Severance of Joint Tenancy

Severing a joint tenancy is the process by which property held by more than one person jointly as joint tenants is converted and thereafter held by them as tenants in common.

Beneficial interests in property when held by more than one person, must be held either as 'joint tenants', where each owns all the property, or as 'tenants in common', where each owns a specified part of the property. Read more

Legal-Zone can help you give notice of severance of a joint tenancy in 2 ways:


Firstly we can prepare the notice and Land Registry registration for you.

Complete our online questionnaire and our lawyers will then prepare your notice from the information provided. The notice will then be sent to you for signature before service. We remain on hand to assist further if required.The cost is £50.

This is how it works:

• Complete our straight forward questionnaire which will provide the basic information we need to be able to draft the application.
• Submit the completed questionnaire to our lawyers and make payment using either our secure server or Paypal.
• Our lawyers will prepare the application and contact you either by telephone or email for any further information needed or to discuss your application.
• Once your lawyer is satisfied with the application it will be sent to you either by post or email to approve and sign.
• The application can then be lodged with the court. We provide a guide to how the court will deal with the application and are always available by telephone or e-mail should you require further help.

Alternatively we have a DIY pack available to help and guide you in completing and making the application yourself.

The Legal-Zone Notice of Severance of a Joint Tenancy Pack provides all the information and documents which are needed to give notice themselves and save what would almost certainly be very substantial legal costs. The pack can be purchased either through our Secure Trading secure server when you will receive a link to download your purchase immediately payment has been cleared or through Pay Pal when you will receive an email link to download your purchase in a maximum of 24 hoursThe package contains:

• Draft notice of Severance
• Letter to accompany notice
• Guidance on how to enter a restriction at the Land Registry.

The price of the Notice of Severance of a Joint Tenancy is £7.99.

However if you own property as joint tenants both you and the other joint tenant own the entire property jointly (technically it is held by you in trust for yourselves!). This means that on the death of one party, their interest in the property passes automatically to the survivor. It is therefore usual for married couples to buy a property as joint tenants. However if they then split up it is unlikely that they would wish their estranged spouse to automatically take their “share” in the property if they were to die. They should therefore sever the joint tenancy and become tenants in common, until such time as the property is sold or transferred from one party to the other.

If you hold a property as tenants in common, this means that each owner has a distinct share in the property. If there are two owners they will hold half each unless specified otherwise. . If they die then their share of the property forms part of their estate. It does not automatically pass to the other owner.

In order to sever a joint tenancy and create a tenancy in common, a notice of severance in accordance with section 36(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925, needs to be served by one owner on the other. The other owner cannot object or oppose the severance which will be effective immediate.

Once severed, notice of the severance needs to be given to HM Land Registry in order that a restriction may be placed upon the title to the property to prevent sale in the event of your death.

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