Sarah Bradford looks at different ways in which property can be owned jointly and the associated tax implications.
Under English property law, there are two ways in which property can be owned jointly; as joint tenants or tenants-in-common. The way in which jointly-held property is owned will dictate what happens when one of the co-owners dies. There are also tax implications to consider.
Joint tenants
Where a property is owned as joint tenants, the owners together own all the property equally; together they own the whole, rather than each owning a specified share. All joint owners will have their names on the deeds, but if one of the co-owners dies, ownership passes to the other joint owners. The deeds are changed to the names of the surviving co-owner or owners once a death certificate has been provided to Land Registry.
Spouses and
