Valuing the share of a jointly owned house

Like other assets such as bank accounts and shares, jointly-owned property can be owned as “joint tenants” or “tenants in common”.

Joint tenants

If the deceased owned a house or other property as a joint tenant, you can assume that the deceased had an equal share. For example, a 50% share if there were two joint owners.

Tenants in common

Property held as tenants in common will probably be split evenly, just like property held as joint tenants.

However, tenants in common can have uneven shares (for example, one owner may have a 40% share, the other 60%). If in doubt, try to find the applicable declaration of trust, severance of joint tenancy or will (if the share was inherited).

Land Registry entries will not show how the ownership of the property is split.

Reducing the value of the deceased's share

To take account of the fact that a deceased’s share of a house or other property cannot be sold on the open market (because there is a surviving joint owner), it is often permitted to reduce the value of the share by 10%.

This applies whether the share is held as joint tenants or tenants in common, but it is not permitted if the surviving joint owner is the deceased’s spouse or civil partner.

Valuing a house for probate

Of course, before it is possible to determine the deceased’s share of a property, the property must be valued. See our guide “how to value a house for probate”.