Co-Ownership Agreement for Couples from SAM Conveyancing
What type of Co-Ownership Agreement do you need?
We offer a variety agreements for joint owners looking to protect their interest in a property.

The deeds are drafted by our panel solicitor and drafted within 2 working days and cost from £240.
 

Co-Ownership Agreement for Property

16/07/2022
(Last Updated: 08/12/2023)
3,105
3 min read
A Co-ownership Agreement is drafted to protect the separate interests of parties who jointly share the ownership of a property. There are different types of agreements that can be drafted such as:


Why do you need a Co-Ownership Agreement?

Co-ownership of a property is an exciting time, however many couples that are taking the step while unmarried could be leaving themselves open to a costly lesson should their relationship end.

The reason for this is when you are married you’ll own a property as joint tenants which means both of you own 100% of the property together. There’s no need for a Co-Ownership Agreement because as joint tenants your share means you co-own everything together and if one of you dies then your share simply goes to your partner.

For unmarried couples you predominantly own the property as tenants in common with separate shares.

This is understandable as it is normally the case that one person has invested more into the property and until you are married it would make sense to keep your share separated.

As tenants in common your solicitor will file a JO form at the Land registry stating each of your shares in the property so that the co-ownership of the property is secured.

What is included in a Co-Ownership Agreement?

A Co-Ownership Agreement varies depending on the detail you want to include. Here are just some points you might want in your agreement:

  • Your beneficial interest (what your share of the proceeds of sale will be)
  • Your options if the relationship fails
  • What to do if one person wants to sell and the other doesn't
  • What happens if one of you stops paying your share of the mortgage
  • How to calculate your share of any gain in the property

It's no just about your original deposit
Protecting your share of the deposit is crucial to any Co-Ownership Agreement, however your ownership share might also change up or down if, for example, you helped pay for an extension which increased the property's value or if you paid more of the mortgage repayment contributions.

Deciding how much you are due from the sale of the property should also take into consideration how much you have contributed towards:

    1
    The original deposit;
    2
    Mortgage repayments;
    3
    Developments to the property; and
    4
    Household expenses.

You get out what you put in
If it was your intention to co-own the property, then you should co-own any gain, however it rarely is a 50:50 split. In fact most couples share their contributions differently and often one person earns more than the other.

Where you both contribute in different amounts you need to make sure you have a legal agreement drawn up ideally before you buy the property stating who owns what and what happens if that changes.

Frequently Asked Questions
NOAGREEMENT
Andrew Boast of Sam Conveyancing
Written by:
Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.
Caragh Bailey, Digital Marketing Manager
Reviewed by:
Caragh is an excellent writer in her own right as well as an accomplished copy editor for both fiction and non-fiction books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey and mortgage related articles.

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