Joint tenants – each owner owns an undivided interest in the whole property, but if the interest is sold, the joint tenancy ends and the owners become tenants in common. If one of the joint tenants dies, the deceased person's interest automatically goes to the other joint tenant.
If you signed a tenancy agreement with another person (your names are on the same document) then it will be classed as a joint tenancy. They are common amongst students and families as everyone is likely move in and leave at the same time.
The distinction is that with properties held as joint tenants, both parties own the “whole” of the property. On the death of the first joint tenant, the property will pass automatically to the surviving joint tenant, regardless of the terms of the deceased joint tenant's Will or the intestacy rules.
Joint tenancy is a type of joint ownership of property in the field of property law , where each owner has an undivided interest in the property. This type of ownership creates a right of survivorship , which means that when one owner dies, the other owners absorb the deceased owner's interest .
This means that all co-owners have the same percentage of ownership. For example, in a joint tenancy with two individuals, each joint tenant would have a 50% interest. In a joint tenancy with three individuals, each joint tenant would have a 33.33% interest, and so on.
Further tenancy in common allows parties to hold unequal shares of property interest. Joint tenancy requires each co-owner to hold equal shares of property. Further, co-owners must transfer the deed at the same time. In this sense, joint tenancy is rigid compared to tenancy in common.
If all the joint owners of an asset intended that when one of them died their share would pass to the other joint owner(s), then this is a survivorship asset. This type of asset is always owned equally and the deceased's share of the asset passes to the other joint owner(s) by survivorship.
For example, if two unmarried partners make equal contributions toward purchasing a inium and they choose to hold title as joint tenants, the surviving joint tenant will automatically become the sole and separate owner of the inium after the first joint tenant dies.
To challenge the right of survivorship, the party contesting the right must file a lawsuit and prove their case in court with the help of a lawyer.