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If you rent a flat or house

You should check your tenancy agreement carefully to see how long your notice period is.

What you need to do to end a tenancy agreement when you split up depends on what type of landlord you have.

• Ending a tenancy - private renting

If you jointly own your property

What you need to do about jointly owned property will depend on whether you bought it as ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’.

If you own a home as joint tenants, you would own it jointly and equally. If you split up and sell it, you would normally get half each.

If you are 'joint tenants'

If you own a home as joint tenants, you would own it jointly and equally. If you split up and sell it, you would normally get half each.

If you are 'tenants in common'

If you are tenants in common, you would each own a share – but the share may not be equal. For example, one of you may own 60 per cent of the property and one of you may own 40 per cent of the property.

If you bought a property as tenants in common, your solicitor would have drawn up a ‘Declaration of Trust’. This will show you how the property is shared between you.

Selling a jointly owned home

If you jointly own a home, it can only be sold if both owners agree to it.

If one of you wants to stay, you can see if they can buy out the other person’s share.

If one of you owns your property

What you need to do about property when one of you owns it on your own will depend on what you have already agreed.

If you agreed to share the property

You and your former partner may have agreed that the home was to be shared but only one of you is on the ownership documents.

If this happens, the other partner may still be able to prove they own a share. This is known legally as having a ‘beneficial interest’.

The amount of the share would be calculated according to the contributions made to the home. This could include paying bills, contributing to the maintenance and upkeep of the property or paying a share of the deposit or mortgage.

If you didn't agree to share the property

If you didn’t agree to share the property, but the partner who doesn’t own it made a ‘direct contribution’, they may be able to prove they own a share.

‘Direct contributions’ in these circumstances are only financial – and this generally means having paid some of the deposit or mortgage.

If one partner has given up something valuable

If the partner who doesn’t own the property has given up something valuable in order to live there, they may be able to prove a right to stay. For example, if someone gave up long-term tenancy to move in with a partner who promised them a home for life.

If you are in any of these situations, you should get legal advice. See the section ‘Getting help to reach agreement on property’ below.

Getting help to reach agreement on property

If you're not sure what to do about property when you split up, you should get legal advice so you understand your rights.

It's better to try to reach agreement yourselves if you can, as taking things to court can cost money and be very stressful. If you're finding it difficult to agree, you could try using a mediator to help resolve things.

Community Legal Advice can give you advice if you're eligible for legal aid. If you're not eligible for legal aid, it can put you in touch with other organisations that can help.

• Community Legal Advice

• Find a family mediator Opens new window

• Find a legal adviser Opens new window

More useful links

• Housing and Living Together - Advice Now Opens new window