Moving in to a new house with my partner that im not married to...

[scowler]

hi there
I am planning on moving in with my partner to a new house, I am the one buying the house the mortgage will be in my name I just wondered if we broke up does my partner have any rights to that house? because she moved in together when we moved? or because she lived with me and bought some of the items in that house...

thanks in advance

[R0b]

The house will be legally owned by you as it's in your name so mortgage repayments and liabilities will fall to you. Whether your partner has any rights depends on whether she is contributing to the house such as refurbishments, goods, services etc.

If she is making a contribution to the mortgage i.e. 50/50 split and any other contributions then the law would recognise her has having what is known as a beneficial interest in the property (it's a financial share of the property nothing more). That interest will be determined by how much she has contributed which is not always calculated by the financial amount spent on the property, it could be her time and resources or it could be a situation where she has given up her job to look after a baby and allowed you to work or to enable you to step into a promotion.

If you want something concrete, both of you should seek legal advice and consider setting up a declaration of trust that details the arrangements. Other contractual documents entered into can be a cohabitation agreement but they are not always legally enforceable.

[dslippy]

The default is that she would have no claim,but one can begin to appear according to her contribution and evidence that she was to have some sort of interest in the property, evidenced by actual contributions or other actions/statements evidencing such a joint intent.

The variety of circumstances surrounding such events is infinoite and there is no one simple definition.