How does the court divide the property? UK Cohabitation Disputes

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There are certain misconceptions about English law in relation to co-habitation disputes. It is not like marriage and divorce where different law applies and nor should you treat it in the same way as you might if you were business partners buying a property together.

What this means in practice is that the answer to the key question, “Is the property jointly owned and if so, in what shares?” is not to be found merely in respective financial contributions. Nor is it that a husband and wife own everything equally. The approach the court takes is to ask, “What was the common intention of the parties at the time the property was bought?” The starting point where both names are on the deeds and both are liable under the mortgage is that it is jointly owned in equal shares and it is not easy to overturn this presumption. You must have evidence to show that anything other than equal shares was intended. Alternatively, if you solely own a property and your partner is not on the deeds then the presumption works the other way. Financial contributions may be evidence of a common intention not to share equally or share equally, but they are not the starting point and the court will usually only go onto to apply a simple financial contribution approach as a fall-back. It is not about saying what is “fair” now, but what was intended then.

So be under no illusions: if your partner is on the deeds you may have an uphill struggle to demonstrate you do not own in equal shares and if you are not on the deeds but made financial contributions you may likewise have an uphill struggle to prove you have an interest in the property.

Relevant cases:

Jones v Kernott [2011] UKSC 53
Stack v Dowden [2007] UKHL 17

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