Joint Tenants and Tenants in common are two different types of ownership of a property. The difference between these two is important when owning and buying a house. Purchases are often done by two people, whether they are legally married, partners or friends looking to buy and share a house together. During the purchase, the parties must decide how they are going to hold the title to their newly purchased house. This is important as it will determine their rights toward the home.
A joint tenancy relates to ownership where each party is on the title and has an equal interest in the property. In this situation, each have equal share and interest over the house. In case of divorce, each spouse may sell his or her share in the property to the other to break the joint tenancy.
A tenancy in common, refers to ownership over a certain property by two individuals without any right of survivorship. Their shares and interest over the property can be equal. However, there are also situations in tenancy in common when the purchasers can choose to hold unequal shares. The main difference between these two kinds of tenancy occurs on death of an owner. Joint Tenants and Tenants in common have different rules concerning death. In a case of Tenants in common, death of one of the parties shall have the effect of transferring the rights of the deceased tenant in favour of their heir. In joint tenancy, the property is subject to the right of survivorship. This means that when one of the owners dies, the survivor owner shall get the deceased share of the property.
