Legal Q&A: What is a cohabitation agreement? What are my legal rights in the UK to my partner’s property if we break up?
Question: My girlfriend and I have lived together in her house for seven years but our relationship is not going at all well these days. If she wants to kick me out, what are my rights? There is no mortgage on the house but I have been paying all our regular household bills — energy, phone, council tax, the lot. I have nowhere else to go. Should she move out so that I can stay?
Answer: English law gives no legal status to cohabiting couples. Accordingly they do not have the same legal protection as married couples or civil partners.
On the break-up of a marriage or civil partnership each party has a legal right to claim maintenance and a share of the matrimonial assets, while the court has total discretion to take into account all relevant circumstances and to make an appropriate order.
When cohabitees separate they have no such rights.
You are unlikely to have any entitlements regarding your girlfriend’s house — for example, to a share of the sale proceeds should she decide to sell.
However, if you have made a significant financial contribution, such as paying for major improvement work to the house, you may be able to argue that you did this in return for a share in the property.
Should your girlfriend ask you to leave, you will have no right to remain in the property.
It would have been prudent to have entered into a cohabitation agreement with your girlfriend at the outset to clarify and confirm such matters as responsibility for outgoings and what you would both do in the event of a relationship breakdown.
If you have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE.
We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a solicitor specialising in residential property.
These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.