home owned via tenants common joint tenant

<p>If you don’t know the answer to that question you’re counted amongst the quarter of the adult home owning population that do not know.</p> <p>According to new research from ocean finance, 1 in 4 don’t know the legal structure of how the house they live in is owned.</p> <p>To be put simply, if two people decide to buy a home, they can do some together either as joint tenants or tenants in common. The path they choose to own the home affects the stake of ownerships if the relationship between them breaks down, or if one of them die.</p> <p>Of the two ownership types, joint tenancy is the most common. In this case, equal rights are given to both of the owners and they both own the entire property. In the case where one of these two dies, the property will pass immediately to the other in its entirety. No third party can have access or rights to the ‘stake’ the other tenant owned, while the other is alive<img alt="download" class="size-full wp-image-2498 alignright" decoding="async" src="http://d-w-s.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/download.jpg">.</img></p> <p>The other type of ownership ‘tenants in common’, is the lesser known type of ownership, with only 12% of homeowners knowing they have one. When the owners are tenants in common, each of them owns a fixed ‘stake’ in the property or a percentage of it. This stake is usually determined by the deposit put down by both stakeholders. This is a common case for when parents put down a deposit for a child’s home.</p> <p> </p> <p>Bear in mind this fixed percentage stake does not change, even if the overall value of the property goes up. Therefore, if the relationship between both parties breaks down it’s sometimes easier to do the financial split due to the clear ownerships stakes of the property.</p> <p>Knowing the type of ownership is important to remember, because of care costs. Local authorities claim back the costs of long-term care from the sale of the property. If you have a joint tenancy the council can claim the cost of that from the entire property sale. However, as a tenant in common, the council can only claim on the percentage owned by you.</p> <p>And lastly if one of the tenants in common dies, the rest of the house is not passed on. However, their share of it is passed on to a third party in a will.</p> <p>If you find you need any legal advice around housing of conveyancing or simply want to know more, don’t hesitate to call our team on <strong>0116 2999 199</strong> or alternatively you can email us at <strong>info@d-w-s.co.uk</strong></p>