Cracking cohabitation law
Question
I own a flat and my girlfriend's lived with me there for over two years. She doesn't pay anything to the mortgage, just helps with the household bills like food, council tax etc. There's no massive problem with us but she's just told me that now we've been together for two years, she has a legal right to half my flat and everything in it. Is that true? Does she have a right to it under cohabitation law?
Answer
There is no specific legal definition of cohabitation. It generally means to live together as a couple without being married but in different areas of law it means different things and gives different rights.
Unless you've made an agreement, or arrangement, with your girlfriend regarding the ownership of your flat then she has no automatic legal entitlement to your flat and everything in it. As a non-owning cohabitant her only right to stay in your flat is as your guest, so if you asked her to leave she would have to go. Your only legal requirement would be to give her reasonable notice to leave and once this notice ends she would effectively be a trespasser.
If your relationship broke down she may be able to establish she has a right to remain in the home. This is by no means certain and would depend on the circumstances and it would, most probably, only be the right to remain in the home in the short term.
In the long term, if you are not married and you have no children, it would be very difficult for your girlfriend to claim long-term rights to remain in the home. She may be able to show she has a financial interest in the property if she can prove she has contributed to the purchase either by paying the mortgage or making some other financial contribution.
This would be for the courts to decide and they would take into account all the circumstances of the case. Paying money towards food and bills would often, on its own, not be sufficient to establish a non-owners financial interest in a property.
You may want to seek specialist legal advice about your situation; the Community Legal Service (CLS) website has information about where you can seek local legal advice.
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Question answered by Shelter
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