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Your housing rights when you separate

When partners who live together separate, sorting out new living arrangements can be a real challenge. You may be worried about affording the new arrangements or that you’ll have nowhere to go. And you’ll no doubt want as smooth a transition as possible for you and your children. 

Your housing rights will depend on whether you’re unmarried or married/in a civil partnership, and whether you rent or own. This page gives you some high level guidance about your rights. Unless you need to leave quickly because things feel unsafe, it’s important to get good advice before you make any major decisions.

Check your rights

Understand your housing rights as a single parent with this interactive guide.

If the home is owned or mortgaged

You may have a financial interest in the home, even if your name isn’t on the title deeds and you’re not registered as an owner with the Land Registry.

You own the home jointly with your ex-partner

As both you and your ex-partner are legal owners, you both have a right to stay in the home. The type of relationship you were in doesn’t matter. 

If you agree that one of you will leave, each one of you has the right to come back while you legally own the home together. If you’ve been forced to leave, you can ask a court to enforce your right to return. But you can’t do this if there’s a court order preventing you from being in the home.

There are two types of joint ownership. 

  1. You own the entire property together – known as joint tenants. This means the whole property would go to your partner if one of you were to die. 
  2. You each own a specific share in the property – known as tenants in common. This means you can choose to leave your share of the property to whoever you want through a will.

If your relationship has broken down and you have a joint tenancy, you may want to consider changing this to a tenancy in common. This way the whole property wouldn’t automatically go to your ex-partner if you die before agreeing what to do with your home. Our page on getting legal help might be useful.

Your ex-partner owns the home, and you’re not on the title deeds or registered as an owner

You’re married or in a civil partnership

You have a right to stay in the home – this is called home rights. You can register your home rights by contacting the Land Registry to help stop your partner from selling your home. More about registering your home rights

You’re not married or in a civil partnership

Unfortunately, you don’t have an automatic right to stay in the home. You might be able to apply for a court order that will allow you to stay. But the court will only do this if they think it’s in the best interests of your child, and only for a limited time – for example, until they turn 18.

If you’ve contributed toward the cost of the home, or you and your ex-partner saw the home as yours too, you might have what’s called a beneficial interest in the property. This is a complicated area of law, and you’ll need specialist legal advice if you think this might apply.

You own the home, and your ex-partner isn’t on the title deeds or registered as an owner with the Land Registry

You’re married or in a civil partnership

Your ex-partner has the right to stay in the home – this is called home rights. You can’t make them leave. If the two of you can’t agree on a way forward, you can use mediation, arbitration or the legal system. Our page on getting help when you can’t agree has more.

You’re not married or in a civil partnership

Your ex-partner doesn’t have the right to stay. So you can ask them to leave, as long as you give them reasonable notice. If they’ve made a financial contribution to the home, or you agreed together that they had a stake in the property, they might be able to claim an interest in the property. It’s up to them to prove this.

If you’re renting

You have a joint tenancy with your ex-partner

You have a right to stay regardless of the type of relationship you were in. The court can enforce this right. The court can also make an order to give the tenancy to one of the tenants. This is likely to be in favour of whoever has the children living with them most of the time.

If your ex-partner gives the landlord notice that they intend to leave, this may also end your tenancy. But your landlord might agree to transfer the tenancy to you as the sole tenant. If your ex-partner leaves and refuses to pay the rent, you’ll be responsible for paying any money owed even though you’re joint tenants. 

You might be able to get help with the cost of your rent. 

If you decide to leave and are happy for your ex-partner to stay, you’ll have to formally end the joint tenancy and start a new one. Make sure you have whatever changes you agree with your landlord in writing. This is so you can’t be accused of abandoning the tenancy and asked to keep paying the rent.

The tenancy is only in your ex-partner’s name

You’re married or in a civil partnership

You have a right to stay in the home – this is called home rights. A court could order that the tenancy is transferred into your name as part of ending the marriage or civil partnership.

You’re not married or in a civil partnership

Unfortunately, you don’t have an automatic right to stay in the home. You might be able to apply to the court for the tenancy to be transferred into your name if this would be best for the children. If you’re forced to leave, you can apply for priority housing from your council as a homeless family.

The tenancy is only in your name

You’re married or in a civil partnership

Your ex-partner has the right to stay in the home – this is called home rights. You can’t make them leave. If the two of you can’t agree on a way forward, you can use mediation, arbitration or the legal system. Our pages on help when you can’t agree and getting legal support might be useful.

You’re not married or in a civil partnership

Your ex-partner doesn’t have the right to stay. So you can ask them to leave, as long as you give them reasonable notice. 

My partner is abusive

If your ex-partner is abusive and refuses to leave, there are 2 main things you can do.

  1. Apply for a court order – an occupation order will allow you to stay in the home and make your ex-partner leave. When you fill in the application, say that you need this urgently because you or your children are at risk. You might want to speak to a solicitor, who can give you advice and help you apply. 
  2. Apply to your council for emergency housing – if you’re a single parent at risk of violence, you’ll be seen as a priority for rehousing. See our page on what to do if you’re at risk of losing your home for more.

You can call the National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free any time of day or night for help and advice.

I’m not sure I can afford to stay

If staying is an option, you’ll need to make sure this is affordable. You might assume you can’t afford to pay the mortgage or cover the rent by yourself. But there might be help you can get – see our pages on help with rent and help with mortgage payments for more information.

We can’t agree on what to do

If you and your ex-partner are struggling agree on what to do about the family home, our pages on help when you can’t agree and getting legal help might be useful. There are other options you can try. 

Useful links

What happens to your home when you separate (Citizens Advice)

Legal differences between living together and marriage (Citizens Advice)

Staying in your partner’s property during a divorce or separation (gov.uk)

Your rights to your rented home during divorce or dissolution (MoneyHelper)

Dividing the rented family home if you were living together (MoneyHelper)

Guide to joint tenancies when a relationship breaks down (Shelter England)

Date last updated: 28 June 2023

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