Family Law Act 1996

30 Rights concerning home where one spouse or civil partner has no estate, etc.

(1) This section applies if— (a) one spouse or civil partner (“A”) is entitled to occupy a dwelling-house by virtue of— (i) a beneficial estate or interest or contract; or (ii) any enactment giving A the right to remain in occupation; and (b) the other spouse or civil partner (“B”) is not so entitled. (2) Subject to the provisions of this Part, B has the following rights (“home rights”)— (a) if in occupation, a right not to be evicted or excluded from the dwelling-house or any part of it by A except with the leave of the court given by an order under section 33; (b) if not in occupation, a right with the leave of the court so given to enter into and occupy the dwelling-house. (3) If B is entitled under this section to occupy a dwelling-house or any part of a dwelling-house, any payment or tender made or other thing done by B in or towards satisfaction of any liability of A in respect of rent, mortgage payments or other outgoings affecting the dwelling-house is, whether or not it is made or done in pursuance of an order under section 40, as good as if made or done by A. (4) B's occupation by virtue of this section— (a) is to be treated, for the purposes of the Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976 and the Rent Act 1977 (other than Part V and sections 103 to 106 of that Act), as occupation by A as A's residence, and (b) if B occupies the dwelling-house as B's only or principal home, is to be treated, for the purposes of the Housing Act 1985 , Part I of the Housing Act 1988 , Chapter 1 of Part 5 of the Housing Act 1996 , the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 and the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (anaw 1), as occupation by A as A's only or principal home. (5) If B)— (a) is entitled under this section to occupy a dwelling-house or any part of a dwelling-house, and (b) makes any payment in or towards satisfaction of any liability of A in respect of mortgage payments affecting the dwelling-house, the person to whom the payment is made may treat it as having been made by A, but the fact that that person has treated any such payment as having been so made does not affect any claim of B against A to an interest in the dwelling-house by virtue of the payment. (6) If B is entitled under this section to occupy a dwelling-house or part of a dwelling-house by reason of an interest of A under a trust, all the provisions of subsections (3) to (5) apply in relation to the trustees as they apply in relation to A. (7) This section does not apply to a dwelling-house which— (a) in the case of spouses, has at no time been, and was at no time intended by them to be, a matrimonial home of theirs; and (b) in the case of civil partners, has at no time been, and was at no time intended by them to be, a civil partnership home of theirs. (8) B’s home rights continue— (a) only so long as the marriage or civil partnership subsists, except to the extent that an order under section 33(5) otherwise provides; and (b) only so long as A is entitled as mentioned in subsection (1) to occupy the dwelling-house, except where provision is made by section 31 for those rights to be a charge on an estate or interest in the dwelling-house. (9) It is hereby declared that a person— (a) who has an equitable interest in a dwelling-house or in its proceeds of sale, but (b) is not a person in whom there is vested (whether solely or as joint tenant) a legal estate in fee simple or a legal term of years absolute in the dwelling-house, is to be treated, only for the purpose of determining whether he has home rights, as not being entitled to occupy the dwelling-house by virtue of that interest.