If you were tenants in common the she owns half the house . Nothing you can do about it . She can ' t force you to refinance the mortgage , she can ' t force you to pay rent , she can ' t force you to move . She can move in at worst . You need to be paying the whole mortgage because she has no interest in paying your half unless she really cares about her credit . Bank will just foreclose if you don ' t pay it in full . But it will equaly impact her as much as you , but you wouldn ' t have a place to live . Here ' s what I would do , the status quo is in your favor , you have a house , you pay for it you cannot be evicted from it . The only thing is that you can ' t sell it . Tell her , you ' ll refi the house without her name if she signs it over . If she doesn ' t you won ' t .