Married and civil partners joint ownership

Joint ownership means that two or more people are the legal owners of the property, even though other people may be living there. Joint owners are liable for the whole of the payments for any joint loans secured on the property, and decisions about the property are made by all the joint owners.

Most residential property is now registered land, and information about ownership is included in the proprietorship register held at the Land Registry. A copy of this can be obtained from the Land Registry for a small fee. In the case of unregistered land the title deeds are held by the lender if there is a loan on the property, by the solicitor involved in the conveyance or by the owner themselves.

Married couples and civil partners who are joint owners are referred to in legal terms as 'joint tenants at law'. This means that they are each entitled to possession of the whole of the land and the right to occupy it.[1] They are said to hold the property as trustees under a 'trust for sale'. Married couples and civil partners who are joint legal owners do not necessarily have the same beneficial interests (also known as equitable interests), which are the interests that they would be entitled to receive if the property were sold. They are either:

• beneficial joint tenants (also called 'joint tenants in equity'), or

• tenants in common.

If the married couple or civil partners are beneficial joint tenants, they are both equally entitled to the whole net financial value of the property. This means that if one of them dies, the whole of the beneficial interest remains owned by the survivor.

If the married couple or civil partners are tenants in common, they have distinct shares in the property. The shares may or may not be equal. To determine each joint owner's share of the beneficial interest, it is necessary to look at contributions made and any deed or agreement as to the beneficial interest.

For more information about what type of ownership is held, and how shares in the property are established, see Establishing owner's interest for cohabiting couples: joint owners. However, for most married couples and civil partners who are divorcing, establishing each partner's share in the property is not particularly relevant. This is because the court will decide how the property should be divided when making a property adjustment order as part of divorce proceedings.