Re mortgaging a joint loan

chillinabroad

Hi All.

Posting on behalf of a friend to try aid them in their situation.

She has taken a joint mortgage for 200k 10 years ago between herself and her partner, for a total of 30 years. 7 years ago her partner took off to a different country with zero contact.
With some troubles, she managed to secure a divorce. Meanwhile, continuing to repay the mortgage monthly with 130k remaining at present.

Her partner that took off, has been removed from the "ownership of the property" and essentially the only trace left, is his name on the mortgage agreement.

This causes some issues, as now no changes may be made to the mortgage agreement as BOTH parties need to be present. From my understanding this will also create issues for her, should she decide to sell the house.

Removing the 2nd name from the agreement to make it into a SINGLE doesn't seem like a route the bank wishes to take. Understandable since the initial mortgage risk assessment was based on 2 people.

What are the options here?

From my understanding, my friend is able to try and apply for another mortgage, in her name alone, to pay off the outstanding sum of the joint mortgage.

The partner that left, would not be able to sign, agree, or play any role in closure of the current agreement. Absolutely zero contact and unknown whereabouts, with some credit issues back here in Ireland (issues only in his name).

Please correct me if I'm wrong and thanks in advance for any advice.

Jim2007

Sounds like a very messy situation, which warrants proper legal advice.

Her partner that took off, has been removed from the "ownership of the property" and essentially the only trace left, is his name on the mortgage agreement.

Can you clarify what this actually means? How was it possible for the absent partners removed from the title deeds of the property if he is no longer in contract?

chillinabroad

Very messy situation indeed.

Regarding being removed from the title deeds of property, im not entirely sure, but will clarify with her.

Regarding legal advice - who could she ask for assistance with such a thing?
What sort of branch of legal advice should she look into? Or can any solicitor handle/look into these sort of situations?

phormium

I can't imagine how the partner was removed from deeds without their consent but if they were and deeds are solely in her name then if she can get another mortgage to clear off the first one I can't imagine anything is needed to be signed by existing bank to clear mortgage. Once solicitor sends them the money to close the account they are happy.

However if the deeds situation is not sorted then getting the original deeds back from lender could be the issue as they would need to be signed for, if deeds are really in her own name then no problem but it all hinges on whether that has actually been fully done and dusted.

It's correct that the existing bank won't make changes to the existing joint mortgage without consent of both parties or remove one party. Only chance would be a remortgage either with that same same bank or another one, again assuming deeds/ownership issue is sorted.

3DataModem

phormium wrote: »

I can't imagine how the partner was removed from deeds without their consent but if they were and deeds are solely in her name then if she can get another mortgage to clear off the first one I can't imagine anything is needed to be signed by existing bank to clear mortgage. Once solicitor sends them the money to close the account they are happy.

However if the deeds situation is not sorted then getting the original deeds back from lender could be the issue as they would need to be signed for, if deeds are really in her own name then no problem but it all hinges on whether that has actually been fully done and dusted.

It's correct that the existing bank won't make changes to the existing joint mortgage without consent of both parties or remove one party. Only chance would be a remortgage either with that same same bank or another one, again assuming deeds/ownership issue is sorted.

Came here to post exactly this. This I all the advice your friend needs.

chillinabroad

Thank you very much for this info.

I spoke with my friend.
She went to court during her separation. The judge asked about the partner being in contact, paying maintenance, paying mortgage.
My friend said that he does not do any of that, and would rather the safety of the house being in her name alone so it 100% can go only to her child down the line.

Am I correctly understanding that the "Land registry" is the document we're referring to when talking about the title of deeds?

If so, under part 2, it states that she is the sole owner of the property as the latest update, and her partners name has been stricken out.

Thank you in advance.

Jim2007

chillinabroad wrote: »

Thank you very much for this info.

I spoke with my friend.
She went to court during her separation. The judge asked about the partner being in contact, paying maintenance, paying mortgage.
My friend said that he does not do any of that, and would rather the safety of the house being in her name alone so it 100% can go only to her child down the line.

Am I correctly understanding that the "Land registry" is the document we're referring to when talking about the title of deeds?

If so, under part 2, it states that she is the sole owner of the property as the latest update, and her partners name has been stricken out.

Thank you in advance.

Removing the 2nd name from the agreement to make it into a SINGLE doesn't seem like a route the bank wishes to take. Understandable since the initial mortgage risk assessment was based on 2 people.

Has the bank actually refused to consider removing the partners name from the loan?

chillinabroad

Regarding removing the partner, im not sure. She did say she went to talk about the possibility of changing the payment plan/options, and was told that if she wishes to do any changes to the agreement, they need to be done with partner present/with his consent.

Bit of an issue when he left the country in an unknown direction.

At the moment there are better mortgage deals out there, and the inability to implement any changes to the agreement is her driving factor here to take the loan out in her name alone.

phormium

Well if she is going to go for a new mortgage in her own name from another bank she will need a solicitor anyway so I would start there, the solicitor can request the deeds from existing bank in advance of the new mortgage and can then advise her if there is any impediment to her taking out a new mortgage on that property in her own name.

There is usually a smallish charge from the bank (used to be less than 100) to release the deeds on 'accountable receipt' to a solicitor, basically solicitor is promising to return them or pay off mortgage!