Force House Sale

[Leader1978]

I've been living in the jointly owned matrimonial home since separation, it is not longer the primary residence of the ex or me as I have relocated to be closer to the kids. 

The mortgage is currently 3 months in arrears and the ex is refusing to contact the mortgage provider to agree a concession on the current payments, the lender needs her consent to agree a lower payment with me as she is a joint owner of the debt.  I obtained 3 valuations from estate agents which all valued at the same price, I sent these to the ex and asked her to provide her relevant details to the estate agent so the property can be marketed - they need this information given she is a joint owner. 

I have sent her all letters received from the lender so that she cannot raise any issues later.  Not sure of the ex's position here given she will lose any equity that she is entitled to if the bank is to repossess. 

Is anyone aware on the process to force sale of the house, I don't think this will fall under the usual financial order submission to the family court given that would take a while and I need to put the house on the market and get it sold before any repossession proceedings are started by the lender. 

I have been made aware that I would need to obtain a CCJ via the County Court but am not sure about this.  For background, the ex is refusing to discuss with me, the lender and her solicitor is not responding to any of my emails on this matter.

[Leader1978]

Bump....

[warwickshire1]

Would you be able to advise on this mark ( moderator). I dont know about financial issues

[Charlie7000]

I am not sure about this either. It might be an idea to get a free half hour legal advice with a housing solicitor (not a family solicitor). Could you rent it out meanwhile - to help prevent more arrears? I think you should be able to get an order to sell the house but a housing solicitor would advise.

[marwood]

Do you have a financial order in place, or are you going through financial resolution proceedings?

[Leader1978]

I will be initiating financial proceedings now. Prior to this, it was all trying to resolve directly with the ex.

[CFC]

If ex is being difficult, you can ask for sole conduct of sale during the financial proceedings.

However, the risk here is that your ex is postponing any discussion with a view to diminish her financial prospects and raise her "needs" (i.e. what she might claim from you by means of spousal maintenance).

You may want to rent out the family home and consider how to ringfence any other assets you may have as financial proceedings can take up to 1 year to resolve.

[Leader1978]

The ex is in full time employment with a Masters Degree behind her, her current wage is £25k per annum. Her claim for Spouse Maintenance will surely be negated by the above and the fact that she has essentially "manufactured" her position to ask for Spouse Maintenance i.e. allowing repossession to occur on the only real asset to split between us and then prompting a case for Spouse Maintenance.

No other significant assets in the pot, the house is the only asset which has any real equity.

[marwood]

My understanding is that you would need to go to court either way (family or county) to force a sale.  Are you using a solicitor for the financial proceedings? I may be wrong, but I suspect that she may be able to object to county court proceedings on the grounds that it's already being dealt with by the family courts.  Maybe it's possible to request an interim order for sale, given that this is no longer the family home, and to keep it on risks diminishing the funds available to both of you?  You'd probably want a barrister's opinion on that though.  

This a summary of case law:

https://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed188371

Looks like judges don't like it if it's currently being live in by parent + kids, but may well be different given that it's essentially empty.

I know some on here have used the website Just Answer to get quick answers to stuff like this from barristers - might be worth a look.

[Leader1978]

Thanks Marwood, I won't be engaging a solicitor or barrister for financial proceedings at this stage. I'm fairly confident of self representing in the early stages of proceedings so that the house sale can be forced, thereafter, if it goes to a final hearing then a barrister may need to come into play. However, we are talking about less than £50k equity if the house is sold and that number will diminish once you deduct current debts and so, not really worth throwing money at legal fees.

The financial order application went in last week and the court have already rang to take payment and mentioned, they have received my application and evidence submitted. And that someone from the admin team would be looking at it on Monday (today) given the urgency that I have highlighted.

That case law is useful, I am pretty sure that the court will order the sale at the first hearing; on the basis that no children reside at the house and given the status with mortgage arrears and potential repossession. My next argument in court would be that it appears from the ex's lack of urgency regarding the matter, that any equity split should go in my favour.