Land Property Claims

The term “co-ownership” is used as a general term for whenever property is jointly owned by two or more people – it applies to married couples and those who are cohabiting as well as wider private and commercial relationships.

Many people believe that you automatically have the “rights” of a common law wife or husband if you have lived with someone for a specific amount of time. Although there is in fact no legal concept of “common law rights”, there may be things you can do to establish or protect your property rights if you and your partner have been living together but are not married.

We provide advice and expertise in disputes involving cohabitees’ rights against each other and with reference to the general law. This involves knowledge of the Law of Trusts. Where Court proceedings are necessary these are conducted under the TLATA legislation (which stands for Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996). The process is the same whether or not the people who are living together hold equal shares or unequal shares.

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