Am I wrong to refuse giving my GF 50℅ of my house ownership?
Tldr: GF of 1.5 years asked to give her 50℅ ownership of my recently brought house. I do not find it reasonable. Would appreciate advice how to proceed without breaking up.
Hi.
I (30M) started dating my GF (36F), 1.5 years ago. We knew each other because she lives a few blocks away from my house with her family and was recommended by a mutual family friend for a freelance project for my business. After her contract was finished, we started dating.
I liked her because she was kind, intelligent and caring. And very importantly, we both had the view at that time that we don't want to either marry or have children.
No children part was especially important to me, and no marriage important for her, as her belief has been that marriage is a trap and source of suffering for women.
Also she is my first GF, and I would like to be with her for the rest of my life.
Last 1.5 year has been very happy.
3 months ago, she made the decision to move into my newly built house. She was sick of living with her large joint family. So many people in one house. She had to cook for many people, take care of babies of her cousin brothers and also hear taunts from her tai chachis.
She had left this household few times before too after fights and lived in PG, but came back because of financial constraints of living alone.
So she moved in with me. My new house is directly behind my old house where my mom and grandparents currently live.
We have a full-time maid who cooks all our meals and does other chores, and another part time cleaning maid.
I and my gf like cooking. I like to cook for her my recreations of dishes from my trips abroad, as well as I regularly cook collagen and iron rich soups for her as she is deficient in these. She likes baking and makes desserts.
I love to listen to her talk, appreciate what she does, support and encourage her in her work, give her massages when she is tired. We love to paint together. We love travelling together. We love gyming together.
All our expenditure is taken care by me as my income is 20 times more than her. Household, eating out, traveling etc. We together have gone on one foreign trip to Italy for her birthday, and two domestic. My mother also took her for another foreign trip to Mauritius for bonding.
So her only expenses are her personal expenses. Her going out with her friends, her car expenses, personal shopping etc.
So onto the real issue:
It came out of nowhere last week when she asked to give her 50℅ ownership of my house.
Her reasoning is, she is already 36. This is her last chance to find a partner. She needs a guarantee that I will be committed to her long time. She is afraid what if I dump her in the future for someone 'younger and prettier' just like her last two exes did. And she also added that in case I change my mind about no kids, and she has my kids, she needs to be secure for herself and our potential kids.
I was dumbfounded on hearing this. My first thought was that she was coming from a place of fear of abandonment. I tried to ensure her I will not leave her and I will be there for her always. I tried telling her all the things about her that I love and that I can't leave the perfect woman. But she told me to prove that with actions instead of words.
I thought for a bit and said we can work out something if she can also take on 50℅ of the EMI as well. She said that's not possible at all because the EMI is almost around her monthly salary.
My own background is that of economical hardship. My dad was alcoholic deadbeat. My mom and I had to work to run the house, and pay for mine and my younger sister's education. I have been doing odd jobs since I was 15. In university, I was working multiple part time jobs to pay for my and sister's education as well as sending money back to mom.
Later when I started my business with my partners, we were working a fulltime job, as well as freelance to keep the business alive.
Just a couple years ago, once the business started to be profitable, I was able to relax for the first time in my life. Before that lived in poor conditions and had to cut off any unnecessary expenditures.
This house for me symbolises my fruit of all the hard work I did in my life. I had to negotiate for a long time to buy the plot, and spent more than a year building it from scratch, as well as renovating my grandparents house directly behind.
It's EMI, I will probably be paying atleast for next 15 years.
So my concern is that we have not been dating that long. Only 1.5 years. While I am strongly commited to her, future is unpredictable. So I do not find it reasonable to give her 50℅ of the ownership. If for any reason we are not together in the future, it would become a legal nightmare as well.
If there were other factors, like if she was there supporting me in my times of hardship, or that she had helped build our life (business, house, lifestyle) together or we had been together for longer time like 5 years, going through moments of happiness and sadness together, then I would have found it more reasonable to share.
Yesterday her best friend called me. She told me that I had no attractive qualities except money, unlike my gf's exes. That I am short, boring, don't party, don't drink, can't dance, can't do romantic stuff like poetry or play a music instrument for her. Even then my gf gave me a chance to be with her. She said if not for the kindness of my gf, I would have lived a life of a single virgin. I should be thankful to her for being with me, and chose love over materialistic things. She said my gf had so many guys pursuing her, even then she chose me, and I need to prove her choice was not wrong. That felt very hurtful to hear.
My own friends are extremely against doing that. They said a relationship is not worth a lifetime of hard work and that there are plenty of fish in the sea.
For me, I want to make the relationship work. I don't want our last 1.5 years together gone for nothing. I have seen plenty of her good qualities and want to fight for our relationship.
But this week it has been very quiet between us. She has been very cold to me. I think if I do not resolve it soon it may be the end. Am I unreasonable for refusing her request? Is it a case of can't have my cake and eat it too?
Please advice how can I resolve this deadlock and able to continue our happy relationship again?
Posted Jun 3, 2026, 1:14 PM UTC · locked