Living together: Unmarried couples' property position

Exploring co-habiting couples and property co-ownership

clock • 4 min read

Lawyer Richard Burgess recommends that clients should dispense with the rose-tinted glasses when setting up home and get real with a declaration of trust...

A couple who have defied high interest rates and a cooling housing market to buy their perfect home may not want to hear that there are further practical issues that they should consider when embarking on co-ownership. However, doing so could save headache and heartache at a time when things are not so rosy. For instance, the default position for co-habiting non-married couples is that a co-owned property is held equally. This may be to the disadvantage of the party who contributed more financially towards the purchase than their partner. To defeat this presumption of equal ownership, th...

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