with the legal fees and the proceeds being split between you.

HTH

Cat

Most solicitors wont charge you for the initial consultation, so check with them.

Failing that, contact your local CAB. 

yes his dad put down a third of the house in cash so we took a mortgage for 95k instead of 135k, so technically we dont have a full mortgage, but we both pay 50/50 on the remainder, the house is divided 66 33 so that he can recompensate his dad with one third when it is sold, I doubt I would have a claim for more as i already agreed to a third.

As for legal advice i cannot afford that sadly, i guess i am just stuck, but thank you for your input, it is appreciated 

My sympathies on this one - doesnt sound like a good situation at all.

Best thing you can do is take proper legal advice from a solicitor, but I believe it wont be great news in that you cant force him to buy you out, nor can it be sold without agreement from both parties.

However, you imply that your housemates father has provided the money and then walked away - if the house is fully in both names, then legally you might be able to claim a higher than 33% share.

Possibly if you scare him in that when it comes to sell in the future you can claim 50%, then he might agree to buy you out of the 33% as a way of getting rid of you now, 

Hi there,

 

I have a serious problem with a joint mortgage I have been in for a few years, I share a house and a mortgage with a friend of mine who refuses point blank to do absolutely anything to the property from basic maintance to the simplest of tasks such as throwing stacks of pizza boxes away that have been here for months.

I am desperate to get out of this deal as it is affecting my mental health to live in the conditions that my house mate is forcing  to put up with, for the first two years I did absolutely everything but i simply refuse to continue being the only person to do anything at all and need out.

I cant find any good help sites for these kind of issues and dont know where to begin, my housemate will not want to sell, on paper he owns 66 percent to me 33 percent but his father paid for a third upfront leaving us with a share of two thirds of a mortgage on the condition that his father has no involvement with the mrotgage afterwards, his name is not involved at all hence his son having the 66 percent.

Do I have any kind of right to force my house mate to buy me out or force to sell the house if he cannot do so? He wants to stay here and will not be interested in helping me leave the house so I willl be fighting to leave rather than getting a mutual agreement to let me out of the mortgage.

I cannot live like this any longer, it is beginning to cause stress and depression and I hate being here yet I know that I am stuck here unless I can somehow find a way out of any involvement with this mortgage, please help if you can, I am at my whits end.