his presumption of tenancy in common is based on the maxim that ‘the right of survivorship has no place among merchants’, but it is only a presumption – and thus can be rebutted.

A relatively rare example of this emerged in a recent case where business partners had bought a residential property, with it being made clear in the transfer (and in a letter from the solicitor who acted on the purchase) that they were holding the property as joint tenants (and not tenants in common). Given those facts, the CA had no difficulty in holding this was a case in which the presumption should be rebutted. But do appreciate that there is a very strong presumption in favour of there being a tenancy in common; if you want to argue in favour of joint tenancy then you do need clear evidence. Accordingly, when acting on behalf of business partners that are buying a property, do address the issue and make sure that they appreciate they will be holding as tenants in common, with no right of survivorship, unless they specifically agree otherwise. Bathurst v Scarborough [2004] practicallaw.com. © Practical Lawyer