Co-Habiting

mountainofdebt

Does anyone know the legal definition of co-habiting please?

margaretclare

Not sure if there is a legal definition - usually it's taken to mean 'living together as husband and wife'. Living as if you were married, with all which that implies, without being married.

HTH

Aunty Margaret

mountainofdebt

So does that mean if a man lives in the same house as a woman but she gives him a rent book in which entries are made, he is a tenant and not cohabiting with her?

rchddap1

Its not quite as simple as that. If the man sleeps in the same bed, pays some of the bills etc.... Its exactly as 'living as husband and wife' sounds. I co-habit with my OH. If he were to become a tenant..he'd have to have a seperate place for his food. We'd have to cook seperately. He would pay the rent and I'd pay all the bills. We wouldn't be 'partners' any longer, ie, no trips out together, no cuddling on the sofa etc...

mountainofdebt

So and I know I'm sounding very vague here, how would a court decide if a man and a woman were cohabiting and not just say living in the same house?

rchddap1

How would you decide? If you had to make a decision on whether someone was cohabiting or not what would you look for? Do the people do things together that tenant and landlord would not? Are the bills in joint names? Are the individuals' stuff seperate, or are they together scattered around the house

I've never been through a court to decide myself, so I could be wrong.

helen21_2

mountainofdebt wrote:

So and I know I'm sounding very vague here, how would a court decide if a man and a woman were cohabiting and not just say living in the same house?

If you are living as a couple then you are cohabitating, if you are living as a family then you are cohabitating. I take it we are on about someone being on benefits here, whilst with a partner claiming to be a lodger :rolleyes:

Alleycat

As far as I am aware there is no set legal definition of cohabitation, however the authorities will expect to see a complete separation of personal effects, food bought and kept separately, separate bank accounts etc. They can also 'ask around' to ascertain whether the couple of have been acting as if in a relationship.

margaretclare

You could live as a 'lodger' for example, a widow renting a room to a man for a temporary period while he's in a different part of the country for work. This used to be common in the construction industry.

In this case there'd be a rent book, the rent would have to be what the local Rent Officer considered fair, and the services provided (if any) would have to be specified. For example, breakfast and evening meal might be provided, laundry done. He pays her a set amount each week, she enters it in the rent-book.

What they wouldn't be doing would be sharing a bed, sharing leisure-time activities, sharing meals etc. In other words, they'd be living as landlady and lodger, not as husband and wife!

Aunty Margaret