Tenants in common vs joint tenants for UK landlords | August

Tenants in common vs joint tenants for UK landlords

Written by the August editorial team. Last reviewed June 2026.

When you buy a property with someone else, whether a spouse, a business partner or a fellow investor, one of the most important decisions happens long before you collect the first month's rent: how you hold the legal title. In England and Wales you can own property either as joint tenants or as tenants in common, and the choice determines what happens to your share when you die, whether you can sell or mortgage your portion independently, and how income and gains are taxed. Getting it right from the outset can save a great deal in legal cost and family dispute later. This guide explains both structures, the practical and tax differences, and how to change from one to the other.

Note that this is about how you own the property, which is separate from how you let it. The tenancy you grant your renters is governed by the Renters' Rights Act; the ownership structure below sits underneath that and is unaffected by it.

What does tenants in common mean?

Tenants in common is a form of co-ownership where two or more people each own a distinct share of the same property, a percentage of the whole rather than the whole held together. The shares need not be equal: you might hold 50%, 25% or 70%, which makes the structure useful when co-owners contribute different amounts or want their ownership to reflect different levels of investment. Each owner holds their share independently, can in principle sell, gift or mortgage it (subject to mortgage terms and the practical difficulty of finding a buyer for a part-share), and, crucially, can leave it by will. When a tenant in common dies, their share passes under their will or the intestacy rules, not automatically to the other owners.

For landlords, that independence is the appeal. If you invest with a business partner but want your share to go to your children rather than your partner's family, tenants in common achieves it, and if you put in more capital than a co-owner, you can hold a proportionally larger share.

What are joint tenants?

Joint tenants own the property together as a single entity, with no separate shares; all owners hold the whole collectively. The defining feature is the right of survivorship: when one joint tenant dies, their interest passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant or tenants, regardless of what their will says, and the share does not form part of the deceased's estate or go through probate in the usual way.

Joint tenancy has three practical consequences. Ownership is equal, you cannot be joint tenants with one owner holding 60% and another 40%. It rests on the "four unities" of possession, interest, title and time, meaning all owners have an equal right to the whole, identical interests, acquired through the same document at the same time. And you cannot deal with your share alone: to sell or gift it you must first sever the joint tenancy, converting it to tenants in common. Joint tenancy is common among married couples and civil partners who want the property to pass automatically to the survivor; it is simple and avoids probate on the first death, but it offers less flexibility for estate planning or business arrangements.

The key differences at a glance

The two structures differ in five ways that matter to a landlord. On ownership, joint tenants hold the whole together with no divisible shares, while tenants in common hold distinct shares that can be equal or unequal. On death, survivorship passes a joint tenant's interest automatically to the co-owners outside the will, whereas a tenant in common's share forms part of their estate and passes by will or intestacy. On dealing with your share, a joint tenant must sever first, while a tenant in common can sell, gift or mortgage their share independently (in practice, with co-owner cooperation). On proportions, joint tenancy forces equality, while tenants in common allows unequal shares reflecting contribution. And on estate and tax planning, joint tenancy's survivorship limits who you can leave the property to, while tenants in common gives full control over your share, which is what makes share-based tax and inheritance planning possible.

How do I choose between them?

The right structure follows your circumstances. Married couples and civil partners often prefer joint tenancy for simplicity and automatic transfer to the survivor, while business partners, siblings, friends or unmarried co-owners usually benefit from the clarity and independence of tenants in common. If you want your share to go to specific beneficiaries, children, a parent or a trust, tenants in common is the structure that allows it; if you want the property to pass automatically to your spouse, joint tenancy may suit. If you might later sell your share or bring in new investors, tenants in common preserves that option, where joint tenancy locks everyone in together. And where co-owners contribute unequally, tenants in common lets ownership match the actual investment.

A common path is to start as joint tenants with a spouse, then sever to tenants in common as the portfolio grows and estate or tax planning becomes more involved. You can convert between the two, but it is simpler to choose well at the outset.

How tenants in common affects tax

This is where the choice does real work for landlords, and where the detail matters. The headline point is that holding as tenants in common in unequal shares is the gateway to several tax-planning options that joint tenancy's forced equality closes off. Each of the following is fact-specific and warrants professional advice, but these are the mechanisms to ask about.

Splitting rental income between spouses (Form 17). Married couples and civil partners are taxed on jointly held property income 50/50 by default, whatever their actual shares. To be taxed instead on unequal shares, for example 90/10 to use a lower-earning spouse's basic-rate band, they must hold as tenants in common in those unequal shares, record the split in a declaration of trust, and file HMRC Form 17 within 60 days of the deed. Form 17 does not change ownership; it tells HMRC the real split, and it applies only to spouses and civil partners. Unmarried co-owners are already taxed on their actual beneficial shares and do not use Form 17, but a declaration of trust is what fixes those shares clearly.

Capital Gains Tax on transferring a share. Transfers between spouses or civil partners who live together are made on a "no gain, no loss" basis, so no CGT arises on the transfer itself. A transfer of a share to anyone else, bringing in a business partner, or gifting a share to an adult child, can crystallise CGT on the gain in the share transferred, so it is not a step to take without modelling the tax first.

Stamp Duty Land Tax. There is no spousal exemption for SDLT. SDLT is charged on chargeable consideration, and if the person receiving a share takes on part of an existing mortgage, that assumed debt counts as consideration and can create an SDLT charge, potentially including the 5% additional-dwelling surcharge where another property is owned, even between spouses. The stamp-duty position turns on the mortgage and the figures, which we cover in our stamp duty guide.

Inheritance Tax. Because a tenant in common's share forms part of their estate and passes by will, it can be left to a chosen beneficiary or into trust, which is what enables share-based inheritance-tax and trust planning. A joint tenant's share passes by survivorship outside the will, which is simpler but removes that flexibility. The inheritance taxtreatment is fact-specific and worth advice where an estate is sizeable.

How creditors are treated

It is sometimes said that joint tenancy exposes the whole property to a co-owner's creditors while tenants in common protects your share. The real position is narrower. In either structure, a creditor of one co-owner generally obtains a charging order against that person's beneficial interest, and may then apply to court for an order for sale, with the court weighing the other co-owner's interests in both cases. Severing to tenants in common clarifies the size of each owner's share, but it does not by itself shield the property from a forced-sale application. Treat it as a point for legal advice rather than a guaranteed protection.

Can you change from joint tenants to tenants in common?

Yes, and many landlords do as circumstances change. The process is called severing the joint tenancy. It can be done by written notice from one owner to the others (the most common route, and it does not require the others' agreement, only proper service), by mutual agreement through a deed, by a course of conduct inconsistent with joint tenancy such as one owner dealing with their share, or by a bankruptcy order or certain court orders. Once severed, you hold as tenants in common, in equal shares unless you specify otherwise in a declaration of trust.

In practice you serve a notice of severance on the other owner or owners (or execute a deed of severance together), then register it with HM Land Registry using Form SEV, which enters a Form A restriction on the title. There is no Land Registry fee for this, though you may pay a solicitor to prepare the notice or deed, and registration usually takes a few weeks. Update your will to say what should happen to your share, and check your mortgage: changing beneficial ownership or adding someone to the title generally needs the lender's consent and can trigger early-repayment or re-underwriting, so confirm with the lender before you act.

One point catches people out: you cannot sever a joint tenancy by will alone. Leaving "my share" to someone in your will has no effect if you are still joint tenants at death, because survivorship takes the share to the surviving owner first. To pass your share to a chosen beneficiary, you must sever while you are alive.

What this means when you run property as a business

For landlords building a portfolio, tenants in common is often the more workable structure, because it lets ownership reflect actual contribution, makes it easier to bring in or buy out investors without disrupting the whole arrangement, and supports the income, CGT and inheritance planning above. The trade-off is administration: with unequal shares you need to document each owner's percentage, how income and expenses are split, what happens if someone wants to exit, and how major decisions are made, usually in a declaration of trust or co-ownership agreement. That document is not legally required, but it prevents most disputes and is strongly advisable where money and property are involved.

Keeping that paperwork and the resulting income split straight is exactly the kind of record-keeping that gets messy in spreadsheets. You can store your ownership documents, declarations of trust, title deeds and co-ownership agreements, and track rent and expenses by property in one place with August. Get the ownership structure right first with proper advice, then, if you would rather manage it cleanly than reconstruct it at tax time, you can start for free.

Disclaimer: this article is a guide and not intended to be relied upon as legal, tax or financial advice. Property ownership, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty are fact-specific and the rules change. Always take advice from a suitably qualified solicitor or tax adviser before changing how you hold or transfer property.