Common Law Seperation: Dealing with Home Equity

[tp003]

My girlfriend and I have recently seperated after four years of being together and along with the emotional and physical distress the seperation has produced, I am now in a situation where I have been paying half of the mortgage for two years and now I may get nothing out of it.

My girlfriends Dad told us that he would put a downpayment on a condo and we would be in charge of making the mortgage payments and paying the strata fees for the condo. I paid exactly half of these payments for two years ($20,000). My Uncle who happened to be the Realtor for the sale gave back his commission with the understanding that the condo was mine and my girlfriends and the Dad was helping us out with the downpayment. After living in the condo for two years and putting in thousands of dollars in improvement (painting, fixtures, bathrooms, furnishings etc), my girlfriend left me for another person and basically told me to get out.

I have consulted a lawyer and the problem is that nothing is in writing between us, with regards to my financial interest in the condo. Over the two years of ownership the condo has increased $70,000 and I feel that I contributed a large part to the investment. Now that I have left, my ex-girlfriend and the Dad have said that it was the Dad's condo all along and we were only renting off him and I have no interest.

In the past the Dad had acknowledged that it was our (me and my ex-girlfriends) condo and I even sent him on a vacation for providing the downpayment. Now that we have split-up the Dad obviously wants to protect his investment, and I feel that I should be compensated for my financial and physical contributions to the condo.

To make matters worse, I owed the Dad $15,000 and now that me and my ex-girlfriend have broken up, he is demanding the money to be repaid and I am withholding it because I want to be compensated for my contributions to the condo.

I would like to know what anybody thinks and I am just looking for some advice and what you think of the situation. Please help me!!

[logicalvelocity]

tp003,

welcome to the forum!

Is the loan or arrangement with Dad in writing? If not hold off until you get your share of the equity in the condo.