Living under the same roof
as an ex is most people's worst nightmare.
But it's a
reality for an increasing number of estranged couples who are forced to stay in
the marital home even after a divorce.
Rising house prices are behind the trend, with one in
six former couples forced to live together following their split, a report has
found.
In London,
where property is more expensive, it is 28 per cent of couples.
Almost
90 per cent of those who stay living together do so for more than a month, with
39 per cent living in the same house for more than three months.
Some couples
stay living together for a year or more because they cannot afford to
separate.
The survey
suggested that the rise was down to increasing house prices which made it more
difficult for individuals to buy a property alone.
Figures from
the Office for National Statistics published last year showed that average
house prices had reached record levels, at 7.6 times average England and Wales
earnings. In some central London areas the figure is as much as 38 times.
One in six couples did manage to buy
new homes, and spent an average of £144,600 per person, almost £100,000 lower
than the average UK house price, suggesting that they were forced to downsize
into smaller accommodation following their split.
Many couples
who had owned a home were also forced to rent for an average of 4.7 years, with
one in five divorced people still renting a decade after their split.
Renters were
pessimistic about their future buying prospects, with 70 per cent saying they
did not think they would own their own home again.
Women were
more likely than men to remain in the marital home and fully own it after
divorce or separation, possibly because they were more likely to live with the
couple's children until they became adults.
In more than
one in five cases, parents said their children had been forced to move home
following a split.
The overall
cost of divorce had risen from £12,432 in 2014 to £14,561 per couple in 2016, a
17 per cent increase.
The largest
expenses were on legal fees, with UK couples spending an estimated total of
£337.8m on this, and childcare costs, which came to £216.9m.
Divorces rose
by six oer cent to 106.959 in 2016 from 2015's figure of 101.055. The
overall number peaked in 2004, when 152,923 divorces took place.
Telegraph
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