Is an unmarried partner entitled?

Honey-Dee

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of advice please.

Is an unmarried partner entitled to proceed from sale of a house which is solely in one of their names? 

I have had my house before I met my partner of 12 years, we both live there, have a child together and split the bills equally. I now want to sell the house but want to know if my partner is legally entitled to any money from the sale of the house?

Thank you 😊 

Niv

Honey-Dee said:

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of advice please.

Is an unmarried partner entitled to proceed from sale of a house which is solely in one of their names? 

I have had my house before I met my partner of 12 years, we both live there, have a child together and split the bills equally. I now want to sell the house but want to know if my partner is legally entitled to any money from the sale of the house?

Thank you 😊 

does splitting the bills include the mortgage and any household improvements?

Exodi

Unless they formally signed some form of cohabitation agreement, or the partner made contributions to the property, whether directly (paying part of the mortgage) or indirectly (paying for repairs or renovations), it is my understanding that they would not be entitled to any equity in the property, irrespective of children.

Honey-Dee

@Niv Yes including the mortgage. No improvement at all. 

MobileSaver

Honey-Dee said:

I have had my house before I met my partner of 12 years, we both live there, have a child together and split the bills equally. I now want to sell the house but want to know if my partner is legally entitled to any money from the sale of the house? ...

Yes including the mortgage

The answer is clearly YES then, both morally and legally if they've been paying for half of the house for 12 years.

How much they are entitled to is a negotiation based on how long you had the house before you met them and how big the mortgage is compared to the value of the house.

Niv

Honey-Dee said:

@Niv Yes including the mortgage. No improvement at all. 

Then I would say yes they are. That doesn't mean its a 50/50 share. You can decide what's fair between you and if you are in agreement that's how you go on. If you don't agree then it would get resolved via the courts.

TBagpuss

Honey-Dee said:

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of advice please.

Is an unmarried partner entitled to proceed from sale of a house which is solely in one of their names? 

I have had my house before I met my partner of 12 years, we both live there, have a child together and split the bills equally. I now want to sell the house but want to know if my partner is legally entitled to any money from the sale of the house?

Thank you 😊 

They don't have an *automatic* entitlement the way they would if you were married or held in joint names.

However, they would have a *claim* based on the fact that they have been contributing over an extended period of time - it is likely that a court would accept that there was an unspoken / implied understanding between the two of you that they were doing so on the basis that they would gain some benefit from doing so.

I would suggest that you take as your starting point that you should have whatever % you had when you moved in together - and that that balance of the equity should be split equally - e.g. if at the time you moved in together your house was worth £150,000 and you had a mortgage of £120,000, then you could reasonable expect to have whatever 20% of the current house value is,  and then split the balance of the equity 50/50, which would reflect your respective contributions. 

if you seek to keep all of the sale proceeds then your partner could take you to court, which could get very expendive indeed.

canaldumidi

Honey-Dee said:

@Niv Yes including the mortgage. No improvement at all. 

They have been paying towards the purchase of the property.

Gavin83

Honey-Dee said:

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of advice please.

Is an unmarried partner entitled to proceed from sale of a house which is solely in one of their names? 

I have had my house before I met my partner of 12 years, we both live there, have a child together and split the bills equally. I now want to sell the house but want to know if my partner is legally entitled to any money from the sale of the house?

Thank you 😊 

Are you splitting up or is this purely theoretical?

Anyway I agree with the others, your partner would likely be entitled to a portion of the house. I'm making the assumption here they've been paying 50% of the mortgage for 12 years. In that case I'd imagine they'd be entitled to 50% of the equity increase during that 12 years, which depending on where you are could be a lot or barely anything at all. Let's say for example the house was worth £200k when your partner moved in. Today it's now worth £400k. They'd therefore be entitled to £100k, not counting the outstanding mortgage.

If you are splitting up I'd consult a solicitor and ask them what they feel they'd be entitled to. If you aren't splitting I'm curious at to what has prompted this question.

canaldumidi

Gavin83 said:

Honey-Dee said:

Hi guys, just looking for a bit of advice please.

Is an unmarried partner entitled to proceed from sale of a house which is solely in one of their names? 

I have had my house before I met my partner of 12 years, we both live there, have a child together and split the bills equally. I now want to sell the house but want to know if my partner is legally entitled to any money from the sale of the house?

Thank you 😊 

..... I'm making the assumption here they've been paying 50% of the mortgage for 12 years. In that case I'd imagine they'd be entitled to 50% of the equity increase during that 12 years, which depending on where you are could be a lot or barely anything at all. Let's say for example the house was worth £200k when your partner moved in. Today it's now worth £400k. They'd therefore be entitled to £100k, not counting the outstanding mortgage.

If you are splitting up I'd consult a solicitor and ask them what they feel they'd be entitled to. If you aren't splitting I'm curious at to what has prompted this question.

Wow! Would it not make a difference if the OP had made a significant contribution to the purchase as a deposit? Partner then not entitled to 50% of increased value.

What if the mortgage, and hence repayments, were small? Sure, partner has maybe contributed 50% of the repayments, but if the mortgage on this £200K purchase was only £75K, then how come partner has earned 50% of the increase in equity?

And if an extension was added, at OP's cost?

There are so many potential factors involved that trying to assess the partner's potential 'share', is pointless.

Honey-Dee

Thank you everyone, no we are not spliting up. We are buying a bigger house and I'm trying to get equity from my current property to add to the bigger house as a deposit whilst partner has no deposit at all. This would put me at 65% ownership of the new property. But now they are saying they are entitled to some money from the equity. We are getting a solicitor but appt is not until Friday. Just want an idea. 

Let me lay it out straight, for the 1st 7years of the relationship, partner had no job so not contributing at all. For the past 5years, they had contributed 30% of actual mortgage, nothing towards bills for 3yrs out of that 5yrs. And last 2yrs of the 5yrs, we've split everything 50/50 as they got a better job.

I know I said 50/50 initially but this was because I knew if they had a job, they'd contribute, I didn't want to use that against them. Don't ask why they didn't have a job? Every job was not good enough.

But I am gutted because when they were not working, I supported them by working 58hr/week.

Anyway we have paper trails for all contributions, we can calculate what was paid towards the house and I'm happy to give back what was contributed. I'm just surprised they'd even ask for anything. Maybe I'm the greedy one😛