Whose house is it anyway? Geoffrey Boycott test case could hit homeowners for six – Telegraph Blogs

Whose house is it anyway? Geoffrey Boycott test case could hit homeowners for six – Telegraph Blogs

Thousands of homeowners’ plans to leave property to their heirs could be hit for six by an obscure legal definition which Geoffrey Boycott, the cricket legend, has described as “double-Dutch”.

Mr Boycott went on to lose a test case in the High Court about the ownership of a home in the millionaires’ resort of Sandbanks, Dorset. But with the average house price now exceeding £161,000, according to the Halifax House Price Index, questions about who has legal title to property could have a major impact on much more modest households.

Now lawyers say many people – especially unmarried couples or those who have contributed unequally to the purchase of a home – may be caught out if they are unaware of the distinction between owning property as ‘joint tenants’ or ‘tenants in common’.

No wonder the straight-talking Yorkshireman suggested the difference was difficult to understand. But the legal jargon could ............