Looking to buy a house with a partner?
READ ON…are you aware of the Pros and Cons of agreeing to a joint tenancy agreement?
When embarking on a truly monumental commitment to buy a home with a loved one, friend or partner it’s important to consider which arrangement best suits all partners involved.
There’s advantages and disadvantages of joint tenancy, which need to be understood prior to deciding which arrangement is best for all parties involved.
Below you will find a guide to the pros and cons of a joint tenancy agreement.
The Pros:
- Rights to survivorship – you have the right to the proportionate share of the other partners share should they die.
- Avoid probate – because of “rights to survivorship”, gaining the rights to gain the share of the deceased partner, the living owner only has to show the death certificate, meaning no need to go through a long probate process.
- Rights to rent and profit – in joint tenancy, if both parties choose to rent out the property, both owners are entitled to an equal proportion of the rent paid. Also, if there are profits which could be made off the land, then naturally all tenants are entitled to the same share of the profits
- More simple process – There’s no need for a document stating the relationship between the partners, everyone has equal rights. This requires little work involved in the transaction, making it a much simpler process – Yay!
Cons:
- More responsibility – compared to tenants in common, joint tenancy means more responsibility for each partner involved. Each person has an equal share of the property, which means equal responsibility. Each party must pay an equal proportion of house repayments, and bills.
- Lack of inheritance rights – the “rights to survivorship” mean the death of one-party results in their share automatically being transferred to the other party. Compared to tenants in common, those in joint tenancy don’t have any rights to what happens to their share, should they die.
- Maintenance and repairs – each tenant has to pay their proportionate share towards the repair and maintenance of the property. Repairs will not be sorted unless costs are shared.
- One debt can mean a forced sale – if one of the tenants has an outstanding debt the other tenant will be asked to cover this debt. If, the other tenant can’t afford to cover the debt, the tenants will be forced to sell the property.
Article written: 11/03/22 Please note that any information read after this date may change and therefore, we recommend that you always seek professional advice.
Want to know what other options are available to you? Great! Check out our latest article on Tenants in Common Agreements.