Buying a house with a partner you're not married to starts with how you hold title

Should we buy as joint tenants or tenants in common?

It depends mostly on what you want to happen if one of you dies, because that is where the two forms differ. Joint tenants own the whole together and the survivor takes it all. Tenants in common each own a share, equal or not, that passes under their will. On a sale they work alike.

On a sale: both owners sign the listing, the contract and the transfer, and the proceeds are paid out after the mortgage. Joint tenants are generally treated as sharing the net proceeds equally; tenants in common share by the fractions on title, unless there is evidence of a different intention.

On a split: title is where the analysis starts, not where it ends. If you are not yet spouses, a court looks at title and at what each of you actually put in, and either of you can ask for the home to be sold under the Partition of Property Act. If you are spouses, the Family Law Act generally sets title aside and divides the home as family property. Either way, a written agreement carries more weight than the form of title.

On a death: here the choice decides the outcome. With a joint tenancy, the survivor registers the death and becomes sole owner; the home isn't part of the estate and the will doesn't reach it. With a tenancy in common, the share belongs to the estate and goes where the will says, which may be to the surviving partner, or to children or parents.

On the title itself: a BC title shows joint tenants expressly. If two owners are registered without that wording, the law treats them as tenants in common. Unequal shares are stated as fractions beside each name. The conveyancing lawyer needs these instructions before the transfer is drafted.

One of us is putting in more money. How do we protect that?

There are two ways, often used together. You can register unequal shares as tenants in common, so title shows who owns what. Or you can take title equally and sign a cohabitation agreement recording the extra contribution and how it comes back. Title alone may not hold once the family property rules apply, so the agreement usually matters more.

Unequal shares on title are simple and visible, but fixed. They don't change if one of you later pays more of the mortgage or funds a renovation, and once you are spouses the Family Law Act generally divides family property equally whatever the fractions say.

Money one partner had before the relationship can be excluded property, but once it has gone into a home you own together, whether it is still excluded can be disputed. An agreement that states the amount, says whether it is repaid first on a sale or split, and says whether it rises and falls with the home's value takes that argument away.

Parents' money needs its own paper. If a parent is giving money to one of you, a letter stating that it is a gift to that partner alone, not to both, helps it stay excluded property later. Lenders often ask for a gift letter anyway, but theirs usually only confirms the money isn't a loan. If the parents expect repayment, it is a loan and should be documented as one, with terms, sometimes secured by a registered mortgage. Your agreement then says which of you carries that debt.

When do BC's family property rules start to apply to us?

When you become spouses under the Family Law Act, which for an unmarried couple generally means two years of living together in a marriage-like relationship. Marrying makes you spouses at once. After that, a separation divides family property, including the home, under Part 5, so anything you meant to keep separate needs an agreement.

The two years run from when you began living in a marriage-like relationship, which may be before or after the purchase. Nothing is registered, and the start date is a question of fact: shared finances, how you present yourselves, whether you share a home. Couples who moved in gradually can disagree about it later, so a cohabitation agreement often records the date.

When you do qualify, the relationship's start date matters too. Property each of you owned before it began is generally excluded; property acquired during it, including a home bought together after moving in, is family property. So a home bought early in the relationship becomes family property to divide if you later qualify as spouses and then separate.

Other rules change on the same date. For inheritance, WESA uses a similar two-year test, so a surviving partner gains rights on intestacy and the right to ask a court to vary a will. Support duties under the Family Law Act can start sooner, for example if you have a child together. And the limitation period for a property claim runs from the date of separation.

What happens to the house if one of us dies?

With a joint tenancy, the survivor becomes sole owner outside the will. With a tenancy in common, the deceased's share passes under their will, or under the intestacy rules if there is none, and a partner who isn't yet a spouse gets nothing that way. A partner who is a spouse can also ask a court to vary the will.

Joint tenancy keeps the house out of the estate, but it can override other wishes. If one partner meant their contribution to go to children from an earlier relationship, or back to the parents who funded it, a joint tenancy sends it to the survivor regardless. That is the case for a tenancy in common paired with wills.

Under a tenancy in common with no will, the share goes to the deceased's relatives under Part 3 of WESA. For a couple who aren't yet spouses, that can leave the survivor co-owning the home with the deceased's parents or siblings, who may want it sold.

The mortgage doesn't disappear on a death. The surviving borrower remains responsible for all of it, whichever form of title you chose, which is what life or mortgage insurance is there to cover.

Do we both have to be on the mortgage?

Usually, if you are both on title. Lenders generally require every registered owner to sign the mortgage, because it charges the whole home, and each borrower is then responsible for the full debt, not half of it. Depending on the lender, a partner whose income isn't needed to qualify may sign as a guarantor instead.

Full liability means the lender can pursue either of you for the whole balance. If you split up and one of you stops paying, the other has to keep the loan current to protect their credit and the home. A cohabitation agreement can say who pays what between the two of you, but it doesn't bind the lender.

Property transfer tax: if only one of you qualifies for the first-time home buyer exemption, it is generally applied only to the share that buyer acquires, and the other share is taxed. The exemption's conditions change from time to time, so check the current rules before you settle on shares.

Buying a presale adds a timing point. The contract is signed long before completion, and the names on it affect who can take title, so settle the title question when you sign the contract, not when the building is finished.

What does the conveyancing lawyer need from us, and when?

Your title instructions, given before the transfer is drafted: joint tenancy or tenancy in common, and the shares if they are unequal. The lawyer also needs the contract, your lender's details, identification for both of you, and a record of where each down payment came from, including any gift letter from a parent.

Settle the shares early. Changing how you hold title after completion means another registered transfer, a property transfer tax question and, in most cases, the lender's consent, so it is far simpler to get the transfer right the first time.

If you are also signing an agreement between yourselves about the home, leave it enough time; one rushed through the day before completion is easier to attack later. The lawyer handling the purchase is acting on the conveyance, which is a separate piece of work from advising either of you on that agreement.