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A co-owner of a Squamish house bought with a platonic friend so they could raise a planned baby together is now asking the B.C. Supreme Court to order the sale of the house after the pregnancy — and the would-be father’s desire to co-parent and cohabit — ended.
Co-owning a home, an attractive idea in B.C.’s pricey real estate market, has a potential for unforeseen pitfalls, as the co-owners discovered.
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The would-be father, known as AB, a lawyer who lived in another part of Canada, and the hopeful mom, CD, briefly met in university in 2022. They reconnected through a friend who knew both were single and interested in becoming parents, according to a case filed by AB.
(Postmedia has opted not to use the full names of AB and CD.)
They agreed to raise a child together and also agreed that would best be done if they lived in the same house, according to AB’s petition.
“The relationship … was never romantic and their mutual intention was to be platonic co-parents to a child,” AB said.
In July, CD got pregnant. During this time, CD was in a romantic relationship with a third person, the document said.
Two months later, AB and CD bought the Squamish house for $1.3 million. A month after that, CD terminated the pregnancy because of genetic problems.
Nonetheless, the house deal closed in January, with each of them putting up about $300,000 and the rest being financed through a mortgage held by AB’s father’s investment company, the petition said.
AB and CD moved in around Jan. 17, at which time AB told CD he didn’t want to try for another child.
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On Feb. 19, AB moved out, citing “an untenable living situation,” according to the petition.
They agreed CD could continue living there as long as CD paid the mortgage, utilities and insurance, and CD was free to bring in tenants, it said.
But, in March, AB told CD he wanted to sell his half. CD agreed to buy it, but not until January 2025, and CD also said that AB “would not receive any increased equity” for his share, AB said in the petition.
In mid-March, AB’s father said he wasn’t prepared to renew the mortgage because of the buyout offer and called in the loan in April.
AB said he relies on the Partition of Property Act that states a half-owner of a property is entitled to a court order that the property be sold and the proceeds distributed between the owners, according to the petition.
CD has not filed a response to the claim. None of the allegations in the claim has been proven in court.
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