Dividing the house

Beckyy

Did you pay 100% of the utilities? What kind of cost were these in comparison to the mortgage and who paid for home improvements etc?

David301

A friend of mine was in a relationship, his partner had a small house with a mortgage, she also had put up the deposit of about £20k, he moved in and paid the utilities whilst she paid the mortgage. They moved to a bigger property and had a joint mortgage but after 6 months they separated through her infidelity. They were never married, but he got 50% of everything because of his payments of the bills in the previous property when they eventually sold the second house.

She was obviously not happy about it because she felt she had invested more from the beginning and he got to walk away with enough money for a deposit on a new house.

duchy

How much is 20% of the equity on the house ?

DUTR

duchy wrote: »

How much is 20% of the equity on the house ?

One fifth.

duchy

DUTR wrote: »

One fifth.

Don't give up the day job !

WillowCat

David301 wrote: »

A friend of mine was in a relationship, his partner had a small house with a mortgage, she also had put up the deposit of about £20k, he moved in and paid the utilities whilst she paid the mortgage. They moved to a bigger property and had a joint mortgage but after 6 months they separated through her infidelity. They were never married, but he got 50% of everything because of his payments of the bills in the previous property when they eventually sold the second house.

She was obviously not happy about it because she felt she had invested more from the beginning and he got to walk away with enough money for a deposit on a new house.

I assume he was either joint tenant, or tenants in common of 50%, and she didn't ringfence her deposit when they bought the second house. An expensive lesson.

In this scenario the OP legally owns 20% so the ex will have a costly court battle to prove she doesn't, similarly she would have a costly battle to prove she has beneficial ownership of >20%.

David301

I don't think anything was ever thought about....... until she found someone else!

TBagpuss

that is often the issue. As willowcat says, the problem your friend had was that nothing was discussed or agreed. It is always sensible to have a declaration or trust is you are buying a property in unequal shares, and/or to consider getting a cohabitation agreement if you are moving in together, particularly where one of you already owns property.