Girlfriend moving in to my place, advice needed about law etc
I've been searching and searching the internet but I can't really find anything exactly that relates to my circumstances.
I have my own mortgage for a 1 bedroom apartment.
I'm getting 25% single persons discount for my council tax.
My girlfriend is moving in with me next month. She currently lives at her parents house.
She will not be contributing anything towards the bills of living here, all she will be paying for is her own food/drink (kind of share our food/drink but for the most part we're paying for our own). She is getting rid of her car when she moves in with me in the city as she won't need it.
Because she lives more than a 2 hour drive away, she will be living here for 2 months, then living at her parents house for 1-2 weeks, then back here for 2 months and so on. She is self employed.
Questions:
If we were to break up in the future, would she have any rights of any kind in the ownership of my stuff ie television, computer, washer, fridge etc etc, or possibly even own a small slice of my apartment?
Is it possible I can still keep my single persons 25% council tax discount, if "officially" her name is registered at her parents house? (if that is possible, a grey area?) - and if she has to register her name to my address which organisations need to know? she can keep things like her car driving license at her parents house?
Considering that she won't be paying anything towards my bills?
Will my employment tax code have to change? if we were to just say we are friends?
is there any difference in tax contribution between living with a friend or living with a partner? - who pays nothing to my bills?
I have my own mortgage for a 1 bedroom apartment.
I'm getting 25% single persons discount for my council tax.
My girlfriend is moving in with me next month. She currently lives at her parents house.
She will not be contributing anything towards the bills of living here, all she will be paying for is her own food/drink (kind of share our food/drink but for the most part we're paying for our own). She is getting rid of her car when she moves in with me in the city as she won't need it.
Because she lives more than a 2 hour drive away, she will be living here for 2 months, then living at her parents house for 1-2 weeks, then back here for 2 months and so on. She is self employed.
Questions:
If we were to break up in the future, would she have any rights of any kind in the ownership of my stuff ie television, computer, washer, fridge etc etc, or possibly even own a small slice of my apartment?
Is it possible I can still keep my single persons 25% council tax discount, if "officially" her name is registered at her parents house? (if that is possible, a grey area?) - and if she has to register her name to my address which organisations need to know? she can keep things like her car driving license at her parents house?
Considering that she won't be paying anything towards my bills?
Will my employment tax code have to change? if we were to just say we are friends?
is there any difference in tax contribution between living with a friend or living with a partner? - who pays nothing to my bills?
0
Comments
No
No
No change in tax code.
If she is living with you, she should let all the relevant organisations know e.g. bank, DVLA etc. She will be living with you for the majority of the time regardless of her 1-2 week stays at her parents house.
Re ownership of apartment or items within it, you can get something drawn up by a solicitor (Declaration of Trust) which states that she will have no claim on anything if you were to split up (it's like a pre-nup but for co-habitants rather than husband and wife). It does all sound rather unromantic, but it's worth getting done (I did).
If she was just a friend then I'd ask her to pay 50% of everything.
safer option but I'd imagine it being quite uncomfortable trying to approach the subject let alone going ahead with that process.
If he can't talk to her about that then he shouldn't be living with her.
Is there any grounds for her to claim that by contributing toward the council tax of someone else's house, she deserves a stake in the equity?
And remember that you don't need legal grounds to make a claim against someone. You can take them to court for anything you like and they will end up losing money and time but gaining stress and hassle, even if the claim is thrown out. People can be spiteful, vengeful and irrational in break-ups.
Ultimately, make sure you have proper records of how you paid your own bills all on your own and your spouse didn't contribute to anything other than their own food and clothes, etc. If they can show the courts likely proof that they were contributing, they could end up claiming some of the equity.
As said, a solicitor can draft a document to help protect you for a fee, but that doesn't guarantee how a judge will see things, especially if the deed is years old and circumstances have changed a lot over time.
And as for those who say it's all cynical and shows an immediate lack of trust... That's easy to say until you consider the price of houses and the irreparable damage a split could cause to a person. People don't think of that when they hear the good news that house prices have gone up 24% in London over the last year or whatever.
I don't know of I'd go as far as trust, but there certainly seems like a serious lack of maturity in handling the issue. If you can't talk frankly and plan such basic measures then you've probably got more to worry about than this!.
I for one, would never have moved in with a fella and not expected to contribute to half the living costs, I wouldn't be anyone's pet. I would also not accept the situation in reverse.... If someone has the means, a job etc, then there's no reason not to pay your way... It sets a bad precedent imo.
I had to sign one of these when my now ex wanted to remortgage her house (She had bought it about a year before we got together). I never contributed to the mortgage, but apparently the document was to agree that I wouldn't claim half of the house if we split.
Lived with her for 7 years, never thought about this document until about a year after I left she sold it for £50,000 more than she paid for it!
You tax code won't change as this is based on your earning ... not based on being shacked up with a girlfriend.
In the eyes of the law you are still single (martial status), if you split she would have no legal rights to you possessions or property. If though she did contribute to certain items in the house she could go through the courts and make a claim.
Other than that don't worry as it stands at the moment she came with nothing and would leave with nothing...
ps prenups in marriage are not legal in the UK. And I agree with others DONT EVER GET MARRIED. I am currently going through a divorce, I contributed financially to the house and property 100% over the last 10 years but she is going for everything + some more.
The happy people from wookie wookie la la land will not like it though.
So what if things go tits up and she ends up trying to claim half your flat or costs or something? How selfish of you!
A solicitor will tell you the same thing (minus the wookie wookie land). It has nothing to do with trust. If one person put in 20k and the other 5k it is only fair that that person protects that 20k. It is not an unusual thing to do if you aren't married. You could be all lovey dovey and then split and have a fight on your hands to get your money back.
I put in more deposit and I protected that (on the advice of the solicitor and my own father) as that was my money and money I would need for a deposit if I ever split with my boyfriend (I haven't and what is mine is legally his now we are married). My father had a friend whose daughter bought with her boyfriend, they split up and as they hadn't protected their share of the deposit by a "declaration of trust"they had to split the proceeds from the sale 50/50, and her ex gained 20k.
Pay the Council Tax - it's there for a reason and morally it's an obligation just like bankers should pay tax on all their earnings not just the bit they can get away with.
There are many many people who have placed total trust in their partners and subsequently found it to be misplaced.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/guides/article-2650606/What-money-rights-unmarried-couples-break-up.html