Joint Mortgage - Transfer to Sole Mortgage Without Separating?

[Bronwyn]

Good evening

My partner and I have a joint mortgage with just under £30k remaining. We've been in this property for just over 10 years, and have been with the same mortgage company throughout.

We both work away from home a few days a week, and so have been looking into buying another property more convenient for work stays. We had hoped to transfer the current property into my name (via a remortgage/fresh application), but our mortgage provider (Halifax) has told us that we can only do that if we are officially separated and one of us has moved out for a period of time, and that this is the law in the UK.

Is this true? I understand that some legal documentation may be required to prevent my partner from having a legal claim to the house, and we'd be happy to get a solicitor to draft this, but is there really no way of doing this?

Having this property in my name (which I could afford with my income), would make things cleaner and easier for my partner (who is on a higher income) to find and purchase another property.

We aren't married and have no dependents.

Any advice or information that I could read up on in this area would be very gratefully accepted. Many thanks.

[PallasAthena]

We had hoped to transfer the current property into my name (via a remortgage/fresh application), but our mortgage provider (Halifax) has told us that we can only do that if we are officially separated and one of us has moved out for a period of time, and that this is the law in the UK.

I will be interested to see what atticus thinks about this if he is around to comment but I've not come across that before and it sounds a bit unlikely, but I'm not a property lawyer.

If you are not married I don't know what "officially separated" even means.

Please can you clarify what form of ownership of the current property you have. Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common?

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership

[atticus]

Surely you can transfer the property from joint names into sole names with a remortgage. If Halifax won't play ball, find another lender.

[Pezza54]

Please read the article "How To Transfer, Add, Or Remove Names On A Joint Mortgage?" at www.moneysavingguru.co.uk
The 5th heading down covers the question how to remove a name from a joint mortgage in the UK.
There are 6 steps ending with notifying the change of ownership with the Land Registry

I've always avoided Halifax BS Their interest rates never seem to be competitive

[PallasAthena]

Thanks for that article Pezza, useful.

How To Transfer, Add, Or Remove Names On A Joint Mortgage

[Pezza54]

The article does state that removing a name from a joint mortgage is possible when one party wants to take sole responsibility for the property and that the process is known as "transfer of equity"

It is possible that a lender could refuse if they consider the sole owner may be unable to repay the outstanding mortgage on their own (covered in step 1)