What is a Cohabitation Agreement?


What is a cohabitation agreement? That's a question we're often asked.

Cohabitation agreements most often refer to contracts drawn up between unmarried couples or those not in a civil partnership, which give financial and other protections to each individual.

Marriage and civil partnership automatically provide these kind of protections but the law presently does not protect cohabiting couples in the same way.

Our cohabitation agreement can help protect all cohabitees, not just couples.

These include:

✓ ALL cohabiting couples, regardless of sexual preference

✓ Family members

✓ Friends

✓ People who meet through Share a Mortgage's social network

Need a cohabitation agreement? Get Shared Ownership Protection - call 0207 112 5388.

Common law marriage for unmarried couples? Don't get caught out!

It is a common misconception that there is a law that governs "Common Law marriage" in English law. In fact if you are not married to your partner then there is no automatic right to home ownership even if you have lived with your partner for many years.

Instead, the only way home ownership can be obtained is through ordinary trust law - this would mean demonstrating your ownership after the event through looking at how much you paid towards the purchase of the property price, property development/improvements, even mortgage repayments. Interestingly, even if the parties are legally married, there is still no automatic right to home ownership. Instead, any transfer of ownership will be at the discretion of the court when exercising their power under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.

What is Shared Ownership Protection?

Shared Ownership Protection, as referred to above, is a legally binding agreement drawn up for mortgage sharers which contains a declaration of trust and may also, if required, contain a cohabitation agreementCohabitation Agreement

The declaration of trust is central to every Shared Ownership Protection and sets down exactly how ownership of a property is calculated, centred around deposit contributions and monthly mortgage repayments. It allows for unequal shares in the property and for an ownership structure to change over time.

The cohabitation agreement part can greatly assist harmonious mortgage sharing from the outset: people know exactly what's expected of them, what the aims of the share are (for example, how long a share might be intended to last for) and what will happen if a sudden change occurs.

The cohabitation agreement within the Shared Ownership Protection includes:

✓ How to leave if the relationship breaks down

✓ What happens if one of you stops paying their mortgage repayments

✓ What happens if you want to sell and they don't

✓ What happens if they disappear

Our Shared Ownership Protection can include a cohabitation that can go into as much or as little detail as you'd like it to.

For more information on what a cohabitation agreement is call 0207 112 5388 or email us at help@shareamortgage.com.
