Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Illinois
I purchased a condo and took out a mortgage both titled in my name. A portion of the mortgage payment was covered by a roommate until I moved out.
We agreed to a contract in which he took over the mortgage payments in full and was going to refinance the property in his name no later than one year hence. Roommate-friendly mortgage broker/attorney advised that if roommate's name was on the title for approx. 1 year, he would be able to certainly transfer mortgage into his name without a problem.
On this advice, I had added roommate's name to the title so that the property is now held in tenancy in common, with the underlying consideration that keeping my name on the title would act as collateral to back the loan and mortgage payments. This loan was specific to the funds I originally put down for the property at the time of purchase, with the rest being mortgaged, would be loaned to him and he was to pay interest on the loan in return. We do have a final principal and interest repayment date of March, 2012 in our agreement.
The status of the situation is as follows: the mortgage name transfer has not come to pass and the mortgage is still in my name.
Former roommate is making payments to me to cover mortgage, but is not making interest payments on the funds that I had loaned him in purchasing the property in our side contract. In fact, he is an attorney who is now not honoring the contract and avoiding my attempts to settle the matter. Of course, I am concerned that he may default on payments made to me to cover mortgage placing the property, my credit and my funds at risk. To be clear as mortgage is still in me name, roommate is paying funds that cover mortgage to me and I am making mortgage payments. Somewhat like a rental agreement in nature without a rental contract per se. This agreement was made in the spirit of friendship yet it has become quite acrimonious. I understand what would have been a more reasonable and defensible scenario, but at this point it seems to be a messy entanglement.
I believe I can sell my interest in the property, and if necessary possibly go to court to force the sale of said property. Our agreement, in retrospect, looks suspect in several ways which victimize me. Yes, I may have lent my signature to this agreement, but it may not be enforceable. Roommate, an attorney himself, drew up the contract and I am not sure that the terms agreed upon are in fact in accordance with Illinois Law. A particular clause states that sharing this disclosing this contract with a third party is, in all practical applications, not permitted.
I don't know exactly what area of law this is under but I would like to explore my options regarding this unfortunate situation.
Thank you
1 Answer from Attorneys
Thank you for your question. In order to effectuate the proper sale of the property, you would have to bring an action to "quiet title". You would also bring an action for breach of contract and potentially fraud depending on the exact circumstances leading up to the contract (it appears very curious considering you are a non-attorney receiving advice from attorneys). In short, your consideration (e.g., benefit of your bargain) under the contract was the payment of the note due and assumption of the mortgage - neither has happened and, thus, the contract has been breached. Court wouldn't be my first option for you, but it may just be your only option in order to get this resolved. Feel free to email me with further questions; [email protected]
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