Co-ownership

• Pages: 14-25

Where two or more persons become entitled to possession of land simultaneously,

they are said to hold concurrent interests in the land or to be co- owners: for exam-

ple, where T by his will leaves a plot of land to his children, X, Y and Z, in fee sim-

ple, the children will be co- owners of the land.

There are two types of co- ownership in the modern law:

(a) joint tenancy; and

(b) tenancy in common.

JOINT TENANCY

A joint tenancy occurs where land is conveyed or devised to two or more persons

without ‘words of severance’ – that is, words which indicate that each person is to

take a separate share: for example, where Blackacre is devised ‘to Bill and Ben in

fee simple’.

The essence of a joint tenancy is that there is one title and the joint tenants are

collectively regarded as a single owner, although, as between themselves, they have

separate rights, such as the right to sever the joint tenancy. The other important

characteristic of the joint tenancy is the right of survivorship (ius accrescendi) whereby,

on the death of one joint tenant, his/her interest automatically accrues to the sur-

viving joint tenants, so that he/she has no interest to transfer under his will or intes-

tacy. He/she may avoid this result, however, by severing his joint tenancy during his

lifetime and converting him/herself into a tenant in common with a distinct share,

which can pass under his will or intestacy.

As Robinson P explained in the Jamaican Court of Appeal, in Panton v Roulstone:1

As against third parties, [joint tenants] are in the position of a single owner, but as

against each other, each has equal rights. Each has an equal interest in the land. And

the interest of each is severable, should he care to do so in his lifetime. It is only if he

dies without having in his lifetime severed that interest, that his interest is extinguished

and accrues to the survivor.

Unity between joint tenants

For a joint tenancy to exist, the ‘four unities’ must be present. They are: unity of

possession; unity of interest; unity of title; and unity of time.

1 (1976) 24 WIR 462, at 469. The right of survivorship applies equally to joint tenancies in Guy-

ana: Singh v Mortimer (1966) 10 WIR 65, at 75, per Stoby C.

CHAPTER 2

CO- OWNERSHIP

DOI: 10.4324/9781003186946-2