Unmarried Couple - should they buy as Joint Tenants or Tenants In Common?

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Darth Vader

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Which is better for a unmarried couple? i.e which is easier to disolve if the realationship breaks up? Does it matter?
I know Joint Tenancy has effects on succession, if one of the people dies their share goes to the other person whereas in a tenancy in common, the share goes according to the rules of sucession.

But, what effect does it have when thr couple break up?
 
Tenants in Common - its then quite clear that neither party intended that their share ( on death) would pass to the other.

When couples break up they will either (a) be calm and sensible so that the process of dealing with the property ( and of course they will have drawn up an agreement to cover this eventuality) will be peaceful and business like or
(b) one or both will turn into mad whirling dervishes causing mayhem all around them in which case having the agreement in place will hopefully ultimately be the only way of resolving things because the whole sad sorry mess will end in Court with one party seeking to have the Court determine the arrangement and order the sale of the property.

mf
 
AFAIK the only difference between the two is what happens on the death of one partner..but your solicitor should be able to explain both options fully to you.

We went for Tenants in Common as we agreed if either of us died our share should be left to our families. We also laid out exactly what would happen in the event of a split re one buying out the other, how the house was to be valued, timeframe for sale etc. We paid an uneven % of the deposit but everything else was paid 50/50 and the agreement reflected this.

The agreement has now become invalid as we have married.
 
Really good post, as I was just talked about this yesterday. We are planning to get married in the near future, no engagement yet, because we want to get house first, but good ideas here. Thanks.
 
I'm nearly sure there is more to it than how the property is divided on the death of one of the owners.

I thought that it was more complicated to disolve a joint tenancy when the couple splits, than it would be if it was a tenancy in common.

Anyone know?
 
Wylies Irish Land Law

Partition Acts of 1868 and 1876 gave a court power to order a sale of property and to divide the proceeds between co-owners in accordance with their shares.

Don't think it really matters much if its joint tenancy or tenancy in common when what you're concerned about is what happens when war breaks out. I suspect its as bad either way!

mf
 
This link seems to distinguish the two based on succession rights..again a solicitor should be able to confirm.
 
If you're not married does either lead to CGT on part of house you inherit on death of partner?
 
My knowledge is based on the setup in england and could be out of date but i'm fairly certain its the same here.

Joint tenants both together own 100% of the house even if contributed unequally. if one dies the other still owns 100% of the house - does not form part of the estate - should not be subject to tax - no need to transfer part of the property etc.
If couple fall out can slpit the Joint tenancy and make it a tenancy in common but its usually on a 50/50 basis. if want to hold a property on an unequal basis may therefore be better as tenants in common but if unmarried and want partner to keep the whole property need to will your share. - Will be tax implications. I don't think you can change from a tenancy in Common to a joint tenancy. Really need to discuss with a solicitor when making the decision.

Please correct this if i'm wrong.
 
Tenants in common is better for unmarried couples when one has more to invest in the property than the other you can distinguish the ownership amounts, in addition to that each persons percentage reverts to next of kin on death so it resolves that issue too.
In our case my other half has a gift from his parents which makes his percentage bigger than mine but saves me from any Revenue issues where it might seem that the gift was to both of us.
Hope you got sorted out anyway :)
 
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