Hi all,

I spent a lot of time renovating an ex Partners house for her. She then moved into my house with the intention of selling her house. For 5 months she resided at my address but did not attempt to sell her house nor pay anything into the running costs of my house apart from occasional food shopping. We had a verbal agreement that I would be paid a percentage of the extra value of the house owing to the renovation work I did when she sold it. We also had a joint interest in a car.

Since the end of the relationship for 2 months I was paying her installmants to buy her out of her share of the car. However she notified me that she was no longer going to pay me my share of the house profit nor pay anything for the 5 months she lived with me. Therefore I refused to pay her any more installmants until this was resolved. She has now issued court proceedings against me for her share of the car!

1) I have admitted in writing she has an interest in the car.
2) She has admitted in writing I did the work on the house, but that there was no agreement.
3) She has admitted in writing that she stayed at my house 24/7 for 5 months; though also claims she didn't "live" there as her bank statements were still sent to her house.
4) She claims in writing that the work I did has devalued the house because it was poor. However I have her estate agents paperwork valuing the house 25% above the market rate and stating the work as good!

Haven spoken to a solicitor they've advised me I could claim a Beneficial Interest in her house and another has suggested claiming under Proprietary Estoppel.

Does anybody else have any other advice for me to argue my position? Her house is up for sale for £39,000 above the market rate and she's trying to claim £4,500 from me as her interest in the car.. I would have thought she has done much better out of the relationship than me!

I don't know whether it would help my case or not.. but I did send her a written offer that I would not lay claim to anything on her house if she did not claim on the car.. however she has refused that and continued anyway.. is the judge going to see her as just slightly greedy?

Help!

Mark

3) She has admitted in writing that she stayed at my house 24/7 for 5 months; though also claims she didn't "live" there as her bank statements were still sent to her house.



I am not in the UK and so I will say that your Attorney(s) are very familiar with "your" laws and the climate of the Court, even though they seem to disagree on the proper course of action here.

But - I don't know how you can sue her for living expenses even though she did live with you because there was no prior agreement, understanding, meeting of the minds.

Hi JudyKayTee,

That's the issue.. there was an agreement.. but now she's trying to back out of all her commitments but force me to keep mine.

I have witness statements to back this up.. and so far she's provided no evidence to counter this.

Many Thanks

Mark

Hi JudyKayTee,

Thats the issue.. there was an agreement.. but now she's trying to back out of all her commitments but force me to keep mine.

I have witness statements to back this up.. and so far she's provided no evidence to counter this.

Many Thanks

Mark



Sorry, missed that part - then I guess you and your witnesses go to Court.

Hi JudyKayTee,

Really though the living costs are minimal compared to the interest in the property which is my biggest issue. We had agreements which she is backing out of worth about £10k to me.. but is trying to claim £4k from me!.

I was prepared to lose out by £6k and just walk away from it all.. but she is the one that has started legal action.

Cheers

Mark

If you have an agreement showing you would get x percent of the sale of the house, then the only issue is whether the value of the work you did increased the value of the house. If you have witnesses to prove that you should win.

Hi ScottGem,

There were no written agreements between us. It was all verbal.

I am counter claiming as a defense against her trying to extort money out of me that I do not owe.

She has put in writing that I did the work to the house, and I have an Estate Agents report on the house commenting that the property is decorated to a good standard and that the value is 25% up on the market rate. Most of the descriptions of the property are on items that I installed in the house.

It is just my word against hers about whether I was to be paid in any shape or form for the work. My hope is that I convince the judge that I was unlikely to have spent a lot of my spare time over 2 years renovating somebody else's property for nothing.. I never lived there nor was I going to so there was no direct benefit to me for doing it.. plus she could have easily paid for a professional to come in and do the work.

Cheers

Mark