Someone else may own the property in which you live, and the paperwork may suggest that person is the only one to have a financial interest, or that person has in your view an unfairly large financial interest in the property.  You may have or intend to pay for improvements or renovations to a property owned by your partner, or indeed have contributed in some way to the purchase price, and feel that should be reflected by you having an interest.

You may be prepared to accept that your financial interest in the property is not reflected in the title documents  because you are content with your life and living arrangements.  But you should be mindful of the possibility of a fall out  with the owner or co-owner and potential implications.  In the case of a divorce after marriage, you can ask the family courts to divide the assets between you, irrespective of ownership, and the courts may or may not agree to do so.  However, a significant proportion of people who do have or may feel they should have an interest in property are not married.  For people who are not married, there is no such thing as a common law marriage as many mistakenly  believe.

There are still options available to unmarried people worried about their interest in property.  However, it may be sensible to act while the sun shines and not assume that you won’t fall out.  It can of course be tricky speaking to a cohabitee about financial details, particularly if you are romantically involved.

The key things you must be aware of:

1. If the property title documents suggest the property has only one owner, the presumption is that no one else has any interest at all.  If you were to fall out with the owner, you may then find yourself in a contested dispute with the owner trying to persuade a court that you have any financial interest in the property.
2. If the property title documents state you have a financial interest in the property, you are likely to face a huge struggle in persuading a court that your financial interest is any higher than that indicated on the title document.

In either scenario, prevention is better than the cure.

Prevention

You should check the title documents and obtain legal advice.  If the title documents suggest that the other person is the sole owner, you should consider speaking with that person to enter into appropriate documentation to allow you to either become a co-owner or to at least show that you have some financial interest.  If the title documents suggest that you do have a financial interest but it is unreasonably low in your view, then again you should speak to your co-owner to see if the title documents may be amended.

If you do fall out, any conversations you do have are far less likely to prove productive.

Cure

If the property is owned by your partner alone, you can argue that you have a financial interest.  You would need a court to find that there was an actual agreement that you should have a financial interest in the property which you relied on to your detriment or for a court to infer that due to any contribution to the purchase price, mortgage payments etc, you  have a financial interest.

If you are a named co-owner, after a fall out, you may be able to take action if you believe the financial interest you have on paper is low but this depends on when the property was purchased and the nature of any arrangement between you and the co-owner.

If you do fall out with a co-owner, there may be disagreement between you as to whether to sell the property to realise any financial interest.

Sometimes it only becomes clear there is an issue regarding ownership after death or on the loss of capacity.

We at Ridley & Hall are happy to assist you with all the above.  Should you have fallen out with your cohabitee, we offer comprehensive family and litigation advice.  Please do not hesitate to contact our family team and/or our litigation team.

Gareth Jones – Associate Solicitor