Joint Mortgages

No. I would say that in these circumstances the lender would probably allow the wife to break away from the mortgage. She's not being paying for it.

But there's no written rule. It's a matter for each lender to decide so you'd need to contact them and ask.

Rob Graham

surely, without her input in maintaining the home and him, he would also be unable to pay for it. Her commitments must go towards costs.

The OP said that her income (which was zero) had not been taken into account when setting up the mortgage. Although you may be right in many ways, I would expect a lender to allow her to come off the mortgage quite easily.

Rob

Irrespective of where the money for the mortgage payments comes from, if there is currently a joint mortgage in place, then the house must at the moment be jointly owned. Evidently what is envisaged here is that the husband continues to make the payments, and stays in the house, and she moves out.

There is no way she can come off the mortgage unless she also comes off the title deeds, since all co-owners must consent to and remain parties to any mortgage. In other words, if he is to become the sole mortgagor, he must also become the sole owner, so joint ownership must be dissolved and her half must then be transferred to him.

As you suggest, the lender may well be understanding and will connsent to this transfer without the loan first being repaid and then taken out again. If there is positive equity and the husband's income is adequate for the loan amount, there should be no problem at all, but they might do a bit of umming and ahhing first if equity is negative.

I must say, though, that I think it unlikely that the lender would give a specific undertaking to release the wife from her joint and several liability under the mortgage agreement, while in every other respect the existing joint ownership and joint mortgage remain in place. A formal divorce would sort all this out, of course, but perhaps what is happening here (we haven't been told) is an initial separation in contemplation of a cheapo DIY divorce after the required waiting time of a few years.

It is unclear from what the OP writes whether there is already negative equity, or whether there is merely concern that negative equity might come about in the near future, either as a result of market values falling, or of the husband getting into arrears.

If the house is in negative equity, the wife's half share will have a negative value, and if there is to be a transfer now, this will have to be taken into account when all other items of joint property are split up. In effect she will have to *pay* the husband some money in exchange for him agreeing to take her half of the house off her hands, as opposed to expecting to receive some money for giving up her share, as would normally happen in a positive equity situation.