Joint tenancy is a form of real estate property ownership. Two or more parties legally agree to own and manage the real estate assets through a joint tenant agreement. This legally binding agreement is formalized through a deed on which all parties are listed.
There can be several benefits to this type of arrangement. One potential benefit is that legal issues can be avoided if one of the joint tenants dies. In this situation, ownership passes to the remaining joint tenant or tenants. Other benefits can include sharing profits through the sale or rental of the property. Joint tenants also share responsibilities and bills for the property.
The “all-for-one” nature of this relationship means that any action pertaining to the property – like selling it – requires the approval of all the joint tenants. If this agreement is lacking, this court could force a sale.
This is also the case when it comes to financing a joint-tenant-owned property. As such, the answer to whether one joint tenant can mortgage the property without agreement from the others is a hard “no.” By law, a single joint tenant isn’t allowed to do this. This leaves the other joint tenants with a debt payment they didn’t agree to or sign for.
The takeaway here is that joint tenancy requires the input and agreement of all involved parties for anything dealing with property ownership – including financing. For this reason, the joint tenants involved must trust each other. It’s also essential that a qualified real estate attorney draws up and maintains any joint tenant agreement to avoid problems and issues in the future.