Each family has its own unique relationship with property, and Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) tenants vs community property tenants can be complex. Under RTA, a tenant’s rights depend on their relationship with the property owner.
If the tenant has a right of survivorship, their rights may be increased if the property is sold to another party. However, this right cannot be derived from a tenancy agreement between the tenant and the landlord. Continue reading to find out more.
What is Joint Tenancy and Community Property With Right of Survivorship?
Joint tenancy is a type of tenancy in which two or more individuals share the use of an apartment, house, or other property. The tenants typically have joint legal custody of the property and must abide by the same rules and regulations. Some may also allow joint tenancy if one tenant is widowed or divorced.
Community property with right of survivorship is a type of community estate in which each spouse has a share in the common assets and liabilities of the community estate. If one spouse dies, their children have a right to inherit their portion of the community estate.
This type of community estate can be valuable when either spouse is deceased or when both spouses are living distant from each other.
Different Types of Joint Tenancies
There are many types of joint tenancy agreements. Some of these include tenancy by the entirety, tenancy in common, tenancy by the use of property, rental agreement with a community property right of survivorship (CPR), and cooperative agreement.
Tabling a joint tenancy agreement can be an effective way to manage your finances and protect your interests as a joint tenant. legally, each tenant has a share in the property they live in and has the right to collect rent from their landlords.
However, there are key differences between tenants in joint Tenancies vs Community Property With Right of Survivorship (CPR). Commonly, a tenancy agreement will provide for a fixed-term tenancy.
Benefit of Joint Tenancy
Joint tenancy is one of the most common types of tenancy in the United States. It allows two people who are married to live in the same housing unit, with the right to share in its benefits and responsibilities.
Benefits of joint tenancy include:
1. Shared responsibility for financials: When both spouses are joint tenants, each spouse is responsible for paying their own rent, utilities, and other bills. This often leads to a more reliable budget because each tenant knows exactly what they’re spending their money on.
2. Shared ownership of property: Joint tenancy gives each tenant a share of the ownership of any property that they occupy in the rental unit. This helps prevent eviction because one party cannot evict another without first being able to evict all their belongings.
3. Protection from eviction: When both spouses have joint tenancy, the landlord has no ability to evict one spouse or the other without first being able to evict all of the tenants in their house.
4. Rent control: Rent control can be a huge advantage for tenants. It means that your landlord cannot raise your rent without you being able to go to court and argue against it.
This is a huge advantage because there are many reasons why your landlord might want to raise your rent. This can include the amount of money they need to pay utilities, or keeping up their property insurance.
5. Landlord protection: If you have joint tenancy, your landlord cannot evict you without good cause.
Benefits of Community Property With Right of Survivorship
When a joint tenancy is established between two people, one of the people has the right to live in the property and use it as their own. This right of survivorship also applies if one of the partners dies.
If both partners die, then the property will go to the surviving partner. However, there are some benefits to having community property with a right of Survivorship.
1. Community property can help create stability in a household. If one partner dies and leaves behind children who are living in the home, they may be more likely to stay put and take care of things while their father or mother is alive.
In a situation where both partners have died, this could create an instability that would not be possible if each person had their own share in the home.
2. The community property law makes it easier for a surviving partner to inherit from the deceased partner’s estate. If a husband dies, and his wife has left behind children, then it is easier for the wife to inherit from her husband’s estate if he is still living.
3. The community property law makes it easier for a surviving partner to inherit from the deceased partner’s estate. If both partners have died, this would not be possible if one partner was left with no assets by the other partner.
Joint Tenants vs Community Property With Right of Survivorship
Some people believe that joint tenants are better than community property owners because the former have the right to survivorship, or the ability to live in their property until it is sold. Survivorship allows a joint tenant to keep their share of an estate even if they die before it can be distributed.
However, there are several key differences between joint tenants and community property owners that should be considered. First, joint tenancy is typically for shorter periods of time – typically 10 years – whereas community property ownership lasts for lifetime.
Second, joint tenants generally do not have the right to vote or hold public office in their community; instead, they are limited to performing only household tasks within the boundaries of the lease agreement.
Lastly, survivorship does not apply to gifts or inheritances given by a joint tenant to another joint tenant – these must be passed down through inheritance laws.
Conclusion
When a joint tenant landownership arrangement is in place, the tenants have a right of survivorship. The tenants are able to take control of their property and make decisions about it even if one or more of the tenants dies.
In some situations, this may be an advantage because it will give the survivor a share in the property regardless of who else may have owned it at the time of death.