Contributing towards bills - rights to house?

Noctu

Hi

I'm moving in with my partner in the summer, and I'll be contributing towards the bills (but not the mortgage). It's been brought to our attention that even though I may not be contributing towards the mortgage, I could still have rights to the house after a certain period of time.

Could anyone advise what this law is, in laymans terms?

Also - I don't want any rights to the house should anything go wrong between us. We're thinking of having a contract drawn up, but should we go and see a solicitor/CAB for that or could we make our own?

TIA.
Rachel.

mdean

As long as you have no kids I don't think you have any rights over the house
If you are happy with that and are paying no rent then I think you are fine

calleyw

If you can prove that you have paid bills or paid for the maintance of the property in any shape or form.

You could on splitting up be entitled to something of the properties value.

When I took out a mortgage in my name only as my husbands job was not secure (we where not married at this point)he had to sign a form from my mortgage company to say that he had no rights over the property if I could no longer pay the mortgage. THe property went back to the mortgage company.

Having children is another issue and in a lot of cases the mother is entitled to stay in the family house until they 1) co-habit/ marriage again 2) the youngest child leaves school.

I would have a quick chat with the CAB. Not saying you will change but a lot of people say if we split get divorced etc I don't want X and don't want Y but when the brown stuff hits the fan things change. And it can get very nasty and bitter. And the one with nothing want to take the one with everything to the cleaners.


Yours


Calley

Noctu

Thanks for your replies. We have no children.

I'd never want to try and take his house or any part of it if we did split up, but I guess it's easy for me to say that now! My situation is that I'm a full time uni student and I'm literally only going to pay him £100 a month - which is half of the bills. If I was to find a shared house etc it would be a hell of a lot more expensive, which is why I'm so grateful to him.

But this is for his peace of mind, and I want him to have it.

It's not for a while yet, but I'll be making an appointment with the CAB.

calleyw

As I said could be.

Nothing is set in stone. And it would be a long drawn out process that could mean you end up with nothing.

I know what you mean about not wanting to take what is not yours. And I am just the same with my husband. If we split then everything is split 50/50.

In the future if you look like you are in for the long haul. Then getting your name on the mortgage and deeds would be good thing. Espically if you have children. And not being married affords you less rights if your name is not on anything.

This article from the CAB about the difference between marriage and co-habiting .

But does not really cover your question.

But this one does.

It looks like you will need a Cohabitation Agreement. But of course will cost.

Hope that helps.


Yours


Calley

Noctu

Thanks Calley, it looks like a Cohabitation Agreement is the way to go.

NastyMatt

A friend of mine works for a solicitors and these are "golden" rules if you don't want the OH to get a % of the property:

1. Must be a rent book (of sorts i.e. what you pay must be classed as rent)
2. No bills must be paid from the OH account. Yours.

In short, the £100 you are going to pay per month should be seen as rent ( and classed as such) all bills should be paid from your partners account - otherwise you will have been contributing to the property.

I think the best advice I have read is get it all sorted when you two are 100%.. emotions will be a lot easier.

Noctu

Hi Matt, the £100 would be a lump sum going into his account, and the bills will be in his name.

I don't quite understand what you mean by 100%?

Thanks for the reply.

libertine_2

Hi Noctu.

I'm doing Family Law at Oxford and I can quite safely say that according to the caselaw, you will have no rights to the house whatsoever if you just contribute towards bills for household expenditure.

Any rights to the property have to ascertained from either

i) Contributions to the purchase price, being either money towards the price at time of acquisition, or money towards mortgage payments. Curiously, one person pays money towards household bills, and the only way the other person in the relationship can afford to pay the mortgage is because of this, this still does not give the first person a share of the home.

ii) An extraordinary effort made. This may be completely refurbishing a house or knocking down walls yourself. This is a discretionary remedy available to the court.

Hope that helps! xx

Noctu

I think you've misunderstood, Broken hearted.

I don't *want* any rights, at all, to his house. He mentioned it earlier today and suggested getting some kind of legal contract drawn up for his peace of mind, which is why I've asked about it.

Noctu

Thanks libertine. I think I may show him your post to put his mind at rest. I'm more than happy to draw up a contract, but still.. I read on the C4 website that a properly drawn up Cohabitation Agreement would cost around £600