Curry Popeck

West End Office:
87 Wimpole Street
London W1G 9RL
Tel: +44 (0)20 7224 6633
Fax: +44 (0)20 7935 4042
DX No: 9082 West End

Harrow Office:
380 Kenton Road
Harrow, Middlesex
HA3 8DP
Tel: +44 (0)20 8907 2000
Fax: +44 (0)20 8927 0499
DX No: 47504 Kenton

Property and Partners
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Congratulations, you've found your perfect partner and your perfect home, and now you're ready to move in. But quite apart from the emotional commitment, you're making probably the biggest financial commitment of your life.
And what happens if you split up? Before you buy, speak to a solicitor, who will tell you the different ways couples can own a property. One of them is as 'joint tenants', which means that you'll both be eligible to share equally in the proceeds of a sale. And if one of you died, the other would inherit the property outright. Another option is buying as 'tenants in common', where each 'tenant' has a fixed share that's unaffected by the death of the other, whose share would then go to any beneficiaries of his will or of an intestacy.
If you are unmarried and buy as tenants in common, you should consider a Declaration of Trust deed. This records what your shares are in the property and what should happen if you sell or split up. Because unmarried couples don't have the protection that married ones do, then without a Declaration of Trust, property law applies in the event of a split, and a court determines disputes. Outcomes may of course be unknown, unclear or simply unacceptable.
Couples who bought as joint tenants and decide to part should have the joint tenancy severed. Otherwise, if one of them dies, the estate will automatically pass to their ex, which won't be so great for their new dependants. Once notice has been given, the property will automatically be held as tenants in common and the estate will be split between each party
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