Ex-Boyfriend wants share of house

[abitbroken]

If you had a female roommate for 2 years and she moved out, she would not be entitled to a penny of your house. Whatever she paid to live there was towards the use and wear and tear and things she consumed while she was there (electricity, internet). I don't know Scottish law, but if you were not married and owned the home well before he moved in, I would think it would be cruel for anyone to rule in his favor. Do you even have documentation that he actually lived there all that time?

[JaggerJim]

There are laws in different countries to do with how long partners have been together. You will find partnerships over 2 years fall into "Whats yours is also theres" which means after 2 years of living together and payments towards her house warrants him going for half. He wasn't just a room-mate.

[anniefeet]

Hi everyone, thanks so much for advice, this is really helping and making me feel calmer Just to clarify a couple of things - I'm in Scotland, UK, not the US. I had the house for about eight years before I met him, and he lived there 2.5 years and contributed £100 a month which was roughly his half of the bills (gas etc).

For Jim - he isn't asking for his contributions back, which I would almost understand (albeit that he did use the utilities while he lived here!!) but is asking for a share of the equity in the house. I can't see how he feels he has a claim on this but people are telling me he could make a case that his £100 was to help me with the mortgage and thus increase the equity. In reality I pay £300 a month for the mortgage and £200 for bills.

[catfeeder]

Hi everyone, thanks so much for advice, this is really helping and making me feel calmer Just to clarify a couple of things - I'm in Scotland, UK, not the US. I had the house for about eight years before I met him, and he lived there 2.5 years and contributed £100 a month which was roughly his half of the bills (gas etc).

For Jim - he isn't asking for his contributions back, which I would almost understand (albeit that he did use the utilities while he lived here!!) but is asking for a share of the equity in the house. I can't see how he feels he has a claim on this but people are telling me he could make a case that his £100 was to help me with the mortgage and thus increase the equity. In reality I pay £300 a month for the mortgage and £200 for bills.

 

Naaah, I doubt that there's a court in the world that would reward him, not only rent-free living for the past 2.5 years, but also equity in someone's home that they owned prior to the relationship and can demonstrate that they were NOT dependent on the renter's contribution in order to have maintained the mortgage.

 

Bring your solicitor evidence that the 100 per month was considered rent and covered the utilities and other 'consumable' expenses such as food. You've owned the property for 8 years, and unless he has in writing that his contribution was intended as a lease-to-own agreement, he's wasting his time.

 

Some num-nuk put this idea in his head based on some common law that was likely designed to protect people who were co-investors or who had foregone a career investment to raise dependant children.

[nutbrownhare]

I can't see how he feels he has a claim on this but people are telling me he could make a case that his £100 was to help me with the mortgage and thus increase the equity. In reality I pay £300 a month for the mortgage and £200 for bills.

So your monthly outgoings were £500 and he contributed £100? You should counter-claim for the £150/month he should have paid to make your contributions to the household equal!

 

JaggerJim - you aren't the ex-boyfriend in disguise, are you?

[Tanzi]

I guess I need the OP here to see if in fact, their agreement was to pay half each towards the morgage. She does not quite say in her post.

 

If he did agree to a rent based payment fine, but if she tricked him into mortgage payments, that's a different story.......

 

If your name is not on the deeds then your money is not going towards paying off the mortgage. I don't know how anyone can be tricked into that.

[Wiseman2]

Definitely discuss with your lawyer that he is a jilted lover who had to run back to live with his folks and that he is seeking to get back at you with frivolous litigation hoping for some money. Don't paint this as an amicable breakup.

 

Your attorney will review things but mentioning the dynamic is important. Can he be counter-sued for back rent or harassment?

 

A smart wolverine of a lawyer will discredit him and put him on the defensive even though he's the plaintiff. The case will probably be dismissed.

I had the house for about eight years before I met him, and he lived there 2.5 years and contributed £100 a month which was roughly his half of the bills (gas etc). I can't see how he feels he has a claim on this but people are telling me he could make a case that his £100 was to help me with the mortgage and thus increase the equity.

[Ms Darcy]

Wow, what a terrible situation. I doubt his claim would hold any water in the US. I truly hope a solicitor can help you put this ridiculousness to bed.

 

As others have said, if he lived with a landlord and was paying rent (which would likely go towards his landlord's mortgage), he wouldn't even be attempting this claim. Just because he dated you (as the landlord), he wants a piece of the pie. Horrible.

 

Having said that, I ALWAYS had a lease for whoever I lived with who was not a co-owner of my property. In other words, both my husband and I are on the HUD-1 as the homeowners. But when he moved in with me in my previous place, after we got engaged but before we married, I made him sign a lease. It needed to be 100% clear what our rights and responsibilities are.

 

Get a solicitor and don't reach out to him directly for now. Follow the solicitor's advice.

[Ms Darcy]

If he signed an agreement retroactively paying half of the down payment, that he would be responsible for maintenance and property taxes, and that he should assume equal liability should the mortgage not be fulfilled, sure. There's plenty more to home ownership than paying half a mortgage payment. But if paying toward someone else's property payment entitled you to ownership, the entire rental industry would be under fire. If the guy felt he was getting shafted paying toward her mortgage, assuming he even was, then he should have pursued other housing. Obviously my opinion is irrelevant to whatever Scotland's law may dictate, but speaking personally, I hope the OP succeeds and the guy gets nothing.

 

Brilliantly said!