[Gnomes]

The 6 month common law thing that is in OP's mind is worrisome. I kinda randomly googled and found from this link

What rights do you have to property acquired during the relationship?
This is where there are the biggest differences between being married and being in a common-law relationship. For married couples, the Family Relations Act applies and they are presumed to be entitled to an equal division of all family assets (including the house, a car, bank accounts, etc.) regardless of who owns the asset, and almost every asset is considered to be a “family asset”.

The law is different for people in unmarried relationships. If just one partner owns an asset, that partner is presumed to be entitled to keep that asset. If you own an asset together (the house, a car, bank accounts, etc.), you are presumed to have an equal interest in the asset. If you contributed to the purchase of an asset owned only by your partner, or paid more for the purchase of a joint asset than your partner, you may be able to get out what you put in, however you have to be able to prove your contributions to the purchase and that you didn’t mean to give your extra contributions to your partner as a gift.

However, if you and your partner made an agreement about the ownership of assets – either during your relationship or after you separated – the parts of the Family Relations Act that apply to married couples’ property may be applied to your agreement, if either of you go to court about the fairness of the agreement.

The law in this area is complex and you should to speak to a lawyer.