The Full Facts on Concurrent Ownership

The use of concurrent ownership is effective for people to share ownership of land, for both use and investment purposes. There are three basic types of concurrent ownership, or estate, as it is widely referred to. They are tenancy in common, joint tenancy, and the now seldom used, tenancy by entirety.

Tenancy in common refers to two owners that are each referred to as "tenant in common," owning equal but separate shares of a property or land. The size of the area owned may differ, due to the amount each owner submitted. For example, in this ownership, the property could have been worth $150,000., and one owner put down $90,000, whereas the other only put down $60,000. This is where tenancy in common is most "common" amongst owners that are not married, or in this case have contributed different amounts of money toward the property.

However, the two owners can still contribute an equal amount of money and still be referred to as a tenancy in common. Concurrent ownership awards both owners the option of establishing their own written agreement, prior to finalizing ownership. This can establish a set of compulsory guidelines. Typically in this tenancy, both owners are entitled to equal amounts of occupancy and control, unless otherwise stated in a prior agreement. The next form of tenancy differs in the details and entitlements of such ownership.


Due to the common belief that people have about property and wills, they believe that any land or property owned by an individual can be left behind for a member of their family. On the other hand, this may not be true especially if the person was the owner of a property as a joint tenant. In a joint tenancy, both owners share the same entitlements as with a tenancy in common, except there is one very important detail that makes it stand out.

This detail is known as the right to survivorship, which can create legal issues by those who are not aware of it prior to the death of joint tenant. The right to survivorship grants the entire share of land or property of the deceased, to the other joint tenant by default. This helps prevent the presence of legal claims following the death of an owner. There are four unities needed to create a joint tenancy; these are title, time, interest, and possession. This means the two owners must acquired their interest at the same time through one title, and have equal rights of possession as well as equal interest in the property. Joint tenancy is extremely common among married couples, as well as family members such as siblings.

The third and least common form of concurrent estate/ownership is tenancy by entirety. Tenancy by entirety, like joint tenancy, requires the same four unities with an additional one as well. This additional one is that both owners must be married as husband and wife. Within the past few years some states allowing same sex unions, have altered the criteria to allow tenancy by entirety to exist in same sex marriages/legal unions in the states where they are permitted.

The downside to tenancy by entirety is that the property cannot be severed by partition filed by either owner. Also, there can be legal issues with transferring the ownership of the property if one of the owners is unavailable, or becomes incapable of doing so. Some states do not allow tenancy by entirety, and it is the least popular of the three used.