Joint ownership of spouses for an apartment is quite common. It is issued if citizens during the marriage acquire real estate with common funds. For this, cash or a mortgage can be used. Such property is made out exclusively at the Rosreestr on the basis of applications drawn up by spouses. If it exists, certain difficulties arise with the inheritance and division of this property.
Types of property
Everyone should understand the basic types of ownership of residential premises. Ownership is represented by official evidence that a particular person or several people are the direct owners of a particular property. Therefore, citizens who are the owners of the facility are free to dispose of this property. They can sell it, donate it, or leave it as an inheritance.
If they own a spouse’s apartment, then they can choose one option:
- Joint ownership of spouses for an apartment. In this case, no specific share is allocated to each citizen. Therefore, it is believed that the husband and wife have equal rights to existing property.
- Shared ownership. Under such conditions, each person has a strictly defined and competently allocated share. In this case, it is much easier for citizens to dispose of a specific available share.
The type of property is a significant point, since the ease of allocating a share and selling its property depends on it.
The nuances of shared ownership
All people planning a joint purchase should understand what the joint ownership of spouses in an apartment means. Its main features include:
- in such real estate there are no clearly defined shares owned by each co-owner;
- property is joint if it is bought by citizens in an official marriage, and also if citizens do not have a marriage contract;
- each owner has equal rights and obligations in relation to such real estate.
Citizens independently decide how the property tax and other payments for the apartment are distributed between them.
Other terms of use
The purchase of an apartment in the joint ownership of the spouses can be carried out for cash or by registering a mortgage. Joint ownership can occur even when receiving real estate as a gift or by inheritance. When registering such a right, the nuances are taken into account:
- if the spouses take part in privatization, they can allocate shares or agree to joint ownership without allocation of specific parts;
- it is impossible under such conditions to sell part of the housing, since initially you have to deal with a special process called the allocation of a share, and only after this procedure you can dispose of part of the property at your discretion;
- the process of selling part of the property should only be carried out with the consent of another co-owner.
If the spouses wish to allocate a share, then they must draw up a special agreement. If they cannot reach a compromise, then the section is executed in a judicial proceeding.
When is housing a personal property?
Many people, when living together with a loved one, are sure that the available housing is shared, but when divorcing it turns out that it belongs to only one person. Personal property arises under the following conditions:
- the apartment was bought by husband or wife before the official registration of marriage;
- housing was privatized by one citizen, provided that the spouse was not entered into this property;
- the object was inherited or on the basis of a gift agreement;
- housing is bought at the expense of personal funds of one of the spouses, and he must confirm this fact with official documents.
In other cases, there is joint ownership of the spouses in the apartment.
Rights and obligations of citizens
If there is joint ownership of the apartment of common-law spouses or citizens who have officially registered their relationship, then each person has certain rights and obligations associated with this property. These include:
- citizens cannot independently make any significant decisions regarding this object, therefore, if it is required to sell or donate it, then you must first obtain written consent for this process from the second spouse;
- if the housing was sold without the consent of the spouse, then she can sue to challenge such a transaction, and the court will necessarily take her side due to the fact that her husband violated her rights;
- to prevent such unforeseen situations, a marriage contract is usually drawn up between citizens;
- if one person wants to sell housing, but it is not possible to obtain consent from the spouse, then it will be necessary to initially allocate a specific share through the court, and only after that it will be necessary to sell it, but initially it will have to be offered to the co-owner with the preemptive right to purchase.
Husband and wife must jointly manage the household, take care of the property, and pay tax and other obligatory payments for it. The common joint property of the spouses for the apartment is necessarily fixed in the Rosreestr. If a woman does not have official earnings, as she takes care of children and a home, then she still retains the right to real estate, even if it is the man who pays housing and communal services and property tax.
If the property is rented out, then the income received from this process should be divided between the spouses. Additionally, they can use these tools for general purposes.
Underwater rocks
The right of joint ownership of spouses for an apartment has some drawbacks and pitfalls. These include:
- if people decide to divorce, then they will have to allocate shares in order to have the opportunity to sell part of the housing;
- there are difficulties with the further use of the object after a divorce;
- if one of the spouses dies, then when inheriting this property, disputes may arise regarding the size of the share of the testator.
Due to such disadvantages, most often citizens prefer to draw up housing in shared ownership.
Features of home sales
Selling an apartment jointly owned by the spouses has certain difficulties. Since the wife and husband have equal rights to this object, they should take into account the following rules:
- it is impossible to make a sole decision regarding the sale of an apartment, therefore, written consent from the spouse is required;
- citizens at the time of the transaction act as one seller, therefore, if there is no participation on the part of one spouse, then such a transaction through the court is easily recognized as invalid;
- if in Rosreestr the right to an object is registered for both members of the same family, then the husband and wife must put their signatures on the contract of sale when concluding a transaction;
- if the husband is officially the owner of the apartment, but the housing was bought in a marriage, you will have to get a written permission to sell from the wife;
- even if citizens get divorced, this does not affect the status of real estate in any way, therefore it is still joint, and in order to divide it, you will have to draw up a special agreement or seek help from a court.
If a citizen after a divorce wishes to sell real estate, in any case he will have to enlist the support of his ex-wife if the official division of property has not been made.
Object Section Rules
Selling an apartment jointly owned by the spouses, as well as giving or making other real estate transactions, can only be done with a general decision. If people terminate the relationship, then they must go through the process of sharing property. This will allow in the future to prevent various conflict situations or other problems.
A partition can be performed in two different ways:
- voluntarily, for which a special agreement is drawn up between citizens, allowing people to independently determine how the shared real estate will be divided;
- in court, moreover, people resort to this method if they cannot peacefully divide the object into two parts.
If there is joint ownership of the apartment of the civil spouses, then they can carry out the division at any time. If citizens are in an official relationship, then they can perform the process in the following situations:
- during marriage together;
- in the process of termination of official relations;
- after the divorce.
The most optimal solution for spouses is to draw up a peace agreement. In it, they independently determine how exactly this property will be distributed between them, and you can ask a lawyer to draw up an optimal contract. The joint ownership of the spouses in the apartment in this case becomes shared, after which each citizen can sell his allocated share.
Features of the section in court
After a divorce, citizens have only three years, during which they can apply to the court for the compulsory division of real estate. This period begins with the moment when one of the citizens finds out about the violation of his tenure rights.
For example, people divorced 6 years ago, and in their joint ownership remained a two-room apartment, which was not divided by agreement or court decision. A woman decides to sell this property without first obtaining consent from the ex-spouse. As soon as a man finds out about such an illegal transaction, a period of three years begins, during which he can file an application with the court for the division of housing.
Registration of the apartment in joint ownership of the spouses is carried out immediately after the purchase of this property. If you need to divide the object through the court, then the following steps are implemented:
- filed a lawsuit;
- the judge examines all documents for real estate, which confirm that the property is in the possession of both spouses;
- a decision is made on the division of the apartment;
- documents are collected for Rosreestr, on the basis of which the necessary changes are made to the USRN.
Only then can citizens dispose of their shares. They can sell them, donate or inherit.
Inheritance rules
The inheritance of an apartment jointly owned by the spouses has some nuances. The process rules include:
- the object is indivisible, as it belongs to several persons at once, therefore it is inherited only after the allocation of a share;
- if after the division of the apartment it is established that the wife owns only 1/3 of this object, then after her death the heirs will be able to rely solely on the third part of the apartment;
- if one property owner has several heirs at once, then they become co-owners of this apartment, and they receive the shares indicated in the will;
- if the children of the deceased parent receive housing under the law, then they enter into joint ownership without allocation of shares.
All the features of obtaining such real estate can be found in a notary public who is well versed in the rules of inheritance transfer. The joint ownership of the spouses in the apartment suggests that if the husband dies, the wife shares half of the apartment with other heirs.
The nuances of inheritance of housing in the presence of a will
Each property owner can make a will, which indicates who exactly can apply for his home after the death of a citizen. This applies even to situations where housing is owned by two spouses on the basis of joint ownership.
The heir can be not only a relative, but also an outsider, as well as companies or foreigners. But this takes into account the rights of mandatory heirs.
How to arrange an apartment in joint ownership of spouses?
Housing for spouses can be obtained on the basis of various transactions. To do this, they can buy an object on a mortgage or for their own savings, receive it as a gift or even privatize it. The procedure for registration of such property is considered quite simple, since the following actions are performed:
- a transaction is concluded on the basis of which the apartment becomes the property of the spouses;
- documents are prepared for Rosreestr, and they include title documents, a receipt on payment of the duty, a statement in the form of Rosreestr, as well as some other papers, if necessary;
- state duty is paid, and each co-owner must pay 2 thousand rubles;
- Based on the submitted documents, the necessary changes are made to the USRN.
If the spouses decide to share the existing facility, then the relevant changes must be included in the USRN. To do this, you can transfer a court decision or a peace agreement drawn up between two citizens.
In order to avoid the need for the division of real estate in the future, most often citizens prefer to issue apartments immediately in shared ownership. In this case, when drawing up the contract with the seller, the relevant information must be indicated in the contract of sale. The same applies to the situation when an apartment is purchased in a house under construction on the basis of the DDU.
Conclusion
The joint ownership of the spouses in the apartment is that both citizens are the owners of this property. They have equal rights and duties. The conclusion of any transactions with this object is permitted only with the mutual consent. At any time, citizens can produce a section of real estate, which is necessarily recorded in the USRN. The sale of an object owned by two citizens without obtaining permission to deal from one spouse can easily be challenged in court.