Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common, Which Should You Choose for Your Home?
How you legally own your property with someone else decides what happens to your share of it when you die, regardless of what your Will says. Most couples never choose one deliberately, they simply own their home the way the conveyancer set it up years ago. Here's the difference, and why it's worth checking.
What's the difference between joint tenants and tenants in common?
Quick summary: As joint tenants, you and your co-owner have equal, indivisible ownership of the whole property. As tenants in common, you each own a defined share, which can be equal or unequal, and which you can leave to whoever you choose in your Will. The two forms of ownership work very differently when one owner dies, and most people are surprised to learn which one they actually have.
There's also a third, simpler option, sole ownership, where you're the only person named on the title. If that's you, your Will can deal with the whole property directly, without any of the complications below. This page is really about what happens when a home is owned by two or more people together.
Why it matters when you die
- Joint tenants. When one joint tenant dies, their share doesn't pass under their Will at all. It passes automatically to the surviving owner, by a rule called the right of survivorship. This happens regardless of what your Will says, and it overrides any gift of the property you've tried to make to someone else. Only once the surviving owner holds the property alone can they decide, in their own Will, who inherits it after them.
- Tenants in common. Your share is yours to leave. It doesn't automatically go to the other owner, it passes under the terms of your Will (or the intestacy rules if you don't have one) to whoever you've chosen, whether that's your children, your partner, or into a trust. The surviving co-owner and your beneficiaries then own the property together.
Most married couples buying a home together are set up as joint tenants by default, and for a first marriage with no complications, that's often exactly right, everything passing simply to the survivor. It's when family circumstances are more complicated that the difference starts to matter a great deal.
Why couples switch to tenants in common
Changing to tenants in common is usually about wanting control, not about falling out with your co-owner. It's the single most common step we see families take before setting up a trust to protect their share of the home.
- Blended and second-marriage families. If you want your share of the home to eventually reach your own children, rather than risk it all passing to a surviving spouse who could later remarry or rewrite their Will, you need tenants in common first.
- Protecting a share from care fees. As joint tenants, the whole property is exposed to a means-tested care assessment against whichever of you is left. Holding your share as tenants in common is what allows it to be ring-fenced in trust instead.
- Unequal contributions. If one of you paid a larger deposit or contributes more towards the mortgage, tenants in common lets your ownership reflect that, in whatever proportion you agree, rather than defaulting to an automatic 50/50 split.
This is exactly the step behind a Property Protection Trust or Life Interest Trust, both let your surviving partner carry on living in the home for life, while your share is secured in trust for your children, instead of being left entirely to chance in their future Will.
How to change from joint tenants to tenants in common
The process is called severing the tenancy, and it's simpler than most people expect. It involves registering a restriction against your property's title at the Land Registry, formally recording that you now each own a defined share rather than the whole property jointly.
- It doesn't affect your mortgage, your home's value, or trigger any taxes
- Your day-to-day life at the property carries on exactly as before
- It can be reversed later, by agreement, if your circumstances change
Severing the tenancy on its own doesn't protect anything, it simply makes your share yours to control. You then need an up-to-date Will, ideally with a trust built in, to actually decide where that share goes. We handle the severance and the Will together as part of the same appointment, so nothing gets left half-finished.
Not sure how you currently own your home?
Many couples don't know whether they're joint tenants or tenants in common until someone checks. We can find out, explain what it means for your Will, and handle the severance for you if it's the right move.
Know how you own your home, and make sure your Will can actually protect it
Call 01934 442030 for a free, no-obligation conversation about how you own your property and what it means for your estate planning.
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