Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

We charge a fee for mortgage advice. The precise amount of the fee will depend upon your circumstances but will range from £149 to £750 and this will be discussed and agreed with you at the earliest opportunity.

A separation brings enough to deal with without worrying about the mortgage. But the home is often the biggest shared asset, and decisions about it could affect both of you for years. Understanding your options early could help you plan with more confidence.

Your joint mortgage doesn’t end when the relationship does

If you have a joint mortgage, you’re both responsible for the whole debt until the mortgage is changed or repaid. That stays the case even if one of you moves out, and even if you’ve agreed privately who will pay.

If payments are missed, both of your credit files could be affected. So whatever else is going on, it’s important that the mortgage keeps being paid. If that’s becoming difficult, speak to your lender early.

The main options for the family home

One of you keeps the home. The person staying buys out the other’s share and takes the mortgage into their sole name. This usually means a transfer of equity, and often a remortgage to raise the money to pay the other person.

You sell and split the proceeds. Each of you then uses your share towards a new home, often with a new mortgage.

You keep it jointly for now. Some couples keep the home for a set period, for example until the children finish school, before selling. The joint mortgage stays in place, so this needs careful thought.

Your solicitor will advise on the legal side, including how any financial settlement is formalised. There may also be tax considerations, particularly if one of you owns another property, so speak to an accountant about that. We don’t give legal or tax advice.

Taking the mortgage on alone

The lender will need to agree to remove one person from the mortgage. They’ll assess whether the person staying could afford the payments on their own. This includes:

• Your income and outgoings as a single borrower
• Your credit history
• The loan size compared with the property’s value
• Childcare and other costs that may have changed

If you can’t borrow enough with your current lender, a remortgage to a different lender could open up more options. Our remortgage page explains how this works.

Can maintenance count as income?

Some lenders may accept child maintenance or spousal maintenance as income, which could increase how much you’re able to borrow. They usually want to see it formalised, for example in a court order or through the Child Maintenance Service, and they may want a track record of payments. Criteria vary a lot between lenders, which is where advice could make a real difference.

Your credit file

When you’ve had joint finance with someone, you’re financially linked on your credit files. Once joint accounts are closed, you could ask the credit reference agencies to remove the link. This means their credit history won’t be taken into account when you apply for credit in future.

It’s also worth checking your file for any missed payments or errors. You can check your credit score through our site, and our guide on what credit score you need for a mortgage explains what lenders look for.

Buying again on your own

If you’re selling and starting again, it could feel like being a first time buyer again, even if you’ve owned before. Our guide to how much you could borrow is a good starting point, and a mortgage agreement in principle could help you work out your budget before you start looking.

How we could help

We understand this is a difficult time, and we’ll keep things as straightforward as possible. We’ll look at what you could borrow on your own, which lenders might accept maintenance income and how to fund a buyout. We work with a comprehensive panel, with many High Street and specialist lenders.

Get in touch for a confidential conversation about your options.

Frequently asked questions