Moving In With a Partner Who Owns the Home: Your Rights in Ontario

Moving into a partner's house is a big step, and money questions often get pushed aside. You may be paying for renovations, covering part of the mortgage or simply giving up your own place, and wonder what you get in return.

In Ontario, the rules for unmarried partners are quite different from the rules for married spouses. This article explains what moving in does and does not give you, how contributions are treated, and how to protect yourself.

What moving in does not give you

Ontario does not divide property between common-law couples when they separate. Each partner keeps the property they bought, and neither has a right to share the other's increase in property value. Furniture, household items and other property belong to the person who bought them.

The special protections for a family home are also limited. The Family Law Act defines a matrimonial home as property ordinarily occupied by a person and their spouse as their family residence, and because spouse has the married meaning there, those protections do not cover unmarried partners. Whether living in your partner's home gives you any interest in it beyond that depends on the facts, so it is worth confirming with a lawyer.

Money you put in

There is an important exception. A common-law partner who contributed to property the other owns may have a right to part of it. Unless the owner agrees to pay the contribution back, the partner may have to go to court.

Whether and how much you can claim depends on the facts, including what you paid, why, and what was understood. A lawyer can assess how those facts fit the law. Good records make a real difference, because they help show what you contributed and why.

• Keep bank records showing payments toward the mortgage, taxes, repairs or renovations.
• Save receipts and invoices for improvements you paid for.
• Write down what you and your partner agreed, even in an email or message.
• Note whether a payment was meant as rent, a gift, a loan or a contribution to the home.

Putting your arrangement in writing

Unmarried partners who are cohabiting, or who intend to cohabit, may make a cohabitation agreement about their rights and obligations, including property and support. It is unenforceable unless it is in writing, signed by both partners and witnessed.

Ontario's guidance advises that each partner speak to a different lawyer and that you exchange financial information before signing. That matters because a court may set aside a domestic contract if a party failed to disclose significant assets, debts or other liabilities, or did not understand its nature or consequences.

Some limits apply. A cohabitation agreement cannot deal with decision-making responsibility or parenting time for children. A court may also set aside a support provision or waiver in some situations, such as where it results in unconscionable circumstances. If you later marry each other, the agreement is deemed to be a marriage contract.

If the relationship ends or your partner dies

For support after separation, unmarried partners count as spouses if they have cohabited continuously for at least three years. They also count, however long they lived together, if they cohabited in a relationship of some permanence and are the parents of a child. Support is separate from ownership of the house.

If your partner dies without a will, a common-law spouse does not inherit under the Succession Law Reform Act. However, if the deceased did not make adequate provision for the proper support of their dependants, the court may order support out of the estate on application. A dependant includes a spouse the deceased was supporting, or was legally obliged to support, immediately before death. For that purpose, spouse includes unmarried partners who cohabited for three years or had a child in a relationship of some permanence.

An application may not be made more than six months after the grant of letters probate or letters of administration. The court may allow a later application, but only for the part of the estate not yet distributed. If this applies to you, get advice quickly.

What to do next

• Before you move in, decide whether you will pay rent, contribute to costs, or fund improvements.
• Agree on how any money will be treated and put it in a cohabitation agreement signed and witnessed.
• Each get separate legal advice and share your financial information first.
• Keep a folder of records for every payment toward the home.
• Consider whether you also need a will, since you will not inherit without one.

A lawyer can review your situation and tell you how these rules apply before you commit money.

Frequently asked questions