Finances

Kazza77

I am currently living with my partner of 6 years, we have a mortgage together and a bill account. 

I put in a large amount of money to buy our house but we are now parting ways. How do I stand financially?? 

DE_612183

were you married?

is the mortgage in joint names?

are the deeds in joint names?

did you have anything in writing that stipulated what would happen to your large deposit?

legally it's probably a 50/50 split - but what about other stuff over the last 6 years? Pensions, savings other assets ( cars etc ).

Keep_pedalling

Unless you made a deed of trust when you purchased the house the default is 50/50, but hopefully you can come to an amicable and fair distribution.

MEM62

Kazza77 said:

How do I stand financially?? 

Without a prior agreement to cover such circumstances, you stand reliant on negotiation and good will.  

Kazza77

Thank you for your responses
no we are not married
house and deeds in both names
We havent got anything written up I didn’t know there was anything , not like they have in America with their pre nups!!! 

Exodi

Kazza77 said:

Thank you for your responses
no we are not married
house and deeds in both names
We havent got anything written up I didn’t know there was anything , not like they have in America with their pre nups!!! 

Not just whether house and deeds are in both names - specifically was the house purchased as joint tenants or tenants in common? I think from what you've said we can assume it is the former.

Tenants in Common is a type of ownership that can allow unequal shares, usually through a separate document called a Deed of Trust. While joint tenants is the most common form of ownership, tenants in common is commonly used where one party has contributed significantly more and wants to protect this contribution, if they want to leave their share of the property to someone else in their will, etc.

Respectfully, if you initially put in a 'large amount of money' into the purchase, it would have been irresponsible to establish ownership of the house as 'joint tenants' (e.g. 50/50).

So while I'd suggest you confirm 100% whether you own the house as joint tenants or tenants in common, if it is the former as I suspect, then you both own the house equally.

Either you buy your ex out for half the value, or you sell the house and split the proceeds equally. Alternatively, you may be able to reach an arrangement where your ex agrees to accept a reduced amount (but they are not obligated to do so).

Unfortunately this may be an expensive lesson, but this was what you paid your conveyancing solicitor for during the purchase. How you decided to own the property would have been discussed.

DullGreyGuy

Kazza77 said:

Thank you for your responses
no we are not married
house and deeds in both names
We havent got anything written up I didn’t know there was anything , not like they have in America with their pre nups!!! 

Prenups are for once you get married so not relevant in this case. 

You can have a property as tenants in common which then has a side deed to say who owns what percentage. This brings is own headaches if say you pay all the deposit but they then may most the mortgage as presumably the split would change over time. Each part is discretely owned too meaning if one of you had died its dealt with via the estate. 

Joint tenants are what couples would normally go for where you both own 100% of the property and so effectively 50/50. If one person dies then the other(s) continue to own 100% of it so avoids forming part of the estate etc. What it doesn't give you however is a clear way to split the property. 


As you were unmarried most things just stay in the name of the person that bought them/ were gifted them, and its only things like the property, joint loans etc that you'll have to negotiate. Unlike marriage there isn't a base assumption of 50/50 so if you can demonstrate you contributed more you can ask for a larger share, however contributions are not cash only and so if you'd be working full time and paying the full mortgage and your partner had taken 6 months off work unpaid to redecorate and do up the whole house then their investment of time will also be considered.