Joint Ownership
Introduction to Joint Ownership
Joint ownership of property is quite simply where more than one person owns property with another. However, there are important details. First, there are different methods of using Joint Ownership to get on the property ladder- such as:
- Shared Ownership, where you part buy / part rent off a housing association;
- 'share to buy', for buying property with friends, or buying property with family;
- joint mortgages - couples or partners buying a home together.
Secondly, there are different legal forms of joint ownership.
Forms of joint ownership in law
There are two main types of joint ownership in law, joint tenants and tenants in common.
- Joint tenants: neither party can sell without the other's agreement. If one party dies, the other automatically inherits the other's share. This is ideally suited to married couples or partners buying together who are in a long-term relationship.
- Tenants-in-common: each party can dispose of his or her share, either whilst alive or through a will. This is more appropriate for friends buying a property together, where they do not intend to live together as a couple.
NB: it is important to note that with any Joint Mortgage, all joint applicants are 'jointly and severally liable' for the loan. That is, if one person stops paying their share, the other owners are still liable for the whole amount. That's why with share to buy, our own version of joint ownership, we provide a free joint ownership legal agreement that sets out the key issues such as each person's share in the property.
How could joint ownership help you? Click here for our Joint Ownership Mortgage Calculator.
Share to buy: our own form of Joint Ownership
The term 'share to buy' is our own brand name for clubbing together to buy property with friends or family members. Key points about share to buy as a form of joint ownership:
- at its heart is a shared mortgage, which is basically a joint mortgage between people other than the 'traditional' couple; thus, a typical example of share to buy might be a joint mortgage between friends or a joint mortgage between father and son (of course, we still provide 'traditional' joint mortgages for couples/partners and don't charge a fee!)
- we provide a free legal agreement covering the key issues of Joint Ownership with friends, such as each person's share in the property and each person's share in the joint mortgage
- perhaps most importantly, our staff deal with cases of friends buying property together every day and so they are ideally placed to share their expertise with first time buyers interested in joint ownership.
For more information go to the share to buy home page.
