La tutela del convivente non intestatario con riguardo agli apporti conferiti per l’acquisto della casa familiare. Confronti comparatistici.

The essay deals with the financial consequences of the breakdown in relationships between cohabitants through the use of the comparative method applied to English and Italian legal systems. In particular, it explores the case in which the property of family home is conveyed into the sole name of one party, while the other party contributed directly (e.g. through financial contributions to mortgage payments) or indirectly (e.g. payments of the domestic bills) to the payment of the purchase price. Under Italian law, the remedy available for the non-owner cohabitant is identified with unjust enrichment, but it will be accessible only when that contributions to the acquisition of property lacks any causal justification, or when it exceeds what can be reasonably considered as ordinary collaboration to the family community. The remedy offered under English law, on the other hand, is constituted by the constructive trust. It allows one party to claim a beneficial interest in property held in the other’s sole name, on the basis that the legal title is held upon trust. Its availability is, however, limited to circumstances from which a reasonable reliance of one party on the common intention to share the property can be inferred and this makes dealing with cases of indirect contribution particularly difficult.