Earlier this month the UK Parliamentary Committee on Women and Equalities took evidence on the seemingly intractable and perennial problem of cohabitees’ rights. Or, rather, the distinct lack of them.  

One in four families now consists of cohabiting couples. Shockingly, though, as was forcefully pointed out to the Committee, this area of law is still “not fit for purpose” and “fundamentally needs to be changed because it is out of kilter with modern-day society.”

In its attempt to try to ensure better and more wide-ranging rights for cohabitees on relationship breakdown, the Committee w...