partition questions...

What is the name of your state? PA

My ex boyfriend and I purchased a house two years ago (this month) together. We split up last year and I moved out and he has been living there since then and paying the mortgage solely. He has two roommates (they did not sign legal contracts). We had a verbal agreement that he would buy me out by about this time next year.

It is becoming increasingly clear that he will not be able to do this, and I am increasingly unhappy with this situation. I want my name off this joint ownership and my money out of the house. I have a few questions...

1) WERE he to buy me out I presume he would actually need to BUY the house? Not simply refinance or give me the money and I take my name off? I guess the mortgage company would not allow this sort of thing?

2) With him living there solely and paying the mortgage would he have any legal recourse against me if he so chooses? Do I need to push this issue now before he starts thinking about this? (ie, try to legally claim the house as his?) I paid 1/2 the mortgage payments for the first year and put the entire down payment down.

3) If I need to force the issue: As far as I have been able to tell (I'm no attorney and the legalese is kind of confusing to me) I can force the sale of the house by partition and that will be that. We'll both have to sell and both split the money. Is this correct? Will I need a lawyer to do this?

4) As far as lawyers go, I am not in a good position to pay for one at the moment (I lost my job earlier this year and am still playing catchup). Would I need a real estate lawyer or a divorce lawyer (even though it's not technically a divorce)? Do lawyers tend to agree to payments AFTER the sale of the house (just take a fee from my cut)?

Thanks to all for any response. This has been weighing very heavily on my mind.

WERE he to buy me out I presume he would actually need to BUY the house? Not simply refinance or give me the money and I take my name off? I guess the mortgage company would not allow this sort of thing?

The answer to this depends on a lot of things, the main being are both your names on the mortgage? If yes, then he would have to purchase the home and then his name only would be on the deed and the mortgage.

2) With him living there solely and paying the mortgage would he have any legal recourse against me if he so chooses? Do I need to push this issue now before he starts thinking about this? (ie, try to legally claim the house as his?) I paid 1/2 the mortgage payments for the first year and put the entire down payment down.

As in what legal recourse? If he falls and breaks a leg then he can sue the owner of the home for damage, but then he'd be suing himself also.

As for the money, you did write checks right?

3) If I need to force the issue: As far as I have been able to tell (I'm no attorney and the legalese is kind of confusing to me) I can force the sale of the house by partition and that will be that. We'll both have to sell and both split the money. Is this correct? Will I need a lawyer to do this?

You are correct IF your name is on the deed. If not, then you own 1/2 of the mortgage only, nothing else. And yes, get an attorney. You can't do this alone as there are too many variables involved in a Partition suit.

4) As far as lawyers go, I am not in a good position to pay for one at the moment (I lost my job earlier this year and am still playing catchup). Would I need a real estate lawyer or a divorce lawyer (even though it's not technically a divorce)? Do lawyers tend to agree to payments AFTER the sale of the house (just take a fee from my cut)?

It depends entirely on the attorney. You would need to speak with a Real Estate attorney but there are a number of attorneys who will charge against the proceeds of the sale.

The answer to this depends on a lot of things, the main being are both your names on the mortgage? If yes, then he would have to purchase the home and then his name only would be on the deed and the mortgage.

**Yes, we're both on the mortgage and both listed on the title.

As in what legal recourse? If he falls and breaks a leg then he can sue the owner of the home for damage, but then he'd be suing himself also.

**No, I guess I meant something like could he plead that I hadn't paid any bills in the past year and therefore had no right to half the house. After having done a more thorough archive search here (I had only searched current posts previously) it seems as though that would not be an issue. (Yes, I suppose I could get proof that it was my name on the checks that paid the down payment - from sale of stocks).


Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

I debated making this a new thread, but decided against clogging the board up...

One of the things that has been bothering me most (causing these questions *now*) is the state in which he is keeping the house. His roommates (and likely he) are wrecking my house. Things are dirty and the house smells (like vomit and dog pee). I was over there for the first time in a while the other day and I was shocked.

Do I have any legal recourse against these people? As mentioned before there are no legal documents involved in their tenancy. Do I have to just chalk it up to my own naivety in humankind (or should I say my own stupidity )?

One of the things that has been bothering me most (causing these questions *now*) is the state in which he is keeping the house. His roommates (and likely he) are wrecking my house. Things are dirty and the house smells (like vomit and dog pee). I was over there for the first time in a while the other day and I was shocked.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with your legal rights, if they exist.

Do I have any legal recourse against these people? As mentioned before there are no legal documents involved in their tenancy. Do I have to just chalk it up to my own naivety in humankind (or should I say my own stupidity )?

Why don't you answer the questions I put to you and quit trying to solve your own problems with even more irrelevant questions?

Why don't you answer the questions I put to you and quit trying to solve your own problems with even more irrelevant questions?

**Huh?? What do you mean by quit trying to solve my own problems? Isn't that what one does? I understand I may have to get a lawyer, I just signed on to a webforum for some advice from knowledgeable people beforehand (just as I answer other peoples questions in forums that deal with information I am expert in).

I did answer the questions in the above post. I guess the problem is that this site doesn't seem to accept quote tags so I didn't use them. But I'll copy and paste my previous answer into this post and use quotes this time:


"The answer to this depends on a lot of things, the main being are both your names on the mortgage? If yes, then he would have to purchase the home and then his name only would be on the deed and the mortgage."

A: **Yes, we're both on the mortgage and both listed on the title.

"As in what legal recourse? If he falls and breaks a leg then he can sue the owner of the home for damage, but then he'd be suing himself also."

A: **No, I guess I meant something like could he plead that I hadn't paid any bills in the past year and therefore had no right to half the house. After having done a more thorough archive search here (I had only searched current posts previously) it seems as though that would not be an issue. (Yes, I suppose I could get proof that it was my name on the checks that paid the down payment - from sale of stocks).


Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

The ONLY issue here is that you are 1/2 owner in that property and have the right to file a partition against him.

Go seek a real estate attorney in your area to begin the procedure.

[HomeGuru]

[quote]Originally posted by tishters
[b]What is the name of your state? PA


3) If I need to force the issue: As far as I have been able to tell (I'm no attorney and the legalese is kind of confusing to me) I can force the sale of the house by partition and that will be that. We'll both have to sell and both split the money. Is this correct? Will I need a lawyer to do this?

**A: this is all you need to do and with the help of a lawyer.