It's ours not mine - or is it?

Not really it depends how old they are, takes a long time to save up for a decent deposit to get a mortgage which is hard especially getting one on your own and considering property prices. They could of done that 15 years ago if it wasn’t for OPs bad credit and paid a lot less for a property

That’s his choice for not marrying the OP years ago. He would contribute for the same reason he currently pays rent and previously did DIY: to live in a nice house.

This seems sensible. I would definitely reimburse him for money spent on renovations and encourage him to purchase an investment property for himself. Yes he shouldn’t have spent the money in the blind hope that the OP might think it’s both of their house. But not everyone is rational and self-serving in relationships.

let’s hope the OP doesn’t need to do major works at some point in the future, requiring a mortgage that she can’t get due to her poor credit.

Keep the house in your name babe xx

You have paid rent together the whole time and both paid for work on the house so the only fair solution is to split it.

I think since you couldn’t get a mortgage together due to your bad credit, you should put the house in both your names. If he’s been paying the equivalent that he would have been paying for a mortgage all this time and done work on it, it would be pretty mean of you to tell him it’s now only your house but he will be allowed to live their too.

After 15 years together I’d be very hurt in his position if I didn’t get 50% of the house, and I’d interpret it as you not being confident in the relationship.

For me the question would be; would you have been gifted the house if it hadn’t been for the relative? I’m guessing the answer would be no and therefore under what terms is this relative gifting the house? If they assume that it is a family asset being gifted to family then the house has been gifted to you primarily.

How many properties the giftor owns isn't relevant. What matters is whether it is the giftors principal residence (or potentially other specific exemptions), which as the OP & family have been living there it could well not be.
Of it is the giftors principal residence and they gift and continue to live there without paying rent then it becomes a gift with reservation and remains part of the giftors estate for IHT purposes anyway.

You have chosen to be cohabitees and to live free from the legal responsibilities of marriage. So “what would happen if you were married“ is irrelevant here.

Other posters have said “ what sex is the other party?” Again I don’t see how that’s relevant. What would be relevant is if one of you has given up work to care for the other or to care for your joint children or to do major renovation on the property. None of these seem to be relevant here.

With regards to the work you’ve done on the house , you would need to separate the capital costs of doing the work from the revenue benefit you’ve both had eg the comfort of living in a warmer house or lower electricity bills from new windows.

Plus the costs of doing the work won’t be reflected in the capital value of the house eg you spent 10k on new windows but it might have added 5 k to the value of the house.

Painting walls and fitting new carpets won’t have added much to the value, unless it was very high end and done in the last few months.

So the suggestion that you pay your parther half the cost of the renovations doesmt make sense. They have benefited from that money and will go on doing so if you continue to live there together .

So all things considered, I would put the house in my name only. Then pay for all landlord type costs myself from now on - major repairs , building insurance , boiler servicing, ground rent, redecoration, new flooring etc . Upgrades to kitchen, bathroom etc as require.

Your parther will benefit from lower outgoings from both of these . You will benefit from an appreciating asset, but you may need all of what you save on half the rent on the above costs, so don’t spend it - save it.

Roles reversed would expect it would be his or both your property? Do whichever you feel is true for you.

It should be 50/50- he has paid into the house too

You have to pay capital gains tax if the owner has more than one property I think

Why would the partner keep continuing to pay towards a house he has no rights to?

What happens if OP dies and the kids or OP's other family boot him out?

If my partner didn't add me to the mortgage after all these years of paying rent, I would leave them.

This is what I was going to suggest too. Although ensure you change that if you split up in future.

This.

Don’t cave on this.

I think it would be fair to acknowledge your DP's contribution to the house.

Has the rent been paid 50/50 all these years?

How are bills split, who is the higher earner?

Keep it in your name so your children inherit it after you and it stays in the family. There’s no impact to your partner in him not owning it. He still gets to live there. It also sounds like it would get transferred to you, so if you do nothing then it belongs to you and you alone.

The most honest post on the thread

Please keep it in your name, I wish I had with my house

Even after 14 years together. Not able to buy due to her partners bad credit. Jointly paying for home improvements. You’d still tell her she should not get a share?

I do not believe you would say that on here. Even if you thought it. You’d get lynched

Separate the money paid to date from the property.

1. You have both benefited from paying rent at below market value.
2. Your relative is giving you a property.

I’d do neither of your options. I would mortgage to the value of work he personally contributed to the work done to improve the house and return that to him to use as a deposit on his own buy to let (so he has an asset of his own). The rent is irrelevant as that’s what you paid for the roof over your heads, and is quite literally how renting works.

I would not give him a share when you’re unmarried, as this just makes things more complicated if you do split.

I wouldn’t expect rent from him going forwards, but would expect a contribution to the bills and a clear understanding, in writing, that there is no intention for him to build a share of equity in the house while living there. Then you both know where you stand.

You don’t have shared children and he doesn’t want to offer you the legal protections of marriage, so can’t expect you to do this for him either. Keep it in your name.

Spot on

Of course you keep it in your name. Why would you split it and lose money if/when you split up? I'd also be worried as you say that one party (I assume your partner?) had debts - he could do that again and take out money against your house. Please look after you and don't give money away!

He's been an absolute mug contributing to someone else's new windows