PHOTO: NZ house are still massively high in comparison to wages/salaries. GETTY
According to STUFF Craig Hoyle purchased his first home in Auckland last year after believing for many years he never would, and moved in a week before Christmas.
Now that the 33-year-old is on the ladder, he has resolved that before his partner moves in, there will be a legal agreement in place to protect his ownership should the relationship end.
“I have seen how hard it is buying a house on my own in Auckland, and the market is only going to get harder, and having been through the experience once I am very keen to avoid going through that process again,” he said.
“For me, it’s good to be really clear about what expectations are.”
Hoyle, who is a news director at Stuff , is not alone in his decision.
Relationship property law expert Lady Deborah Chambers, KC, said the number of prenups was increasing every year.
“They are definitely the way of the future,” she said.
“I don’t think it is killing romance, it’s just practical and sensible.”
Chambers said if a homeowner had struggled to buy their first home, and splitting it in a separation would make it hard for them to get back on the ladder, that person should seek legal advice before starting a de facto relationship.
She estimated that in the past about 5% of marriages would have a prenup, now it was closer to 25%.
Helping prepare prenups used to make up about 1-2% of Chambers’ practice’s work. Now it was about 30%.
Hoyle said that in the long run, planning for possible scenarios could save a lot of potential problems down the road.
“It’s easy enough to assume everything is going to go well, and of course when a relationship is going well you’re not really thinking about how it could go badly, or what plans need to be in place,” he said.
“But I think the best time to plan for things going badly is when things are going well.
“It’s sort of hoping for the best, and preparing for the worst.”
Hoyle did not have any family support in buying his own home, after having been excommunicated from the Exclusive Brethren after coming out as a teenager.
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“So my asset base is what I can build, I can’t fall back on family money if things go wrong.”
The Property (Relationships) Act governs how the property of married couples, civil union couples and couples deemed to be in a de facto relationship is divided if the partnership breaks down.
A relationship is generally deemed to be de facto if the couple have lived together for three years, although there were other variables that a judge could take into account – such as if they’re in a sexual relationship, whether they had children, and whether friends and family consider the relationship to be de facto.