Tenants in Common Agreement UK: Protect Your Share

What this document is

A tenants in common agreement is a written document between co-owners of property that records how they hold their beneficial interest in that property. Under a tenancy in common, each owner has a distinct, identifiable share rather than a collective interest in the whole.

Those shares can be equal (50/50 between two people) or unequal (for example 70/30, or any split the parties agree) to reflect different cash contributions, mortgage payments, or later improvements. The agreement sits alongside the legal title at the Land Registry and is usually backed up by a declaration of trust.

It typically covers the size of each share, how mortgage and outgoing payments are handled, what happens on sale, how a buyout works if one party wants to leave, and how disputes are resolved. It does not manage the property day to day.

Its job is to protect the money each person has put in and to make sure that intention survives life events like death, separation, or bankruptcy.

How to use this document

1. Decide how you want to hold the property. Before completion, talk through whether joint tenancy or tenancy in common fits your circumstances. If contributions are unequal, if you are unmarried, or if either of you has children from a previous relationship, tenants in common is often the more sensible choice because it lets each share pass under a will rather than automatically to the survivor.
2. Agree the share split and record the reasoning. Work out the percentage each person owns and why. This might reflect deposit contributions, an uneven mortgage split, or a planned future contribution. Writing down the reasoning matters because if the split is ever challenged later, contemporaneous evidence of what you agreed and why carries real weight.
3. Instruct your conveyancer to reflect this on the TR1 and at the Land Registry. Your conveyancer should tick the tenants in common box on the transfer form and register a Form A restriction on the title. This alerts any future buyer or lender that the beneficial interest is held in shares, and it prevents a sole surviving owner from dealing with the property without proper authority.
4. Put the detailed terms into a declaration of trust or tenants in common agreement. The Land Registry entry flags the structure but does not record the percentages or the wider terms. A separate signed document captures the shares, how proceeds will be divided, what happens on sale, and how a buyout is priced. Both parties should sign, date, and keep original copies.
5. Update your wills and review the arrangement periodically. A tenancy in common only achieves its full benefit if each owner has an up to date will setting out where their share should go on death. Review the agreement if circumstances change significantly, a new partner moves in, one owner funds major works, or someone wants to exit.

Common questions