Joint tenancy

Under joint tenancy, the owners do not each hold a separate, definable percentage of the property. Instead, every owner holds the whole property together with the others, in equal and undivided shares, which is why it is described as a single unified interest rather than a set of individual slices. The defining feature is the right of survivorship: if one joint tenant dies, their interest does not form part of their estate and does not pass under their will or under the rules of intestacy. It simply passes automatically to the remaining joint tenant or tenants. For couples buying their first home together, whether an HDB flat or a private property, joint tenancy is usually the structure applied by default, and it is the arrangement most people mean when they talk about owning a property jointly with their spouse.

Joint tenancy appears at the very start of a Singapore property purchase, at the point the sale agreement or transfer is drawn up, because the manner of holding, joint tenancy or tenancy in common, has to be specified and lodged with the title. For HDB flats, most co owners default into joint tenancy unless they specifically request otherwise and meet HDB's conditions for holding as tenants in common. For private property, the choice is made explicitly with the conveyancing lawyer at the point of purchase, and it can also be changed later through a formal process called severance, which converts a joint tenancy into a tenancy in common.

What commonly goes wrong stems from the same feature that makes joint tenancy convenient: because the right of survivorship overrides a will, a joint tenant cannot leave their share of the property to someone else by will, even if their will says otherwise, as long as the joint tenancy remains in place. This surprises some owners in blended families or second marriages, where one owner may have wanted their share to go to children from an earlier relationship rather than automatically to a co owner. Disputes can also arise if the relationship between joint tenants breaks down, such as a divorce or a serious falling out between co owners, since joint tenancy assumes all parties remain aligned and does not naturally accommodate one party wanting to leave differing shares to different people.

What a buyer should actually check, ideally before signing anything, is whether joint tenancy actually reflects their intentions for what happens to the property on death, particularly for couples with children from previous relationships, family run purchases involving parents and adult children, or any arrangement where the parties contributed unequal amounts to the purchase price. If those circumstances apply, tenancy in common, which allows defined shares and a will to dictate what happens to each owner's portion, is often the more suitable structure and is worth discussing with a lawyer before completion rather than after.

This is general information only. Whether joint tenancy or tenancy in common is right for a given household depends on the specific family situation, contributions, and estate planning goals, and that is a decision to make with a lawyer, not from a glossary page.

Winfred Quek is an Associate Marketing Consultant at Crestbrick Pte Ltd (CEA Licence No. L31010886H). CEA R073319H. This page is for general information only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Verify current figures with IRAS, HDB, CPF Board, or MAS before making any decision.