2. What is a Co-Ownership Agreement / Co-Ownership Contract?
3. What is in the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement?
4. What is in the letter of advice prepared by PodProperty's lawyers?
5. Selling a share in a co-owned property. The Co-Ownership Agreement explained
6. Do I need to obtain independent legal advice?
7. How does group finance work?
8. Is the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement suitable for me?
9. Am I in a de facto relationship?
10. What is the First Home Owners Grant?
11. Can all co-owners receive the First Home Owners Grant?
12. What is the Home Saver Account?
13. Is it better to be tenants in common and joint tenants?
14. What is the difference between tenants in common and joint tenancy
15. Mortgage Default: What happens if I am a co-borrower and one of us defaults?
16. What happens if I don't have a co-ownership agreement? Can I force my co-owner to sell?
17. Where do we find a good builder to renovate our co-owned property?
18. Removalist needed?
19. Accounting issues resolved: How do you account for income from rent if you are a co-owner?
Questions & Answers About Property Co-Ownership in Australia
They're all here.
If you have a question about property co-ownership, tenancy in common, co-ownership contracts & agreements, PodProperty or the services we offer, scan over the answers to the questions in orange below. If you still can't find your answer, call us on 1300 791 782 or email us at info@podproperty.com.au. The Same-sex couples are now covered by this law. At least one applicant must be a permanent resident or citizen of Every applicant must not already own, or have previously owned a property. If you are married or in a de facto relation, this includes property held in either your name or your partner’s or with another person. It must be the first time that each applicant and their All applicants must be at least 18 years of age.
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What is a Co-Ownership Agreement / Co-Ownership Contract?
The term "co-ownership agreement" refers to a contract between parties who own property together as "tenants in common". It can cover many different types of relationships, including groups of friends, family members, defacto partners (either heterosexual or same-sex) or any combination of these types of relationships.
The PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement is sometimes referred to as a "tenants in common agreement", "defacto agreement", "cohabitation agreement", or "prenup agreement". In any case, the contract specifies
the rights and obligations between tenants in common when they own property together.
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What is in the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement?
The PodProperty Co-ownership Agreement regulates the relationship between the co-owners by including the following provisions:
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What is in the letter of advice prepared by PodProperty's lawyers?
As part of our service, PodProperty arranges a letter of legal advice explaining the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement and how it affects your legal rights and obligations with respect to the co-owned property.
The letter of advice explains the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement clause by clause and is drafted in plain English. It also explains the complicated area of law known as "tenancy in common".
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Selling a share in a co-owned property. The Co-Ownership Agreement explained
PodProperty’s co-ownership agreement deals with what happens if one of you wants to sell their share in the property. The following options are available to you:
Discuss your intentions with your co-owners, they might want to move on as well. If you all want to sell out together, we can help you make it happen by getting your property listed and guiding you through the sale
of your property.
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Do I need to obtain independent legal advice?
If the parties to the agreement are married, de-facto or in a domestic relationship, each party must have received independent legal advice and have obtained a certificate from their advisor in the appropriate form. We arrange this for you.
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How does group finance work?
Presently, Australian lenders do not offer separate loans for people who borrow together to purchase a property.
Please note that co-borrowers will be jointly and severally liable for each other's obligations under the loan.The good news is that many lenders offer extremely flexible joint loans which allow co-borrowers to split the loan into parts.
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Is the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement suitable for me?
You must be a co-owner of a property or intend to be a co-owner of property. We treat each person who owns or will own an interest in the property as a "Tenant-in-Common" as a co-owner.
Tenancy in common is a situation where a person has a proportionate interest in a property which can be dealt with separately to the interests of the other tenants-in-common in the property.
The shares of the tenants-in-common do not need to be equal. A more detailed explanation of tenancy in common will be provided when you receive independent legal advice from our lawyers.
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Am I in a de facto relationship?
The term "de facto relationship" is defined in the Property (Relationships) Act 1984, a copy of which can be reviewed here.
In determining whether two persons are in a defacto relationship, the court will take into account all of the circumstances of the
relationship.
definition of what constitutes a defacto relationship has been widened to cover most relationships between two adults (over the age of 18) who:
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What is the First Home Owners Grant?
The First Home Owners Grant is a scheme established by the government to help
first home buyers to purchase their first home by offering a $7000 grant. To be eligible for the grant, applicants must meet the following criteria:
spouse/de facto has received a grant.
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Can all co-owners receive the First Home Owners Grant?
To receive the First Home Owners Grant (FHOG) all co-owners must meet the eligibility criteria, otherwise the grant is forgone. However, co-owners will only receive one grant of $7000 for the property they are purchasing. They cannot obtain a separate grant of $7000 each.
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What is the Home Saver Account?
The Home Saver Account is a government initiative which assists potential first home buyers to save up for a deposit. The Saver account can be set up with a minimum upfront contribution of $1000. The scheme allows you to pay a lower tax rate on up to 10% of your income, while the government will provide a 15%
contribution on the after-tax contribution of up to $5000.
The funds in the account will be invested to gain compound earnings but will be taxed at 15%. However, the full amount of your account will be released tax free if it is used to purchase or build a first home to live in.
In an attempt to combat the escalating problem of housing affordability the Government has confirmed that people who buy property together under a co-ownership framework will be able to aggregate their loan accounts to substantially increase their windfall to purchase a home jointly.
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Is it better to be tenants in common and joint tenants?
Tenancy in common is a principle of property law in Australia that allows two or more people to own property together. Unlike joint tenancy, each party can bequeath his or her interest through their will to beneficiaries of their choosing instead of to the other co-owners.
Tenants in common can own land in equal or unequal shares. It is a more flexible form of property ownership and a co-owner's rights and obligations can be set out in a co-ownership agreement to ensure the parties are clear about the parameters of the co-purchase.
Joint tenants together own the entire interest in the property, but as individuals they own nothing. If one party dies, their share is transmitted automatically to the remaining owner.
Joint tenants have rights of survivorship: if one tenant dies then the surviving joint tenant takes the whole property.
Further explanation is provided in our Free Co-Ownership Guide.
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What is the difference between tenants in common and joint tenancy
Joint tenancy is the holding of property by two or more persons in equal shares. If one owner dies, his or her share will automatically go to the other partner(s), irrespective of any provisions made in a will. This kind of ownership structure is used most commonly by married couples.
Tenants in common is a type of co-ownership where two or more people own separate interests in a parcel of land (which may be equal or unequal). The laws of survivorship do not apply to tenancy in common. When one party dies, their share of the property can be left to anyone they like, as provided for in their will. PodProperty makes use of this type of co-ownership arrangement.
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Mortgage Default: What happens if I am a co-borrower and one of us defaults?
Remember that if you are co-borrowers, you are jointly and severally liable for each other’s debts.
Under standard mortgage documents, borrowers are typically in default 14 days after missing a single payment, even if only one co-borrower is in default. In addition, a bank may impose a penalty interest of at least 5% on top of the existing rate from that point. If it doesn’t look like you are in a position to pay then the bank may serve an order for possession and sale of your property.
Under the PodProperty Co-Ownership Agreement, each co-owner has a power of attorney in their favour so that a co-owner can take over a defaulting party’s share in order to either refinance or sell out. All costs associated with such default come out of the defaulting party’s share.
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What happens if I don't have a co-ownership agreement? Can I force my co-owner to sell?
Where the co-ownership is not working out, the common sense approach would be to sell the property and divide the proceeds of sale.
This is normally done by agreement, but if not possible, one of the parties may bring an action for partition and in that action seek an order for ‘sale in lieu of partition.
This is common in the context of bankruptcy when the other co-owners will not cooperate with the Trustee in Bankruptcy in a sale of the property in dividing the proceeds.
Equity will consider things such as contribution, improvements etc.
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Where do we find a good builder to renovate our co-owned property?
Many co-owners plan to renovate their co-owned property and ask PodProperty for a recommendation.
Getting builders to compete against each other to win your work is often the best way of obtaining a cheaper price or a broader scope of works. You can post your Building project here and builders will submit competitive quotes to win your work.
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Removalist needed?
Well you've bought your house together, and researching the best option for moving gear from your rental to your new co-owned property. Where do you turn? You want to speak to your friends about their experiences, or visit a site that has consumer feedback so you can ensure that the removalist you ultimately engage is a reputable one. Here is a good place to start your search for a Removalist.
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Accounting issues resolved: How do you account for income from rent if you are a co-owner?
If you derived rent jointly (or in common) with another person from a jointly held property where you were not a member of a partnership carrying on a business of renting out properties, include your share of rent and expenses on the tax return.
If the title deed shows that you were a part owner of the property, you would include only your share of the rent and expenses on your tax return.
For example, if you owned half of the property, you should show half of the rent and claim half of the deductible expenses for the property.
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