Buying a House Together During the Love Period, How Should Lovers Divide It According to Chinese Law After Breaking Up?

2020/1/16

Alice met a Chinese boy WU while working in China. After they confirmed their relationship, they bought a house together in China. Alice made a down payment of 500,000 yuan, and the remaining 1 million yuan was paid by WU in the form of a commercial loan and paid off the bank loan by himself. Two years have passed, and Alice wants to return to her hometown for development. She resolutely breaks up with WU. In the meantime, the house price has skyrocketed to 2.4 million yuan. How should the property be divided?

According to Chinese law, the property is usually divided in proportion to the amount of investment. In this case, Alice paid $500,000 and WU took on a $1 million loan. Thus, Alice can get a third of the current value of the property. That is a third of 2.4 million yuan, which is 800,000 yuan, and the remaining 1.6 million yuan goes to WU. If the case is appealed to the court, the court may take the actual needs of the two parties into account to divide the specific amount.

We suggest that when buying a house together during love, lovers should pay attention to the following points:

First, lovers can sign a written agreement, in the agreement to agree on the proportion of capital contribution, the proportion of the ownership of the property, and other contents, to confirm that the property is jointly owned by both parties.

Second, when signing a house purchase contract and registering real estate, lovers can sign the names of two people. This will make it clear that the house was jointly purchased during the relationship, prove the ownership of the real estate, and protect lovers’ legitimate rights and interests.

Third, buying and disposing of real estate is a major matter, and lovers should consult a lawyer with relevant laws and regulations to avoid disputes in the future and hurt the feelings between the them.