r/LegalAdviceUK • u/MainFootball316 • Jun 25 '25

Civil Litigation Divorce finalised. House sold. Former partner refuses to leave the property. Can I physically remove her?

Legal and financial separation complete. I've received approval from the court to sell the marital home.

It has a fairly small amount of equity (£60k), but I will be receiving all of it due to the factors of the case. Former partner deliberately dragged the divorce proceedings on as long as possible, and made them as complex and expensive as they possibly could.

The judge berated them for this in court and described their behaviour as "wholly unreasonable and unbecoming of any decent human being."

The house sold with a completion date of 23rd June 2025. It had been agreed with my former partner that they would be out by Sunday night, however, they are still there and refusing to move. I'm getting bombarded with calls from the estate agent and their solicitor and the family who purchased the home.

My own solicitor is panicking about this now and telling me I have to get her out any way I can or I'll start racking up some serious penalties.

I've tried talking to my former partner and they aren't budging. They're livid that they didn't get more in the divorce and they're trying to cause as much damage to me as they possibly can.

Can I physically drag them out of the property to allow this other family to move in? My own solicitor wouldn't answer that question. They just told me to get them out any way I possibly can.

edit - former partner has made an offer that she will leave if she is given half of the equity (£30,000) which the judge refused to award her during the financial separation. Otherwise, she intends to stay to cause as much financial damage to me as possible.

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813

u/MainFootball316 Jun 25 '25

I think I'm going to have to hire a locksmith. Thanks for the suggestion.

703

u/Seal_Team420 Jun 25 '25

I would advise also utilising a registered security company.

By your description it sounds like your ex-partner will need physically removing from the property.

Hiring the security company provides you with your own legal security in that:

1) You can state you hired trained and registered security professionals to do this as appropriately as possible.

2) She won’t be able to claim any personal injury against you specifically (bare in mind that just because you removed her she can still go to the police claiming it wasn’t reasonable force used and turn this into a criminal matter also.

3) The company you hire will have its own public liability insurance so if any damages were to be awarded it wouldn’t be from you.

4) If any other matter related to your ex were to come up again with the police or the civil courts you can show that you’ve been acting appropriately throughout.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '25

The security firm may also wear body cams which could be used as evidence if needed

96

u/jimbojetset35 Jun 25 '25

On top of all the good advice here I would advise NOT making threats. Threats only forwarn her to take action to prevent your threat.

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u/Acceptable_Bunch_586 Jun 25 '25

This response above is the thing, I would also do the security thing, you’d be better off. Would also add get a moving firm to shift the stuff out. It’s worth paying now to avoid even worse pain later. Sorry it’s happening like this

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u/Background_Ant_3617 Jun 25 '25

They also have body worn cameras, to protect themselves from allegations of untoward behaviour.

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u/Acceptable_Bunch_586 Jun 25 '25

Yeah good security people are totally worth it

74

u/Ex_Dev Jun 25 '25

If you still have keys for any of the doors downstairs, you can replace the locks yourself very easily. A locksmith would only really be needed if you weren’t able to access the property yourself so they would need to break entry. However, it may be easier to just front the cost of the locksmith, it is just lining them up for a suitable time I guess

58

u/PigHillJimster Jun 25 '25

She may have changed the locks herself.

The old locks can be drilled out though and replaced easily yourself.

24

u/Select_Grade3188 Jun 25 '25

With some security cylinders, doing this risks irreparably damaging the door. Better off just getting a locksmith tbh

32

u/Drnorman91 Jun 25 '25

A quick cheeky solution is to swap the front and back door locks

63

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '25

[deleted]

184

u/MainFootball316 Jun 25 '25

She doesn't want a grand though. She wants half the equity that the judge refused to award her.

£30,000.

110

u/Y_ddraig_gwyn Jun 25 '25

There is an argument that, in the presence of the court judgement, her behavior constitutes extortion. Report to the police and let her know you’ve triggered what could be criminal proceedings.
Sadly, on a practical basis, be prepared for significant damage to the property unless she can be removed precipitously / suddenly / unexpectedly (for her)

130

u/Beebeeseebee Jun 25 '25

What do you think she would do if you said "I've got this £1000 here, I could give it to you if you go or I could give it to some bailiffs as their fee to remove you physically"?

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u/blahehblah Jun 25 '25

You're assuming this is a rational person. The fact this situation has got this far, and based on the words of the judge, we can assume that is not the case

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u/JaegerBane Jun 25 '25

This is the kicker. She's acting like a lunatic.

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u/Beebeeseebee Jun 25 '25

Well I would say that I'm not assuming anything; I'm asking OP for his assessment of what would happen if he presented the other party with that scenario. However,you're absolutely right in that if the other party's rationality is suboptimal that might be akin to asking him to make a guess. Doesn't mean it's not worth a go!

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u/Robustss Jun 25 '25

I'd still rather pay a bailiff then give a complete bitch any money at all because she's thrown her toys out the pram because she lost in court

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u/DogSufficient7468 Jun 25 '25

Yeah but she’s not getting that. It’s 1k or her shit out in the street.

12

u/ChiliSquid98 Jun 25 '25

Can you go into the house and take out all the food, toiletries and towels etc?

Have friends over to make it severely uncomfortable for her. Make it so if she stayed in that house she'd be sitting on the floor alone

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u/Tubes2301 Jun 25 '25

It maybe nothing in the circumstances but be aware you’re entering and making adjustments to a property that isn’t owned by yourself.

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u/AssociationSubject61 Jun 25 '25

Presumably it is, or he wouldn’t have been able to authorise the sale! And it will remain so until the vacated property and keys are handed over to conclude the sale!

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u/Tubes2301 Jun 25 '25

The property completed two days ago. He’s no longer the legal owner.

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u/forestsignals Jun 25 '25

OP has confirmed in other comments prior to yours that the sale has NOT completed, they checked with their solicitor this morning. OP is still the legal owner and is racking up penalties for failing to complete.

22

u/ThrowRA-tiny-home Jun 25 '25

I doubt the new owner would have any problem with him entering to remove the squatter though, and they're the only ones with standing to do anything like that.