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A friend of ours has been living with her partner for 22 years in her home. She owns the house. Over the last 10 years they have grown apart and he spends very little time at all with her. Only pleasantries when he comes home from work for his dinner. He pays her about £50 per week 'keep money' but this isn't recorded in any rent book.
She has aasked him to leave but he has refused to go, saying that he is entitled to part of the house.
Seems an odd question post on here, but thought I'd ask in any case since there's quite a lot of professionals on here,
Many thanks for your help
not a professional but I don't believe he has any entitlement under the 'common-law' status which I think is a myth
he has no record that he has paid anything then?
even if he did, this would only be considered a contribution to running the house, unless both their names are on the house's documents, and even then, only if they are specific types of tennents, assuming that there are no children involved ( this changes things dramatically ). i don't remember the terms with confidence but do a google for 'joint tenancy' and 'tenants in common' and the differences there should become clear. if he wasn't involved with the original purchase then very likely he is only entitled to compensation for anything that he has materially paid for. for instance if he had paid to have the kitchen refitted, then he is entitled to the money spent on that ( or at least some of it, depending upon how long ago this was ).
HTH.
not a nice situation.
note - i am also not a professional ( at least, not in this field! ), GF and i bought a house together, and i hope i have a pretty decent idea of where we are at WRT our assets.
that bloke from scotland will be along soon to give his expert advice on this......................
actually ignore that........it could be him or cynic al who knows the best........... 😉
I seem to remember that BigDummy is a legal beagle.
Change the locks...
I'm a professional
and i will know the answer, but your friend really needs to see a solicitor asap. Too many variables that could confuse the issue, that you haven't stated. It could be really simple or really complicated, it may need a court order, it may not, but if he is refusing to budge, then it will probably end up in court, and it may cost her money.
She needs a family law solicitor
Legal advice needed.
It goes both ways he can't prove he paid but she can't prove he didn't.
If he has not been anything realy for 22 years then she needs to get her head sorted out, she's been taken for a ride already.
Agreed, proper legal advice needed.
This:
only be considered a contribution to running the house, unless both their names are on the house's documents
...and the rest of Del's post really is not safe advice, sorry.
they've been living together for 22 years, after that length of time their finances are that wound up that its not that simple.
it could be really simple Sweepy. Its all about beneficial interest. Has he established one? was he her partner when she bought the house? Has he paid for improvements/developments? Has he ever paid the mortgage? Has he paid the bills?
Any good solicitor would argue after 22 years that he has a beneficial interest in the property. Only solution is for the lady in this to get legal advice now.
Hi All,
Great advice thank you, there's no children involved thankfully but you're right about legal advice. And thanks for the link on the Cohabitation law, that's pretty good at explaining a lot of the question we had.
Thanks again for your help, much appreciated!!!
Cheers
Dan
I went through this with my ex and ended up without a penny.
She was in the process of buying the house when we started going out. I moved in about 6 months later and the agreement was that we'd tart the house up to sell on and buy a joint pad.
I paid her cash to cover the mortgage and paid for the home improvements. She put the house up for sale when i was offshore (3 years later), and walked away with the profits.
Sought legal advise and basically if nothing was written down and i couldn't provide receipts etc for the improvements then i was stuffed.
She made 40k profit and i didn't get a penny....but hey, i ain't bitter! 👿
ton - Memberthat bloke from scotland will be along soon to give his expert advice on this......................
actually ignore that........it could be him or cynic al who knows the best..
He might be in Scotland, but he's not Scottish(Although I could be wrong 🙁 )
Fully agree ton, the moronic educated fools will be along soon.
I knew a bloke who kicked out his gf every few years as he thought it would stop her having any claim on his house in the future. And another chap got his log-term gf to pay rent with a rent book and refused to get married.