Couples agreement template: what a good one does, and where blank ones fall short

What is a couples agreement template?

A couples agreement template is a ready-made document you fill in yourselves to record how you share your home and money. You may see it sold as a cohabitation agreement template, a living together agreement template or a house buying agreement template. They are the same idea: headings, suggested wording and blanks for your names, figures and choices.

Plenty of couples go this way. When we surveyed 39 people planning to buy a home with their partner, 9 said they would write an agreement themselves, and 16 said they would use a solicitor. This guide is for the first group, and for anyone weighing the two. It covers England and Wales only. All prices were checked on 1 October 2026 and can change.

What a template costs:

Template	Price
Advicenow (charity)	£50 download, £55 printed
Online template sellers	£13.99 to £24

The online template prices are from two sellers we checked. Check what each includes: some charge more for a version where a lawyer helps you. Advicenow’s has £5 off if your household gets tax credits or state benefits (not counting Child Benefit or the State Pension), and a free copy if your household income is under £1,540 a month after tax. Free templates exist too. Property law for couples is different in Scotland, Northern Ireland and other countries, so check that any template says it is for England and Wales.

What does a good template do well?

A template is not a second-rate option. A good one does a lot of the hard thinking for you.

Advicenow, a legal information charity, is a good example. Its paid guide includes step-by-step guidance, an editable template agreement and a printable version with room for notes, and its free page has a checklist of what to discuss and a budget helper. Advicenow says it does not recommend making your own agreement without using its template. A template written by people who know the law gives you a structure that is more likely to be clear, and clarity is most of what makes an agreement useful later.

A good template also:

• Asks the right questions. It covers the whole money picture of your home, not just the deposit.
• Uses plain, clear wording. “We each get our deposit back first, then share the rest equally” is easier to follow than a homemade paragraph.
• Is cheap. £50 is a fraction of the £500 to £3,000 or more that Advicenow says solicitors charge.
• Leaves room for advice. You can fill it in, then each take the draft to a solicitor to check.

So the question is rarely “template or not”. It is whether you use it in a way that gets you to clear answers you both agree with.

Where do blank templates often fall short?

A template gives you the questions, not the answers. The problems tend to come from how a blank document gets filled in, not from the template itself. These are the common gaps, and a good template used well avoids most of them.

1. Blanks left as “TBC”. The hardest questions, like how you share the home’s value, are exactly the ones that get left until later. A gap in the one clause that matters most leaves you where you started.
2. No worked numbers. A share written as a formula or a percentage can look fine until you put a real sale price into it. What happens if the home is worth less than you paid? Many couples never test it.
3. Only one of you fills it in. If one partner drafts and the other signs, the agreement may not reflect what you both think. The Law Commission says agreements like this can be challenged for things like pressure, undue influence, being misled or mistake. Deciding side by side helps show you both meant it.
4. No record of your money. Advicenow says courts usually follow an agreement if it is fair and you were both honest about your money when you made it. A schedule listing what you each earn, own and owe is the simplest way to show that, and not every blank template prompts you to fill one in.
5. No review date. Life changes. A template signed and filed away can describe a life you no longer have.
6. Not made for buying. Many templates are written for any couple living together. If you are buying, you also need to agree how you will own the home and tell your conveyancer, which a general template may not mention.
7. Wrong country. Not every template online is written for England and Wales.

None of this means a template agreement is weak. It means the template is the start of the work, not the end.

What should a good couples agreement template include?

In short, a good template for buying a home together covers:

• who you are and the home you are buying
• what each of you put in, including any family money and whether it was a gift or a loan
• your shares, and exactly how they are worked out
• the mortgage and bills: who pays what
• improvements and big one-off payments, and whether they change your shares
• savings and debts, joint and separate
• what happens if one of you earns less for a while
• selling, and moving on to a new home together
• splitting up: who stays, how a buy-out works, how the home is valued, and how long you have
• things you buy together, like a car, furniture or pets
• if one of you stops paying, how you settle disagreements, and a pointer to your wills
• a review date, a record of your money, a note on independent advice, and a place to sign with a witness

For the full section-by-section checklist, read what to include in a couples agreement.

What difference does a blank make? A worked example

Two couples buy identical £300,000 homes in joint names. In each couple, one partner puts in a £40,000 deposit and the other £10,000. Both couples use a template.

Priya and Tom fill theirs in one evening. They agree on bills and pets, but the shares clause is awkward, so they write “shares: TBC” and sign.

Alex and Jordan sit down together first. They try a few splits in the deposit split calculator, agree that each gets their deposit back first and they share the rest equally, and write that in. They also agree what happens if there is not enough to pay both deposits back.

Years later, both couples separate and sell for £330,000, with £230,000 of mortgage left. Each couple has £100,000 to divide.

What they wrote	£40,000 partner	£10,000 partner
Shares: TBC (starting point is equal)	£50,000	£50,000
Deposits back first, rest equal	£65,000	£35,000
If only £40,000 is left, shared 80/20	£32,000	£8,000

Illustration only. It ignores selling costs, tax and who paid the mortgage each month.

Alex and Jordan follow what they wrote. Alex gets £40,000 back and Jordan £10,000, then the remaining £50,000 is split £25,000 each: £65,000 to Alex and £35,000 to Jordan. If prices had fallen and only £40,000 were left, they had agreed to share it in the same proportion as their deposits, 80/20, so £32,000 and £8,000.

Priya and Tom have a signed agreement with the key answer missing. For a home in joint names, the Supreme Court has said the starting point is equal shares, £50,000 each. If Priya believes they meant deposits back first, she would have to show they both intended that, from what they said and did. Tom may remember it differently, honestly. That £15,000 gap is now something to argue about, at the worst possible time.

Notice what decided it. Both couples used a template. Both signed. The difference was one clear answer, agreed by both, with the numbers tested. And it is fair both ways: a split agreed in advance gives the partner who put in less a clear, certain share too, rather than a dispute.

Template, declaration of trust or deed: which does what?

These are easy to mix up, especially when searching for a house buying agreement template.

Document	What it does
Couples agreement	Your shares, bills, improvements, splitting up, who stays
Declaration of trust	Records your shares of the home itself
Deed	A formal way of signing either one

A declaration of trust records who owns what share of the home. The Law of Property Act 1925, section 53, says a declaration of trust over land must be shown in writing signed by someone able to declare it. Your conveyancer can record your shares when you buy, on the transfer form or as a separate document. HM Land Registry keeps your shares off the public register, so keep your copy safe. Citizens Advice suggests making a declaration of trust about how you share your property alongside a living together agreement. Read more in declaration of trust explained.

A deed is a formal way of signing. Under the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, section 1, a deed must make clear on its face that it is a deed, and each signature must be made in front of a witness who signs to confirm it. Advicenow says to do this if you want the part about owning the home to be as firm as possible, and to take independent advice if you do.

How you own the home matters as well. GOV.UK explains that joint tenants have equal rights to the whole home, which passes to the survivor, while tenants in common can own different shares. If your deposits differ, read joint tenants or tenants in common?

How do you use a template well?

1. Decide together before you fill anything in. Sit side by side and agree each answer. The template is where you write the answers down, not where you find them.
2. Test every number. Put your real deposits, a likely sale price and the mortgage left into the deposit split calculator. Try a lower sale price too.
3. Leave nothing as TBC. If you can’t agree something yet, settle it before you sign.
4. List your money. What you each earn, own and owe, honestly, signed with the agreement.
5. Keep it fair to both. It does not have to be equal, but it should make sense for both of you, including the partner who put in less.
6. Take your time. No agreements sprung the night before completion. Give each other time to read it, and to get advice.
7. Sign it in front of a witness, who adds their signature, full name and address.
8. Tell your conveyancer how you will own the home and in what shares, before you complete.
9. Set a review date, and update it when life changes.

For how each step adds weight, see how your agreement counts and is a couples agreement legally binding?

Where does CoHabit fit?

CoHabit does not sell a blank template. Our free 10-minute conversation takes you through the same questions side by side, so you decide the answers first, and your answers stay on your device. Our written agreement, which is not available yet, is built from those answers rather than from blank clauses you fill in later. We do not give legal advice, and a solicitor check for each of you is still worth considering.

What should you do next?

1. Work out your numbers. Put your deposits into the deposit split calculator and compare the three splits.
2. Talk it through together. Start free, together: it takes about 10 minutes, side by side.
3. Choose your template, and check it is written for England and Wales.
4. Fill it in with no blanks, list your money, and sign it in front of a witness.
5. Tell your conveyancer your shares, so they can record them when you buy.
6. Make wills. An agreement does not replace them.
7. See a solicitor, separately if you can, if family money, children from an earlier relationship, a business or a big difference in what you put in is involved, or if either of you feels unsure or under pressure. Our guide to a couples agreement for buying a house has more on when advice is worth it.