Ex-partner wants house bought with inheritance despite my name on deeds

[Guffy]

My partner and I were together for 10 years. I loved her dearly and believe we had a strong relationship. About 5 years in she came into a sum of money after her father sadly died and she decided to buy a house with the money so we could set up home together. She decided to put my name on the deeds effectively giving me half the house. I cautioned her at the time that it was a big step and a generous gift but she said she loved me and it was our home. A year or so ago, after 6 months of lying and deceiving me, she left me for a local man. I now live in the house on my own but she is indicating that the house belongs to her because she ‘paid for it with my dad’s money’. Where do I stand legally please?

Morally it's hers. You should move out.

Morally it is hers, but as you are on the deeds you can aruge. But really you should move out and stop being a free loader.

Did you sign any kind of declaration of trust or any document saying that she owns the house or owns more of the value of the house?

With nothing else to the contrary ie any declarations then you own half the house as you are on the deeds.
However of course morally you know it was paid for by her. Why don't you ask her for a small amount of money to cover off the expense of you moving out and then tell her to cover all the costs of removing you from the deeds

Well, if she did not ring fence it or put it solely in her name, silly girl, then you may well be able to insist on a sale?
Someone with legal should be along soon.
If you have been paying more than your fair share towards bills and/or been paying towards upkeep/maintenance/embellishment or doing DIY to improve it, it would be fair to agree on a set amount for your own deposit or part of what it has gone up by.
However, if legally you own half then you own half. That would be the case irrespective of the circumstances of the split. But easier to take your half if ethically, you think being cheated on is worth half a house 🤷🏼‍♀️

You should be selling the house or buying her out of her half at the very minimum. Why haven't you done that?
Morally the house is mostly hers. You are due half the increased value of the house between the date you bought it and the date you split.

I hope you're paying her rent while you live in her house

Have you been paying towards a mortgage or rent or anything like that?

She might be a cheating harlot but ultimately she bought that house for you both to live in and now you both don’t. If you hadn’t had a free home for 5 years you’d be in a worse position than you are now and morally, it would be shit if you to take her dads hard earned money. What right do you really have to it? I’m sure the man never worked his whole life to line your pockets.

Id ask for a gesture of say 10k to get you set up given you’ll have contributed (I hope) over the years to the house and say that’d be generous of her.

legally presumably you get your half and will be judged accordingly 🤷🏼‍♀️

Morally it might be her house (or mostly her house).

But legally (assuming he’s in England and didn’t sign a declaration of trust), then the assumption is going to be that it’s jointly owned by both of them so he’s entitled to 50 percent.

Obviously whether he feels right taking that 50 percent is a different issue - we don’t know the full picture (maybe he gave up a good job to move to her preferred location or something, we just don’t know).

You were together quite a long time. I have no idea what the financial arrangements were before or after the house purchase so a bit difficult to judge the morality or lack of, but legally you own half the house if you are jointly and equally on the deeds. I guess 10 years of your life might be worth half a house. You should at the very least get half of the increase in value of the house since she purchased it. One way or another you need to sell the house and split the proceeds or one of you buys the other out.

You’ll get very different answer than if you were a woman doing this…

Yes if it was a woman it would be he may have paid for the house but look at all the work she put into it so she should get half (and that would apply even if her name wasn't on the deeds). But it is usually the woman who is on the wrong end of the deal in those situations.

Total agree, but mumsnet is always like that.

morally it’s hers , legally it belongs to you both.

She was an idiot but you’d be a grabby fucker if you decided to takeover the house.

If your names is on the deeds then you own half. You need to get legal advice from a solicitor for your next steps.

Rookie error OP.
Post again and pretend you’re a woman. You’ll get very different answers.

She was very foolish - she’s totally in a hole she has dug herself. Depends how it sits with you morally really, but sometimes you’ve got to put yourself first. Life lesson for her not to cheat and to run big financial decisions by a professional really…

Legally I believe you’re entitled to half of the house, as your name is on the deeds. I’m not a solicitor though, so I’d suggest you check that.

However, you have to consider what might happen if you insist on keeping your half. She may decide to challenge it, which would be costly.

One option would be for you to sell the house, and give her back your half of what she put in. Say for example the house cost £100k, and is now worth £140k. Her half of the sale would be £70k, and you could offer to give her the original £50k, but keep the £20k “profit”.

Of course if you’ve contributed to bills, upkeep, decoration etc then that has an impact too.

Morally it's hers. Legally it's jointly yours.

You're in a good position to negotiate. It would be fair to agree to forgo the full 50% but ask for a smaller % share to reflect the cost of you moving/fees and stamp duty buying your own property and your share of increased equity since purchase, assuming you would otherwise have got onto the property ladder anyway.

On one hand you've been living "rent free" but that's a conscious choice she made including to give you joint ownership. You didn't ask for your life to be turned upside down.

What would that look like? 10%? If you offered that and she got legal advice on it, her solicitor would be telling her to bite your hand off to accept!

Have you been saving these past 10 years?
Was The house purchased without a mortgage? If there is a mortgage have you been contributing towards it?

I would argue that, as you thought you had a house with her, potentially you haven’t been saving for a deposit or took advantage of paying towards your own mortgage/property for the past 10 years you have lost out on that, on the other hand, without her inheritance you wouldn’t have had a house in the first place,

Can you tell us a little more about your financial situation and where you stand on this?

Fuck me some of these answers! Morally it’s hers?? Morally she shouldn’t have cheated if we’re having a discussion on morals. Legally half the house is yours (not a lawyer, get legal advice asap) and if I were in your shoes you’d have to drag me out of that house kicking and screaming.

I came along to say this as well. Partner put the house in joint names despite OP advising caution.
So half the house legally belongs to OP

The OP could well be a woman…

I’m surprised at some of the answers. Does my age make a difference? I’m 67 and believed this was our forever home. I moved from my job and away from my daughter to move here but happily did so as I loved the bones of her. I never saw the breakup coming and now I feel bad for being here but am on my own and not in good health.