Living with a partner who owns the house

• It’s sensible to make clear arrangements and record them in a cohabitation agreement (ideally drawn up by a notary). This avoids trouble down the line.
• Drawing up a will prevents distressing situations if one of the partners dies.

If you decide to live together without getting married or entering into a registered partnership, the Dutch Tax Administration assumes that you will retain your own income and assets. This also applies to your partner, even if one of you owns a house. You’re not responsible for your partner’s debts, including if they have a mortgage. It’s sensible to draw up a financial overview of both partners’ possessions and debts before you move in.

You may also want to make agreements about paying for joint expenses, such as groceries, insurance, holidays and living costs. You can share these expenses in proportion to your income or agree that you’ll each pay half.

The partner moving in could also contribute a sum of money each month – rent, in other words. For an indication of the amount of rent you can use the Rent Check (Rent Tribunal website).

Bear in mind that it currently costs more to rent than to pay off mortgage interest. In an extreme situation, the rent calculated according to the points system (used by the Dutch Rent Tribunal) could be more than the interest that the other partner is paying on their mortgage, even if the partner moving in contributes to the energy bills. That’s why the calculation is just an estimate and should be used only as a guideline. It’s important to update any agreements you make, particularly if your family situation changes or you buy a new house.

There are various blogs about living together and money matters with useful information about agreements that partners make.

Sharing living costs can sometimes lead to undesirable situations in the long term. The value of the property may rise due to developments on the housing market and/or as more of the mortgage is paid off. Only the partner who owns the home will benefit from this.

A similar situation may arise if the partner who’s moving in invests money in the house, such as in a new kitchen, renovations or solar panels. If you split up without making a record of these investments, the partner who moved in might lose all of the money they invested.

Many people living together are willing to share the benefits and costs of increases or decreases in the home’s value. To put this into practice, you could:

• Sell 50% of the property to the partner moving in. This is relatively easy to sort out, but it’s not free. You’d be charged notary fees, land registry costs and property transfer tax (0% or 2%). If the house is tied to a mortgage, the lender often needs to give consent for part of the property to be sold to the other partner. The lender will probably want the mortgage to be put in the names of both partners, and may require the original mortgage registration for the whole property to be kept intact.
• Drawing up a cohabitation agreement with an excess value clause. An excess value clause means that both partners share any increase or decrease in the property’s value from the day they start living together. It’s sensible to ask a notary to arrange this, to avoid paying property transfer tax, for example.
• If you get married, you can both become owners of the home and both be liable for any mortgage debts. But you must draw up a prenuptial agreement to set out your wishes. We recommend that you discuss this with a notary or tax adviser. They’ll be able to explain all the legal and fiscal consequences of getting married.

A cohabitation agreement is a way of recording financial arrangements for household expenses, living expenses and increases in the property’s value. You can draw up a cohabitation agreement yourself, but we advise you to have it done by a notary.

A formal cohabitation agreement drawn up by a notary may have financial benefits, as you’ll then be tax partners for the purposes of your tax return. A cohabitation agreement can also set out arrangements in terms of partner or child maintenance, as unmarried cohabiting partners are not legally entitled to maintenance if they split up, regardless of how long they’ve lived together.

A cohabitation agreement can arrange for the community property to be transferred to one partner upon the other partner’s death. However, it can’t arrange for the surviving partner to inherit the house from the homeowner, as cohabiting couples are not each other’s heirs. So it’s worth noting that the surviving partner doesn’t automatically have the right to stay in the house.

If you live together and haven’t written a will, the house will be inherited by the homeowner’s family. The surviving partner inherits nothing and may even be evicted from the property after six months. But even if the homeowner’s family allow the surviving partner to remain in the property, things might still get complex. For instance, under Dutch tax law, the surviving partner’s quiet enjoyment of the property could be considered a taxable gift and therefore liable to gift tax. You can avoid this situation by writing a will and making each other your heir.

A final netting clause means that if a couple splits up, or if one of them dies, they settle up with each other as if they had been married in a community of property. Although spouses, civil partners and cohabiting couples can all agree a final netting clause, the fiscal consequences for cohabiting couples had never been made entirely clear. A proposed change in legislation has refocused attention on this issue. The Tax Administration has stated that cohabiting couples will now be treated in the same way as married couples, which offers new options for people who live together.

You can’t leave a house to a partner who moves in with you by means of a cohabitation agreement, as cohabiting couples are not each other’s heirs. So it’s worth noting that a surviving partner won’t automatically have the right to stay in the house.

If you live together without drawing up a will, the family of the homeowner will inherit the house. The surviving partner inherits nothing and may even be evicted from the property after six months. Problems can arise even if the family allows the surviving partner to stay, as the tax authorities may consider this gesture to be a taxable gift and therefore subject to gift tax. You can avoid this situation by both partners drawing up a will and naming their partner as their legal heir.

Employers often organise pension accrual for their employees through a pension fund and insure the employee’s partner through a partner’s pension. If one partner passes away, the surviving partner receives a partner’s pension every month. To qualify for a partner’s pension, the partner must be registered with the pension fund.

You must be able to prove that you live together. Many pension funds will only accept a copy of a notarial cohabitation agreement. Another good reason for having an official cohabitation agreement drawn up.

• Cohabiting: the financial consequences
• Buying a home with your partner? Here’s what to make agreements about first
• Divorce and your tax return: what to do about your mortgage?
• More about property and mortgages