UK Real Estate

All tenants who enter a joint tenancy (JT) contract understand that each person in the agreement is responsible for all the charges.  

The council can ask the others to pay the dues if one does not pay. A breach of any such agreement by anyone makes all the involved members liable, and any one tenant can end the contract of all others.

Hence, for such deals, it is necessary to have trust and cooperation between the tenants.

A joint tenancy reference can be created in UK real estate between 

The spouse or the civil partner provided they occupy the house as their only principal home, proving that they have lived with the tenant for the last 12 months.

Any other member of the tenant’s family can apply where they need to provide evidence of their stay in the home (for the last 12 months).  

The court can reject such an agreement if there have been legal actions against the tenancy, or there are outstanding arrears related to the rents, or there are certain rules like the property being assigned only to older people, or in case the house is overcrowded, or under-occupied, or if the relationship breaks, or if there exists some previous record of disruptions in such agreement between the involved parties.  

Such agreements can become void if certain eviction order has been issued, if the applicant’s age is under 18, or if the person applying does not qualify for accommodation under such policies. 

The homeowner should determine the condition of the agreement to create it.  

Advantages - 

A JT provides equal rights to all the other renters and gives them equal tenure security.

It can provide a way to help meet the cost of rent and other associated fees.

If one of the tenants dies, one gets the right to succeed as a renter (but in such conditions, there can be only one succession).

One can assign their interest in JT as a gift to the other renter if the rules satisfy. 

The drawbacks of the regulations are –

If anyone of the renters does not pay rent or money, the tenants are responsible for the debt. This can specifically be an issue if one has a low income. 

Any members - wife, husband or registered civil partner of a sole tenant- have the legal rights to live in the marital or family home- also known as occupancy rights. 

In such cases, the person does not need to get into JT contracts, but if the relationship breaks, the rights will be changed, which should be integrated into the court.