For people entering a serious relationship after building an independent adult life, sharing a home is becoming a decision in its own right. The preference for keeping separate households is especially pronounced among those who have already experienced a long-term relationship.
Moving in together still carries a familiar meaning in adult relationships: greater commitment, a shared daily life and a deeper financial connection. For people repartnering after a previous serious relationship, however, cohabitation can require giving up arrangements that took years to establish.
The issue has also acquired wider legal significance. Policymakers in England and Wales are considering a new statutory framework for eligible cohabiting couples, including financial protections when relationships end and possible changes to inheritance rights. The proposals reflect growing scrutiny of what living together can mean financially even when a couple is unmarried.
Against that backdrop, MyIQ found a substantial group of repartnered adults who would prefer to keep housing separate from their relationship.
In a survey of 4,386 adults across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Latin America and the European Union, 39% of repartnered respondents said they would prefer to live separately from a long-term partner. 31% identified protecting assets and financial independence as an important reason, while 36% said maintaining their own home would make them feel more secure in a new long-term relationship.
The arrangement is commonly known as “living apart together”, or LAT, in which partners maintain a committed relationship while living in separate households. Among people who are repartnering, the appeal can be closely tied to circumstances that predate the relationship. A home may already be owned or established, while financial arrangements can reflect the consequences of an earlier partnership.
The MyIQ findings suggest that this preference remains broadly consistent across midlife and later adulthood. Among repartnered respondents aged 35-49, 43% said they would choose separate homes. The share was 46% among those aged 50+. The difference falls within the survey’s margin of error, indicating a relatively stable preference across the two age groups.
There was also a clear gender gap. 43% of repartnered women said they would prefer separate homes, compared with 35% of repartnered men. The survey does not establish what drives the difference, so it cannot determine whether finances, previous relationship experiences or other considerations account for the gap.
For respondents who value separate households, financial independence appears to form part of a broader desire to control how much an established life changes when a new relationship becomes serious. Keeping two addresses can limit the practical consequences of combining households while allowing the relationship itself to deepen.
One respondent in their 50s described the preference as wanting “someone to share my life with” without having that person “take over the life I've already built.”
Sarah Meyer, Managing Director of MyIQ, said the findings indicate that some repartnered adults are treating housing, finances, and commitment as decisions that can be made separately. “People are deliberate about which parts of their lives they want a relationship to change and which parts they want to keep,” she said.
The significance of the 39% figure lies in how large that group is. For a substantial minority of repartnered adults in the survey, moving in together is no longer assumed to follow from a serious relationship. The home has become one of the boundaries people negotiate when deciding what a new partnership should require of a life that is already established.
About MyIQ:
MyIQ was launched in 2024 and is used by over a million individuals worldwide. It is a digital self-knowledge platform that offers more than an IQ score, with over 9 million completed tests across the various test categories: cognitive, personality, and relationships, all with personalised, actionable insights. The platform offers over 25 brain games, more than 150 intelligence puzzles, over 20 hours of expert video content, and 300+ available lessons on emotional intelligence, problem-solving, innovation, confidence-building, and decision-making. Through its IQ test, full-spectrum personality assessment, and relationship insight quiz, MyIQ delivers structured, personalized feedback that helps individuals better understand their inner world and behaviour.
MyIQ was launched in 2024 and is used by over a million individuals worldwide. It is a digital self-knowledge platform that offers more than an IQ score, with over 9 million completed tests across the various test categories: cognitive, personality, and relationships, all with personalised, actionable insights. The platform offers over 25 brain games, more than 150 intelligence puzzles, over 20 hours of expert video content, and 300+ available lessons on emotional intelligence, problem-solving, innovation, confidence-building, and decision-making. Through its IQ test, full-spectrum personality assessment, and relationship insight quiz, MyIQ delivers structured, personalized feedback that helps individuals better understand their inner world and behaviour.