I have paid/am paying for my Ex's kitchen. Legal rights to it or money back?

Gavin83

Given the amount of home improvements you've contributed too you'll have built up a beneficial interest in the property. This effectively means you own a portion of it.

I'd suggest letting her know you've taken some legal advice and given you've contributed to the improvement of the property you now have a beneficial interest in the property. Tell her to seek her own legal advice or look it up if she doesn't believe this. Then tell her you'd be willing to waive this right to her property in return for the loan being paid back. She'd honestly be crazy to turn down this offer.

If she does turn down the offer then speak to a solicitor and look to take her to court.

pinkshoes

I think I would be going down the somewhat cheeky route of sending a letter before action asking for the FULL payment for the outstanding balance of £XXXX on the kitchen.

I would then say that as you can prove that you have on many occasions you have contributed to the upkeep and improvement of the property (list them), then if she does not agree to pay you £XXXX to cover the loan you took out for her kitchen, you will take her to court for the outstanding loan balance, along with any money paid towards home improvements as well as half the increase to the property value due to these improvements.

Give her a reasonable time to pay and make it clear that if she pays the kitchen loan in full then you will not be seeking any further money from her for the money spent on home improvements.

That way it makes it look like paying the kitchen loan would be by far the better option for her. 

VyEu

look. non-married partners do not have rights to each other's property.
you've got replies saying 'you've got a right in part of the house'. no, you've got an argument to go after part of the house. it's not fool-proof, not iron-clad, but you can try.
If she says it's a gift and has proof of that, then she'll argue it's a gift. If you say it was a loan, then you'd do well to gather proof of such. 
Legal position is she owns the whole house, it's down to you (via court if not agreement) to show you have a claim. Court isn't cheap (may exceed costs of court).

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

ok so I am on the OTHER side of this so heres my 2p 

I own my house outright, my partner lives with me. 

Before he moved in, we went to a solicitors and I was told not to allow him to put "anything structural" into the house as he would have a claim against the property. 

You have put something structural into a house. 

Get a solicitor 

MalMonroe

Hi, you said this "I am now in a DMP via Stepchange (who are wonderful btw) because of the Credit card/loan repayments." (and I agree with you, StepChange helped me to turn my life around).

So you could actually call StepChange now and ask them what they would advise. 

You can also contact Citizens Advice about legal help. 

When I needed a solicitor I contacted the university I graduated from as they have a law department that anyone from the general public can access, not just university alumni. And their help is free. The solicitor who helped me was excellent, fully qualified and working part time at the uni as a lecturer. Just saying this as an example because free legal help doesn't always mean free and useless (as sometimes legal helpers can be).

Anyway, CA info is in the following link - 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/finding-free-or-affordable-legal-help/

It's time your ex started taking some responsibility and I wish you all the best.