how to prevent the house being repossessed

Hi. This is really for my brother more than for me. I'm worried about his state of health at the moment - he's extremely anxious about his financial situation. he split with his girlfriend 3 years ago but she is still living in their home with their 10 year old son. it's a very expensive, 5 bedroom, detached home (far, far larger than she and my nephew need)and the mortgage is really high - my brother pays her half of the mortgage instead of maintenance. she's refused to move out and even with a court order she's promising to make things difficult for prospective buyers. she's now been to the CSA and requested that my brother pays maintenance through them. she's said that she will not use any part of the payment to contribute to their joint mortgage and my brother is really worried that he cannot afford the full mortgage on top of the CSA payments and that the house will be reposessed. I've tried getting him to see a solicitor but he's so despondant, feeling he's already spent tens of thousands of pounds on solicitors and has nothing to show for it. more recently he's been representing himself in court, not being able to afford solicitors' fees. I've been trying to reassure him that his is not a unique case and that there must be others out there who've been through the same thing (and much worse) and wondered if anyone else who'd encountered a similar situation knew the best course to take?

Has he contacted the lender to tell them of the problem?

They may be able to help with a payment holiday, reduced payments or going interest only for a while.

How much equity is there in the house and what is the plan regarding selling it and splitting the equity?

The best advice I had from my old man was "Fxck it son let her have the lot"
Get that in his head that he's losing nothing.
You have to get in the mindset that you are just starting over again as a bloke.
He needs to stop worrying about what he's losing and concentrate on getting rid of the house and a Clean Break from her so he don't get lumbered paying her spousal maintenance going forward like some fecking leach parasite.
He should stop paying anything make her shxt or get off the pot.
She'll sit tight otherwise claiming all the single parent benefits otherwise.She'll have plenty of dough.
Basically he's got to toughen up.
Tell him from me not to ever get married again.It's a contract that leaves a bloke open to daylight robbery.
It ain't easy being tough it is depressing tell him to get to counselling and consider ad's he needs to be up for it.
Moping about ain't gonna cut this deal.
If he stops paying anything she'll be more worried about repossesion than him
All the best
Pete

hawaythelads wrote:

The best advice I had from my old man was "Fxck it son let her have the lot"
Get that in his head that he's losing nothing.
You have to get in the mindset that you are just starting over again as a bloke.
He needs to stop worrying about what he's losing and concentrate on getting rid of the house and a clean break from her so he don't get lumbered paying her spousal maintenance going forward like some fecking leach parasite.......

Tell him from me not to ever get married again.It's a contract that leaves a bloke open to daylight robbery.

Who said the couple in question were married?

If they are unmarried co-habitants have no rights to claim from each other and property is dealt with under property law. When there is a court order to sell the house and evidence the girlfriend is being obstructive he would be able to ask the court to order vacant possession of the house and control of the sale.

Brother needs encouragement to keep going and reassurance there will come a time when all this is behind him.