To keep the home after separating, you usually take the mortgage into your sole name and often buy out the other person's share. The lender re-checks that you can afford it on your income alone, plus a legal transfer of equity to remove the other person from the deeds. It is common and doable with the right lender.
The two parts: money and legal
Keeping the home usually involves two things. First, the mortgage moves into one name, which means the lender reassesses affordability on that single income, sometimes topped up by maintenance or other income that some lenders accept. Second, a transfer of equity removes the departing person from the legal title, often alongside paying them their share of the equity. The two happen together, usually handled by a conveyancer.
Funding a buy-out
Buying out a partner often means borrowing more against the home to release their share, so it can combine a borrow-more step with the transfer. The lender will check the larger loan is affordable on your own income. If your income alone does not stretch far enough, options like a longer term, or in some cases family support, may help.
Get the right lender and advice
Lenders differ in how they treat sole-name affordability, maintenance income and transfers of equity, so this is a case where matching to the right lender matters. Alongside the mortgage, take legal advice on the split. A regulated mortgage broker can advise on the borrowing; we do not.
Founder, MortgageExplained
Adam spent over eight years as a mortgage adviser at Just Mortgages, with further experience in commercial finance. He is CeMAP and CF qualified. He built MortgageExplained to do one thing well: explain mortgages in plain English, so you know where you stand before you speak to a regulated broker. Every page on the site is written by Adam.
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