Case Study: Selling the marital home after communication has broken down

After a Marital split, the husband in the couple had moved out and stopped paying the mortgage. 

The wife, let’s call her Wendy, had three autistic children to care for. She worked as a midday assistant at a school which worked great around her kids but meant her income was very limited. 

Wendy absolutely couldn’t afford the mortgage without her husband’s contribution and found herself at a complete loss as to what to do about the situation.

She ignored the letters about her mortgage arrears for a month before finally making contact with me after seeing a banner advertising my services.

One of my first suggestions to Wendy was that she speak with The Citizen’s Advice Bureau, which as it turned out, she already had. They had advised to let the repossession go through and go to the council for rehoming. This meant a good chance she would end up in a hostel in the short term, with no guarantees about how close it would be to her children’s school. Given that they were in a specialist school, it was really important to Wendy that they remained in the local area.

So after establishing that Wendy was happy to sell to me, I then had to get the agreement of her ex-husband that he was also happy to sell the property to me.

I met him in a pub! As Wendy had advised he would be most comfortable there. We discussed the situation, I explained the benefits for the children if they could avoid the home repossession, and the security it would give them and we ultimately came to an agreement that meant he would allow the house sale to proceed.

Once we’d agreed on the sale, I went to court with Wendy to fight the repossession, I proved that I was committed to buying the house and settled the £30,000 mortgage arrears.

Wendy’s next challenge was to find a rental property. With a poor credit rating, being a universal credit recipient and looking in a flooded rental market, it was beyond challenging. The location also needed to be considered so that the children could stay in their school, and finally, the family wanted a rental property that would allow them to keep their family dog.

By now, knowing this family quite well, I was more than happy for Wendy to rent one of my properties. I knew who I was getting as a tenant – a lovely mum who desperately wanted the best for her kids. I already knew Wendy’s situation so didn’t run credit checks or request a deposit, and being the dog lover that I am, naturally I agreed to her bringing her dog with her.

I’m Joanne. I’ve lived and breathed property for longer than I care to remember! This blog provides advice and support with problems surrounding property, and life in general.

Previously on the blog…