Long-term options for homeowners
This content applies to England only.
Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. Get advice relating to Scotland
This section explains the long-term solutions available when one or both partners own the home. The options you have when you're splitting up with a partner will be based on the rights you both have to your home, and other issues such as finances and whether you have children.
Sorting out long-term rights for owner-occupied property is complicated, as everyone's situation is different. You are likely to need the help of a solicitor when making final decisions.
Use our relationship breakdown checker to see what your rights might be.
Married couples and civil partners
If you are married or in a civil partnership and are trying to sort out your long-term rights over the owner-occupied home, there are a range of solutions open to you, even if you're not an owner yourself.
Cohabiting couples
If you are not married or in a civil partnership then your long-term rights depend firstly on whether you own your home. If you don't, you will have no automatic rights to the home, but you can still ask the court to recognise any contributions you've made.
Beneficial interest
Claiming a beneficial interest is a way of getting the court to recognise your financial contributions (or otherwise) towards the home.
Going to court
People go to court when they can't agree on a solution. Going to court can be time-consuming and costly, so problems are usually best settled out of court, for example by using mediation, or negotiation.
Preventing a partner from selling
If you and your partner split up, it is important to make sure that your partner doesn't sell the home without your agreement. If this happens, you are likely to lose any rights to the home you might have had.
Court orders for co-owners
Following relationship breakdown, couples who are married or in a civil partnership have the strongest legal rights when settling disputes over property. If you are cohabiting, there are still options for claiming your fair share of the home.
