In a ruling handed down on 13 January 2016, the Court of Cassation answered this question in the negative. According to the Supreme Court, the payment of instalments on a property loan taken out to purchase the home of a cohabiting couple may constitute an ordinary living expense.
As a result of the Court of Cassation's ruling, a cohabitee who pays the instalments on a property loan for a home that also belongs to his partner cannot demand repayment from his partner.
In this case, two cohabitees took out a loan in order to become joint owners of a property to the extent of one half each. The property was the main residence of the couple and their joint child.
It was shown that only the cohabitee was repaying the loan instalments, even though his declared income was insufficient to meet the other expenses.
Other expenses, such as food and clothing, were paid by the partner, who had a salary.
As there is no legal provision governing the contribution of cohabitees to the costs of living together, case law holds that each cohabitee must, in the absence of an expressed wish in this respect, pay for the living expenses he or she has incurred, without there being any need for reimbursement.
This is an exception to the rules relating to joint ownership. In fact, the payment of property loan instalments by an undivided co-owner using his personal funds constitutes expenditure necessary for the conservation of the undivided property, which must be taken into account according to equity at the time of partition. The undivided co-owner who has incurred these expenses is therefore normally entitled to claim reimbursement. However, according to case law, there is an exception to this principle when the joint ownership is between two cohabitees and relates to the family home. According to the Court of Cassation, "the repayment of the instalments on a loan taken out to purchase a property representing the home of the cohabitees and their child constituted an everyday expense".
To avoid this kind of problem, it may be a good idea to draw up a joint ownership agreement when you buy a property.
