Legal Question in Real Estate 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 remortgage the property in his name no later than one year hence. We were informed by friendly mortgage broker/attorney 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.

So, I had added his name to the title so that the property is now held in joint tendency, with the additional consideration that keeping my name on the title would act as collateral to back the loan and mortgage payments. We also agreed in contract that the funds I put down for the condo 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.

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 mortgage payments but is not making interest payments on the funds that I had loaned him in purchasing the in our side contract. In fact, he is an attorney who is now avoiding my attempt to settle the matter.

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


Asked on 11/26/09, 2:36 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Joseph Michelotti Michelotti & Associates, Ltd.

File a partition action. This will force the sale of the property.

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Answered on 12/01/09, 3:48 pm
Stephen Messutta

Sit down with an attorney; bring copies of the paperwork INCLUDING your mortgage and the contract you have with your roomate! If the contract you have with the roomate is in writing and has a legal description of the condo, you might consider recording it to protect your interests under it. At the same time the contract may violate the terms of your mortgage and invoke a "due on sale" clause as well, and that could hurt both of you if the lender is not flexible, but it too could force the situation. The added problem today is that the condo may have lost value, which is why the roomate is being so difficult and one reason why he's not paying the interest. It may be worth while considering just letting the interest under your contract accrue (although keep reminding him) as long as he's paying the mortgage because eventually he'll want you off title too -- he needs the contract as much as you to prove that at a point in time he's entitled to take it all over in his name. In this market forcing a sale today could result in a situation where the mortgage balance is more than the place is worth and that could present additional difficulties.

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Answered on 12/01/09, 6:24 pm


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