ABSTRACT
SAQ ANSWERS: 1.3 21 Documents, perhaps a piece of paper containing the parties’ agreement/intentions will help to prove
your client’s case. Visiting homes together may show an intention that the property was intended to be for them both, as will both of them being registered with the estate agents. If the conveyancing solicitors were instructed by one party and all correspondence was directed to that party and no enquiries made as to who else was going to live in the property, this would indicate that the purchasing party did not intend the other to have an interest in the home. If the mortgage application was made jointly, it indicates an intention that both parties are to have a beneficial interest in the property; the converse is true if the application and consequent mortgage is in the name of one of the parties only. You will need to examine whether the parties have sole or joint bank accounts or both and how they run their financial affairs as this will be conduct from which the court and you can get an idea of whether the parties intended to pool their resources and from which accounts the mortgage and household expenses were paid. The gift of an engagement ring will indicate that the couple were engaged (though the absence of one is not fatal to a claim under the legislation relating to engaged couples) and, therefore, you may be able to take advantage of the legislation relating to engaged couples on behalf of your client. If your client says she spent money on home improvements, you will need to see estimates and receipts, as well as evidence of the money leaving her bank account. You must also check when such improvements were made and whether there was any arrangement between the parties as to the effect of one of them perhaps making improvements to the other’s property. Did they, for example, agree that this ‘gift’ would give the party making the improvements an interest in the property?
