Advice needed on leaving my house

pigsmightfly

Hi all!

Apologies if I am in the wrong place but I am looking for some information regarding housing.

I have recently came out of a relationship in which we were living together and now need to move out and find alternative accommodation.

My partner has lived in this house for a few years and the mortgage is in his name.

However, I have lived there for over 2 years now and have been told I may have some rights with regards to the money I have paid towards the mortgage.

Can anyone give me any advice on this please on whether there is anything I can do and if so, what do I do first?

Many thanks for your help.

pinkshoes

If you've paid half towards the mortgage, then you're probably entitled to 50% of the equity increase from when you moved in, until when you left.

i.e. if it was valued at £150k when you moved in (and £120k on the mortgage, thus £30k equity), and it's not worth £170k (and £110k on the mortgage, thus £60k equity), then you can probably ask your ex for £15k.

lynnexxxo

I can't see how its fair to expect half the equity increase. Would rent over a two year period have cost you less?

pigsmightfly

Thanks for that - do you know how I go about finding anything out about this?

pinkshoes wrote: »

If you've paid half towards the mortgage, then you're probably entitled to 50% of the equity increase from when you moved in, until when you left.

i.e. if it was valued at £150k when you moved in (and £120k on the mortgage, thus £30k equity), and it's not worth £170k (and £110k on the mortgage, thus £60k equity), then you can probably ask your ex for £15k.

foolsgold99

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if your ex decides that he's not giving you anything you don't have any legal right to any money back. The only way that you would be entitled to this is if (i) Both your names were on the mortgage OR (ii) you were married.

Not the best news but I hope it helps

DGJsaver

pigsmightfly wrote: »

Hi all!

Apologies if I am in the wrong place but I am looking for some information regarding housing.

I have recently came out of a relationship in which we were living together and now need to move out and find alternative accommodation.

My partner has lived in this house for a few years and the mortgage is in his name.

However, I have lived there for over 2 years now and have been told I may have some rights with regards to the money I have paid towards the mortgage.

Can anyone give me any advice on this please on whether there is anything I can do and if so, what do I do first?

Many thanks for your help.

So if you had been living alone for the last two years you would expect to live rent/mortgage free ?

sarah_elton

The rights you refer to are presumably the ones regarding cohabiting couples (rights similar to married couples).

Unfortunately these do only apply if houses are owned in joint names. Technically, it's not the name on the mortgage that's as important, but the name of the legal owner(s) of the house. [Although why anyone would put their partner on the deeds but keep the mortgage in their own name is beyond me, but it could happen.]

If the house is purely in his name, you don't have a claim on the asset I'm afraid.

kunekune

Foolsgold, sorry but that is not correct. If you don't know any law, don't give any legal advice. There are circumstances in which the OP might have an entitlement to a share of the property. It will depend on whether there was a common intention that she was to have a share (and if she has paid mortgage payments, then that is not usually difficult to establish), and whether she has suffered some detriment in reliance on that intention. While the amount may not be great, it certainly is not true to say that she will receive nothing unless they are married or she is on the title. The legal title to property is not always the end of the matter: someone can have an 'equitable' or 'beneficial' interest.

OP, I suggest you get some legal advice: the law is relatively clear, so hopefully it is possible to sort this out without the need for any litigation.

pinkshoes

kunekune wrote: »

Foolsgold, sorry but that is not correct. If you don't know any law, don't give any legal advice. There are circumstances in which the OP might have an entitlement to a share of the property. It will depend on whether there was a common intention that she was to have a share (and if she has paid mortgage payments, then that is not usually difficult to establish), and whether she has suffered some detriment in reliance on that intention. While the amount may not be great, it certainly is not true to say that she will receive nothing unless they are married or she is on the title. The legal title to property is not always the end of the matter: someone can have an 'equitable' or 'beneficial' interest.

OP, I suggest you get some legal advice: the law is relatively clear, so hopefully it is possible to sort this out without the need for any litigation.

Indeed, there is a clause for co-habiting couples, on the basis that the other party (the poster) would have thus been able to buy her own property and benefit from an equal equity increase in the 2 years they were together, but didn't as she was living with her ex in his house.

My mate had to cough up about £12k to his ex, who he lived with for about 3 years. She got a lawyer involved, so rather than go through court, he agreed to this settlement.

DGJsaver

hmm if he dumped her then fair play to her , other way round , swivel...:D

kunekune

Not sure what you mean by 'clause', it's all case-law, not statute. The idea of 'common intention' is a problem, but not such a big one where there is direct financial contribution, the trickiest cases are where one person works, pays the mortgage, and the other stays at home and looks after a child. There, it can go horribly wrong. The Law Commission would like something fairer to be set up, but law reform is a slow and tortuous process.