A Cautionary tale to unmarried couples who live together but have not clarified the legal interest… beware! by Helen Habershon

You may have seen reports recently of the case of Kernott v Jones in which a woman was ordered by the Court of Appeal to pay her former partner, who left her 17 years before, half the value of their house! This is because they had bought the house together and had not discussed whether there should be any adjustment in their shares where one of them was remaining in the property after their separation and paying the mortgage in its entirety. The court therefore ordered that they had continued to hold it in equal shares.


This does not seem very fair does it? But who said anything about fairness? What the court considered here was the long established principle in trust law that a property is presumed to be owned equally by the parties where there is no Declaration of Trust stating anything to the contrary and no evidence of any intention to vary that equal ownership subsequently.

It is important, when couples live together in property owned by one party, or both parties jointly, that they record how they intend to hold the property legally and in what shares. This is particularly important where one person has, for example, paid the deposit or contributed entirely to the mortgage repayments.

In this case, Miss Jones contributed the £6,000 deposit when the property was purchased in 1985 and in essence paid for the mortgage for 17 years after it had ended in 1993, with no contribution from Mr Kernott. Furthermore, Mr Kernott had subsequently purchased a new property so that his housing needs were met. Miss Jones was not entitled to a share of his new house, as it was purchased after they separated. However, he was entitled to a share worth £109,000 of the property they jointly owned. Miss Jones will probably have to sell her house in order to pay Mr Kernott his share. This situation would have had an entirely different outcome either if the parties were married, or had legally recorded how the property should be held at the time of purchase and following their separation, in circumstances where the property was not going to be immediately sold. A cohabitation or separation agreement is strongly recommended to avoid such claims.

For further information and advice, contact Helen Habershon or Deborah Prance in our Family Team on 01276 681217 or e-mail:

Helen@brooks-partners.co.uk