AKMV Mortgage – what happens in case of a breakup between partners?
QUESTION
I’m reaching out to you with what I hope is not a very complicated question, and I really hope you can advise me or point me in the right direction on how to proceed.
My fiancé and I have been living together in a rented apartment for a few years now (we’re 26 and 27). We’ve decided to take out a mortgage and buy our own flat. The mortgage would be in his name, and we plan to pay it off together, splitting the costs evenly. My question is: Is it possible to arrange something so that in case of a breakup (which I hope won’t happen) I don’t lose the amount I have contributed to the mortgage? Would he have to repay me, or is there a way to claim the money I’ve already paid if we split up before marriage?
Thank you very much.
ANSWER:
To assess your situation, it is essential whether only your boyfriend will be registered as the owner of the apartment or if the apartment will be in joint fractional ownership (podielové spoluvlastníctvo). If the apartment were in joint fractional ownership, your co-ownership share of the apartment would remain yours even after a potential breakup.
If your boyfriend were registered as the sole owner of the apartment and you contributed to the apartment, such contributions could be assessed as unjust enrichment (bezdôvodné obohatenie).
According to Section 451, Paragraph 2 of the Civil Code: “Unjust enrichment is a property benefit obtained through performance without a legal reason, performance from an invalid legal act, or performance from a legal reason that has ceased to exist, as well as property benefit obtained from dishonest sources.”
According to Section 454 of the Civil Code: “A person for whom performance was made which, according to the law, they should have performed themselves, has also been unjustly enriched.”
In such a case, you could seek the return of the unjust enrichment through court proceedings. In the proceedings, you would have to prove that unjust enrichment occurred (e.g., that the payments with which you contributed to the mortgage installment were not rent payments for living in your boyfriend’s apartment, etc.). We point out, however, that the right to the return of unjust enrichment is barred by the statute of limitations in two years from the day the entitled person learns that unjust enrichment occurred and who enriched themselves at their expense.
JUDr. Veronika Michalíková, MBA