My sister, brother and I would like to buy a property together and we have been asked if we want to buy the property as joint tenants or tenants in common. What do people recommend?

Your settlement agent would be able to advise for your unique situation, however the most common is joint tenants as in the case of someone passing the property automatically gets given to the other party.

http://www.waterwaysconveyancing.com.au/blog/the-difference-between-joint-tenants-and-tenants-in-common/

Joint Tenants is where a number of people (usually husband and wife) "jointly"own 100% of the property. If someone passes away, the surviving property owners automatically get the deceased persons share of the property. this is most commonly done with a spouse.

Tenants in Common: each persons "share"of the property is not passed on to the surviving owner(s) and forms part of the deceased estate. This is less common for people who are not living together, eg siblings who would want their share of the property to revert to spouse or children rather than a sibling.

Get a solicitor to advise you (each of you) on what you can and cannot do, and what the consequences are for each of you. It will cost more, but you need to get the right advice to make an informed decision
good luck
bc

Hi Jade

This will depend on what you would like to happen to your share of the property in the event you passed away. It is common for brother/sister arrangements to go Tenants in Common but this will depend on your situation.

You may also want to consider your loan structure as this could have implications down the track on your borrowing capacity.

Feel free to get in touch if you wanted some further information.

Thanks

Abby

Great question guys, often this can be tricky with so many parties involved. There can also be significant tax and estate planning implications depending how you choose to structure the asset. Each persons individual circumstances should be considered.

Have you considered whether purchasing the property using a discretionary (family) trust might benefit you?

Highly recommend you guys obtain some solid advice from an adviser, accountant and mortgage broker. Once you are over this hurdle, each of you should also visit a solicitor to get your wills and estate in order.

Best of luck!

Hi Jade,

All the responses above are spot on - you do need to get advice and each party understand the ramifications before finalising the purchase.

There are some great articles online regarding this type of purchase and legal agreements that can be put in place at the start to protect each other for varying scenarios - check lawcentral.com.au and legalconsolidated.com.au for a start.

I'd lean towards Tenants in Common, so each party has their share in their estate. Protections can be set up to automatically sell through the estate to surviving parties in agreed format (best to do that now, before a problem comes up) on death, with same policy if a party needs to sell out for other reasons.

Please take the time and spend the necessary $'s to get the right advice. Happy to have a chat as needed.

Todd.