Can I stay in the house if we separate?

Often, yes, at least while things are sorted out. Whose name is on the mortgage or tenancy matters less than people fear, and if you are married or in a civil partnership it matters very little in the short term. The long-term answer, who ends up with the house, is a separate question, covered on who keeps the house when we separate. This page is about the next few months.

If you are married or in a civil partnership

England and Wales. You have home rights: a right to live in the family home, whoever owns or rents it, until the marriage legally ends or a court decides otherwise. If the home is in your partner's sole name, you can register a home rights notice with the Land Registry so it cannot be sold or remortgaged without you knowing. Your partner cannot change the locks and keep you out. Neither can you keep them out, without a court order.

Scotland. The Matrimonial Homes (Family Protection) (Scotland) Act 1981 gives a spouse or civil partner occupancy rights in the family home whether or not they own it. The same Act lets the court grant an exclusion order removing the other spouse where that is needed to protect you or the children.

If you are not married

Your rights follow the paperwork. Joint owners or joint tenants both have the right to live there, and neither can exclude the other without a court order. If the home is in your partner's sole name and yours is on nothing, you are usually a licensee: you cannot be thrown out on the spot, but you have no long-term right to stay unless a court grants one.

In England and Wales a court can grant an occupation order to a cohabiting partner even where they have no legal interest in the home, usually for a limited period. In Scotland a cohabitant can apply for occupancy rights for up to six months at a time.

Where there is abuse

Everything above changes speed. An occupation order (England and Wales) or exclusion order (Scotland) can remove your partner from the home and can be applied for alongside an order protecting you from harassment. Legal aid is often available where there is evidence of abuse.

Two cautions from the people who do this work. A partner who has been ordered out of a home can be most dangerous in the days after. And staying in a home your partner knows means they know where you are. For some people that is manageable with a plan. For others, leaving is safer than staying, however unfair that is.

What this might mean for you

If you can stay, staying buys you time to make decisions from a steady base rather than from someone's spare room. If staying means sharing a house with someone who frightens you, time is not what you gain. The free module Leaving safely helps you weigh that and build a plan either way. The member module Money, housing and the legal process covers what tends to happen with the home, the mortgage and the tenancy over the following year.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your position depends on the paperwork, so speak to a family solicitor, Shelter's housing advice or Citizens Advice early. Where there is abuse: National Domestic Abuse Helpline 0808 2000 247 (24 hours, free), Men's Advice Line 0808 801 0327, Galop (LGBT+) 0800 999 5428. In an emergency, 999, and press 55 if you cannot speak. Pressing Escape twice leaves this site at once.