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Co-ownership - Coggle Diagram
Co-ownership
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Joint tenancy (JT)
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Requirements:
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(iii) unity of title (i.e. from the same deed, usually a deed of transfer); and
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JT further attracts the right of survivorship (jus accrescendi) i.e. when one JT dies, their interest passes to the rest of the other JT’s (last person standing rule) rather than being passed to an outsider.
Tenancy in Common (TIC)
TIC refers to the case where there are unequal owners in a prop and their interests can pass at death to a person outside the TIC i.e. by will or intestacy.
There is no requirement for the 4 unities and also, no right of survivorship.
While the common law prefers JT’s as it seeks to avoid the division of land, equity favours TIC’s. Therefore, it is possible to be legal JT’s but equitable TIC’s (e.g. trustees are JT’s but the beneficiaries hold their shares in common).
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The presumption can be displaced where it can be presumed that one party intended to benefit the other e.g. where a married couple purchased property together, or where there is a prior relationship between the parties.
Where in a partnership, it is presumed that the property is held as a TIC to reflect the commercial arrangement i.e. the partnership agreement or under the Partnership Act 1890 (where there is no agreement) i.e. one person holding the legal title as partnership property.
On the severance of a JT, the JT cannot be re-granted.
Malayan Credit: lease of a building by 2 people, and the rent was proportionate to the floor space they had, no lump sum paid. Ct held that the tenants were a JT in law but were also JT in equity, and that equity is not restricted to unequal shares. Equity will therefore intervene to give effect to the parties’ intention.
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