Moving into your partner’s home is a common situation, particularly in cohabitation. Very quickly, the question of sharing of expenses arises. Several options exist, but they do not have the same consequences, particularly in terms of heritage.
In practice, the moving in partner may be hosted for freeparticipate only in current chargesor pay a contribution assimilated to a rent. Some couples go further, even sharing the loan repayment.
Charges, “rent”, credit: choices with very different consequences
“It’s a false perception of fairness which is misleading”, warns Arthur Mounier, wealth management advisor and founder of Cadre Privé. “You absolutely must not finance capital that you will never own.” Concretely, when one repays the credit, he builds up a active.
The other, even by contributing, does not create any rights. “L’wealth asymmetry is created silently,” underlines the professional. Concretely, a partner who pays 500 euros per month for several years can thus contribute to financing several tens of thousands of euros without any right to the property.
A legal and tax risk often underestimated
Using a monthly contribution may seem simple. However, it is not without consequences. From a legal point of view, it does not confer no rights to the property. “In French law, only the title deed is authentic,” recalls Arthur Mounier. On the notarial side, the position is clear. “No rights” are created in the event of simple participation, unless it is possible to demonstrate the existence of a debt via a formalized writing, specifies Arielle Ricouvier, notary at the Marseille residence.
But the risk is also tax. The amounts paid can be reclassified as disguised donation if they do not correspond to any precise legal framework. “Fiscally, this can be assimilated to a disguised donation,” underlines the notary.
Concretely, the administration may consider that these payments constitute a transfer of assets between cohabitees. However, since the latter are legally considered third parties, free transfer duties can reach 60%. On the relational level, this logic can also transform the balance of the couple, by bringing the relationship closer to a schema lessor-tenant.
What solutions for a lasting balance?
“Cohabitees ignore the law, the law ignores them,” recalled Napoleon Bonaparte. A reality that is still relevant today: as the Notaries of France point out, the partners are legally independent and have no automatic right to the other’s housing. In the event of separation, the situation can be brutal: one keeps the property, the other leaves without compensation.
The simplest solution to avoid imbalances is to limit the participation of the non-owner spouse in current expenses, without contributing to the repayment of the loan. The objective is to preserve a balance between expenses and assets. Another option: allow the non-owner partner to build a heritage in parallel. “He can save on his own, via life insurance, a PEA or a real estate investment,” indicates Arthur Mounier.
For couples engaged in a common project, thepurchase in joint ownership remains the most legally coherent solution. “The ideal is that the reality of the financing corresponds to the reality of the property,” summarizes Maître Ricouvier.
Anticipate to avoid tensions
To further secure the situation, it is also possible to formalize things. The drafting of a writing, acknowledgment of debt, agreement between cohabitees or notarial deed, makes it possible to clarify the nature of the payments and to avoid any ambiguity in the event of separation. Furthermore, in the absence of automatic protection in cohabitation, the drafting of a will may prove essential for protect your partner in the event of death.
Without clear frameworks and expectations, what initially seems fair can, over time, become deeply unbalanced. Hence the importance of talking about it from the start. “It is not a lack of confidence to address these subjects, it is a mark of respect,” recalls the CGP.
