EEA family permit - living together issue

[ken00]

I am American and my fiance is Italian. We've been a couple for 5 years and living together for the last 1.5 years. My first question is how rigid is the requirement that we have to have lived together for 2 years?

Second, how can we prove that we have lived together during the 1st year if we have no documentary proof? Is explaining the situation good enough?

1.5 years ago he moved into my place, so the bills and tenant agreement were under my name, and out of habit he had his personal mail sent to his parents address. We now are in a new place with everything under both names, but have been here only 6 months. We would have moved in together 1.5 years earlier with all of the documents then under both our names, but when I got my job in the town he was in, he was planning to leave 6 months later for a 1 year masters program. Of course we had no idea that eventually we'd want to live in the UK or what the document requirements would have been.

I find it frustrating that 2 years of cohabitation is required. And that 5 years as a couple and plans to get married aren't given the same weight.

Please help!

[Casa]

Originally, the allowance granting a visa for unmarried partners was made due to the fact that some countries don't allow divorce, so it was recognised that couples may have been living together for years without legally being able to marry.
To succeed in your application you need documented proof of a full 2 years living together in a relationship 'akin to marriage'. Applications from unmarried partners come under even greater scrutiny than spouse/fiance applications.
I assume your Italian partner is (or will be) 'exercising his treaty rights' in the UK as a student and you're applying under EU regulations? Where are you at the moment?