Joint property ownership

Printable version

1. Overview

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).

You must decide which type of joint ownership you want if you buy, inherit or become a trustee of a property with someone else. You tell HM Land Registry about this when you register the property.

You can own a property as either ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’.

The type of ownership affects what you can do with the property if your relationship with a joint owner breaks down, or if one owner dies.

You can get legal advice from someone who specialises in property.

Joint tenants

As joint tenants (sometimes called ‘beneficial joint tenants’):

  • you have equal rights to the whole property
  • the property automatically goes to the other owners if you die
  • you cannot pass on your ownership of the property in your will

Tenants in common

As tenants in common:

  • you can own different shares of the property
  • the property does not automatically go to the other owners if you die
  • you can pass on your share of the property in your will

Change your type of ownership

You can change from being either:

There’s no fee to do this.

You can also change from sole ownership to tenants in common or joint tenants, for example, if you want to add your partner as joint owner. This is called transferring ownership.

Sell the property if the other owner has lost mental capacity

You’ll have to apply to the Court of Protection if you want to sell the property but the other owner has lost ‘mental capacity’.

2. Check your ownership details

You can find out what type of joint ownership you have by checking documents such as a:

  • property transfer
  • property lease
  • trust deed, also known as a ‘declaration of trust’ (a document stating an owner’s share in a jointly owned property)

A solicitor, conveyancer or legal executive can help you check what type of joint ownership you have if you’re unsure.

Your type of ownership can sometimes change without your knowledge, for example if one of the other owners goes bankrupt.

3. Change from joint tenants to tenants in common

This is called ‘severance of joint tenancy’. You should apply for a ‘Form A restriction’.

You can make this change without the other owners’ agreement.

A solicitor, conveyancer or legal executive can also make the application for you.

How to apply if the other owners do not agree to the change

  1. Serve a written notice of the change (a ‘notice of severance’) on the other owners - a conveyancer can help you do this.

  2. Download and fill in form SEV to register a restriction without the other owners’ agreement. You can also fill in form RX1 to register a ‘form A restriction’ if you cannot provide any of the evidence of severance options listed in form SEV.

  3. Prepare any supporting documents you need to include.

  4. Send the form and supporting documents to HM Land Registry’s Citizen Centre. There’s no fee.

Supporting documents

You should include an original or certified copy of the notice of severance signed by all the owners.

If you cannot get the other owners’ signatures you can instead send a letter certifying that you’ve done one of the following with the notice of severance:

  • given it to all the other owners
  • left it at the other owners’ last known home or business address in the UK
  • sent it by registered post or recorded delivery to the other owners’ last known home or business address and it has not been returned undelivered

How to apply if the other owners agree to the change

  1. Download and fill in form SEV to register a ‘form A restriction’ if all owners agree.

  2. Prepare any supporting documents you need to include.

  3. Send the form and supporting documents to HM Land Registry’s Citizen Centre. There’s no fee.

Where to send your application

HM Land Registry
Citizen Centre
PO Box 74
Gloucester
GL14 9BB

4. Change from tenants in common to joint tenants

You need the agreement of all the other joint owners to change from being tenants in common to joint tenants.

A solicitor, conveyancer or legal executive can also make the application for you.

How to apply

  1. Fill in a new or updated trust deed - a conveyancer can help you do this.

  2. Download and fill in the form to cancel a restriction, if one has been registered.

  3. Prepare any supporting documents you need to include.

  4. Send the form and documents to HM Land Registry’s Citizen Centre. There’s no fee.

Supporting documents

You must include one of the following:

  • an original or certified copy of the new or updated trust deed signed by all the owners
  • a certified copy of a transfer showing that all owners with individual shares of the property have transferred these to all the beneficial joint tenants
  • a certificate from your conveyancer confirming that all owners with shares of the property have signed a new trust deed

You must also include either:

  • a statutory declaration prepared by your conveyancer
  • a ‘statement of truth’ - either one you’ve prepared yourself or using form ST5

A statement of truth must be:

  • in writing and include the wording “I believe that the facts and matters contained in this statement are true”
  • signed by the person who makes it

The supporting documents must prove all the following:

  • nobody else except the named joint owners have shares of the property
  • none of the joint owners is being made bankrupt, has a charging order from creditors or is mortgaging their share of the property
  • all the joint owners now own the property together as beneficial joint tenants

Where to send your application

HM Land Registry
Citizen Centre
PO Box 74
Gloucester
GL14 9BB

5. Selling when an owner has lost mental capacity

You must apply to the Court of Protection if all of the following apply:

  • you’re one of 2 or more owners of property or land
  • one of the owners has lost ‘mental capacity’
  • you want to sell the property or land

Losing mental capacity means someone cannot make a decision for themselves at the time it needs to be made.

This means that:

  • the owner who’s lost mental capacity cannot sign legally binding documents and needs help to make decisions
  • you’ll have to apply to appoint someone to take the place of the owner who’s lost capacity so the sale can go ahead

Appoint someone to act on behalf of an owner

You’ll have to appoint someone to act on behalf of the owner who’s lost mental capacity even if:

You may not need to apply if you’ve got a registered power of attorney.

Read the guidance on the sale of jointly owned property (COP GN2) to find out if you need to apply.

Get the forms

Download and fill in:

Fees

It costs £408 to apply. You might have to pay an additional £494 if the court decides there needs to be a hearing.

Read the fees guidance to find out when you might not have to pay.

Enquiries

Contact the Court of Protection for help and to find out if you need to fill in other forms.

Court of Protection
courtofprotectionenquiries@justice.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 456 4600
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
Find out about call charges

You can also write to the Court of Protection or visit the public counter.

You cannot get legal advice from court staff.

Send your application

Send the original and one copy of each of the following to the Court of Protection:

  • the application forms
  • witness statement
  • a copy of the entries at HM Land Registry if the sale includes any registered land
  • a copy of the conveyance if the property is unregistered
  • any other documents and information asked for

Court of Protection
PO Box 70185
First Avenue House
42-49 High Holborn
London
WC1A 9JA

Tell people about your application

The Court of Protection will send you a copy of your application forms, stamped with an issue date, a week after you apply.

You must tell (‘serve’) anyone named in your application (such as the person who’s lost capacity) about applying within 14 days of the issue date.

Read the guidance at the end of application form COP1 to find out who to tell.

Send them:

You can tell them:

  • by post to their home address
  • by fax
  • in person

Confirm you’ve told people

Within 7 days of serving the documents, you must download and fill in the forms (‘certificates of service’) confirming you’ve told:

Send them all together to the Court of Protection.

After you apply

Read the guidance to find out what happens if you have to attend a Court of Protection hearing.

Update the property records after you’ve appointed someone to act for the owner who’s lost mental capacity.

If your application is rejected and you did not have a hearing

You can ask for a decision to be reconsidered if your application is rejected and you did not have a hearing.

Download and fill in application form COP9.

Send the original, one copy of the form and any documents asked for in the form to the Court of Protection.

You must apply within 21 days of the decision being made.

It’s free.

If your application is rejected and you had a hearing

You can appeal the decision if your application is rejected and you had an oral hearing.

Download and fill in the appellant’s notice (COP35).

Send it and any other documents asked for in the form to the Court of Protection.

You must apply within 21 days of the decision being made or within the time limit set by the judge who rejected your application.

Fees

It costs £257 to apply. You might have to pay an additional £494 if the court decides there needs to be a hearing.

Read the fees guidance to find out when you might not have to pay.

Emergency applications

Contact the Court of Protection to make an emergency application, for example to stop someone who lacks mental capacity being removed from where they live.