Joint ownership

When you inherit, you may find that your property is divided between several people - this is known as indivision. It is often very complex to find yourself in the middle of appointments at the notary's office with 2, 3 or even 30 people, but this happens very often in families.
In the current climate, joint ownership can also be an advantage for those who want to buy a property but can't afford to do it alone.

If you need to, or want to, enter into a joint ownership arrangement, Logi-Service, your Port Grimaud agent, is here to help you understand the ins and outs.

What is indivision?

When someone dies, the notary examines all the deceased's assets in order to divide them up between all the heirs. If there is no prior division, the heirs will own the property in equal shares, without it being physically separated. This may involve land, a house or even funiture. An indivision agreement can be drawn up to manage the rights of each party in the best possible way, thereby facilitating the management of the property.

In many cases, undivided ownership is intended to be a transitional stage: the settlement of an estate should end with a division of the assets without undivided ownership, for example by selling the property. However, undivided ownership is for an indefinite period and may end with the property being passed on to the next generation.

What can you do with your undivided property ?

To use your undivided property, you absolutely must have the agreement of the other heirs included in the joint ownership. Of course, you must respect the purpose of the property: you cannot convert a house intended to be lived in into commercial premises.
And if you want to use an undivided property on your own, you will have to pay compensation to the other undivided co-owners.

Management of the property

If you need to carry out work to preserve the property, you can take decisions on your own without having to refer the matter to the others. For example, repairing the roof. For the rest of the management actions, it is necessary to reach agreement with the majority of the ⅔ of the undivided shares, from administrative papers to the sale of furniture.

As regards the sale of the property or a gift to a third party, the unanimous agreement of all those involved in the estate is required. Of course, it is possible to buy out the shares of other heirs.

The end of joint ownership?

Having several people in charge of a property can be difficult on a day-to-day basis, particularly in terms of the constant mental workload involved. However, it is possible to get out of it, and you have several options:

  • divest yourself of your share by selling it to another person, either another undivided co-owner, who has priority, or someone who is not part of the joint ownership arrangement.
  • request the division of all or part of the property: this involves allocating to each person lots of equal value to their rights in the joint ownership. The lots may be chosen by mutual agreement or by lot. If the lots cannot be of equal value, there will be monetary compensation for the undivided co-owners concerned. It should be noted that certain heirs may maintain joint ownership if they so wish.
  • you can also agree with all the undivided co-owners to sell the property and divide the money from the sale equally between all of them: Logi-service can help you to value your property.
If you still have questions, don't hesitate to contact our experts: Logi-Service is here to help.

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