Joint Tenancy vs Tenancy in Common

SWL-25288-18 (Re), 2019 CanLII 86897 (ON LTB)

10. In a joint tenancy, there is a single tenancy agreement and the tenants are jointly and severally (individually) liable for the payment of the entire rent for the rental unit. By contrast, in the case of a tenancy-in-common, although there may be a single tenancy agreement document and while all the tenants may occupy the same premises, each tenant-in-common has a separate tenancy with the landlord. Each tenant in common is individually responsible for the payment of his or her share of the rent for the rental unit.

11. Section 13 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act, R.S.O., 1990, c. C.34, provides that there is a presumption in favour of a tenancy in common “unless an intention sufficiently appears on the face of the letters patent, assurance or will that they are to take as joint tenants”. “Four unities” are required for a joint tenancy: unity of title, time, interest, and possession. In other words, the tenants must all take possession under the same tenancy agreement, they must have entered into the tenancy agreement at the same time, they must each take the same estate and each must take possession of the undivided whole of the premises (that is no joint tenant must exclude another joint tenant from any part of the property). (See: Fleming, Jack, Residential Tenancies in Ontario, 3rd ed. (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2011) at 158.) pp