Joint tenants or tenants in common

hdh74

Hi, we are just sitting down with some information about writing a will. We have the question, "are you joint tenants or tenants in common?"
We bought our house together over 30 years ago, were married, and the subject never came up as far as we can recall. My DH already had a house, which I moved into, before the marriage, and this was sold for the deposit on the home we have now. We no longer have a mortgage. Can I assume we are joint tenants or if not where can I check, please?
Any help gratefully received.

MalMonroe

You can check the link below, I think the info is really comprehensive (and it's from the government, so it must be true!) 

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership

You could also ask Citizens Advice, although I think they are quite busy during the pandemic. . . .

pramsay13

You will be joint tenants. 

getmore4less

Typically the land registry will not have a form A restriction if joint tenants.

That is not definitive as the tenancy could have been severed but you would know if that happened as hubby would have had to tell you.
It can become important if you want to ring fence part of the house on first death.

Savvy_Sue

If you check what your entry on the land registry says that will also give you a clue. https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry It will cost a very small fee. That link may be somewhere in MalMonroe's link but I didn't find it immediately. 

If your entry says something along the lines of 'no disposition without the consent of ...' that means that either of you could leave your half to someone else in a will, and the survivor would own half a house. That's tenants in common.

If it doesn't say that, then on the first death the whole of the house belongs to the survivor. That's Joint Tenants.

xylophone

Have you checked the entry at the Land Registry?

It is virtually certain that  you are joint tenants if you are  both shown as proprietors and there is No Form A restriction on the title deeds.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-trusts-of-land/practice-guide-24-private-trusts-of-land#:~:text=The wording of this restriction,an order of the court.”

As joint tenants, if one of you dies, the survivor automatically becomes sole legal and beneficial owner  regardless of the will of either party.

A tenant-in-common may leave his/her beneficial interest to another party in his/her will.

A husband/wife might choose to sever the joint tenancy so that as tenants-in-common, each might leave  an immediate post death interest in possession to the survivor with the ultimate beneficiary (ies) being the offspring.

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

https://techzone.adviserzone.com/anon/public/iht-est-plan/Tech-guide-iht-on-death

See also https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/28/tenancy-common-care-home-fee-solution

If you choose a solicitor with expertise in wills and trusts he should cover all the options.

hdh74

Thanks for you help everyone.

Mojisola

hdh74 said:

We bought our house together over 30 years ago, were married

Is your house registered with the Land Registry?  If not, it would be worth doing a voluntary registration.
Also, if not, are your deeds somewhere secure?

hdh74

Mojisola said:

hdh74 said:

We bought our house together over 30 years ago, were married

Is your house registered with the Land Registry?  If not, it would be worth doing a voluntary registration.
Also, if not, are your deeds somewhere secure?

I have no idea, I'll look into it.

hdh74

Thanks, folks, I have located our land registry document which says proprietors: then lists our two names. I presume that means we are joint tenants? I'm currently trying to find an appropriately sized fireproof document safe, that isn't extortionate, for the deeds.

p00hsticks

hdh74 said:

Thanks, folks, I have located our land registry document which says proprietors: then lists our two names. I presume that means we are joint tenants? I'm currently trying to find an appropriately sized fireproof document safe, that isn't extortionate, for the deeds.

Whilst that's sensible, as the property has obviously been registered with the land registry, the paper deeds are usually just of historic interest.