I am desperately looking for some sound advice.

I split from my ex partner 6 months ago and moved out of our house that we own jointly by a 50/50 mortgage. We bought the house in October 2006........I stopped paying towards the mortgage when i moved out at the beggining of August 08. I am now renting a room in a shared house else where. He is still living in the house and paying the mortgage each month which i will add is an interest only mortgage. It is within his best interests to keep the house as it is in his home town. The split is an amicable one but i am keen for my ex partner to re-finance in his name. The problem is.....He is self employed and says that after asking advice from a financial advisor (a mate of his) the high street lender who we took the mortgage out with will not allow this as his income cannot be proved steady enough. He is keen to have a lodger....Can this qualify as a steady income and add to his chances. Failing that would he be able to have help from his family financially to take on a mortgage on his own. I understand that i am still responsible for the mortgage, but i am very keen to explore all avenues before having to sell which is our very last resort given how poor the market is at the moment and the fact we are in negative equity. We would lose a lot of money i think! We paid a 5% deposit which we split down the middle on a 95% mortgage. I just feel so confused and unable to move on. Please help!

Hi Khanya,

I appreciate the stress involved in your current situation and I fear you may be one of many who find themselves in a tough spot right now.

As you are in negative equity you don't have the option of refinancing to a different lender, so the only option is for your ex-partner to take over the mortgage with the current lender.

As for what types of income the lender will deem acceptable, that will depend on the lender. Some are happy to accept a lodger whilst others will ignore it.

The best advice is for your ex to seek independent financial advice from a mortgage broker. I appreciate you say he has already done this via a friend but I got the impression you didn't feel that this was neceassarily the best advice available.

If you can say who the lender is and give me some details about your partners income, lenghth of time self employed, net profit for last few years, total loan outstanding, and also any other debts he has, then I may be able to offer some advice.

Dan