I’m buying a house on my own, and I wondered whether my partner could lay claim to a share of it. My partner lives with me but he doesn’t contribute to anything.
In order to establish a claim on your house while you are alive your partner would have to convince a court, either with documentary evidence such as letters, or from recollections of conversations you’d held, that you intended to share the house with him. Alternatively he would have to show that he’d lost out financially because of promises you had made, perhaps of marriage. If you were to die, however, and you had been living with your partner for more than two years, he would be able to make a claim on your estate, including your house.