This article discusses The Family Law Act 1996 (called “the Act” for the purposes of this article).
Married couples can own homes in different ways, either together as tenants in common or joint tenants (see the co ownership article in this section) or as two separate owners each owning a portion of the property. In other cases, one spouse may own the entire property, with the other owning nothing. It is in this case that the Act comes in to allow the non-owning spouse to have a statutory right to occupy the home (call ‘Matrimonial Rights’). This applies to married couples only.
Matrimonial Rights are:
- a right not to be excluded from the home without a Court order as long as they are living in it; or
- if the spouse is not in the home, then they have a right to enter the home with a Court order.
This is a third party rights which can bind a purchaser (see the article on third party rights in this section). In registered land the way a purchaser is bound is by the non-owning spouse entering a restriction on the register of the property. In unregistered land, the right is entered as a land charge against the name of the spouse who does own the property.
The non-owing spouse can protect rights at any time before the property is sold. Once done, these rights cannot be overreached. They can only be waived/removed by the non-owning spouse.
Finally, please note that the spouse may also be entitled to an equitable interest in the property.
 Download: the Family Law Act 1996
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