Two people buy a house in Langley or South Surrey and the lawyer asks one question that most buyers answer in about four seconds: joint tenants or tenants in common? The answer decides who owns the house the day one of you dies, whether it goes through probate, and what it costs. It is worth more than four seconds.
The default in BC is tenants in common
Section 11 of the Property Law Act says that when land is transferred to two or more people, other than personal representatives or trustees, they are tenants in common unless a contrary intention appears in the instrument. If the shares are not stated, they are presumed to be equal. So joint tenancy is never an accident. Somebody has to write it on the transfer.
In practice most couples buying together are put on title as joint tenants, because that is what they ask for. Friends, siblings, business partners and blended families are where tenants in common earns its keep.
Joint tenants: the survivor takes the house
Joint tenants own the whole property together, with no separate shares. When one dies, the survivor already owns it. The house does not pass under the will, and the will cannot give it to anyone else.
The paperwork reflects that. The province's property transfer tax guide lists exemption code 08, survivorship, for a transfer to the survivor of a joint tenancy as a result of the death of a joint tenant, and points individuals to the Land Title and Survey Authority's online Transmission to Surviving Joint Tenant application. No transfer tax, and no court grant to wait for.
Probate is the bigger saving. The Probate Fee Act charges the fee on the gross value of property that passes to the personal representative at the date of death. A joint tenant's interest does not pass to the personal representative. It passes to the survivor, so it is not in the number.
Tenants in common: your share goes where your will sends it
Tenants in common each own a separate share, equal unless the transfer says otherwise. Shares can be unequal, which matters when one buyer put in $300,000 and the other put in $50,000. On a death, that share goes to the estate, then to whoever the will names, which may not be the co-owner living in the house.
That is exactly the point for a second marriage. If each of you has children from before, joint tenancy hands the whole house to whoever lives longer, and the first to die has disinherited their own kids from it. Tenants in common lets each share go to each family.
What probate costs on a Langley house
The Probate Fee Act sets no fee if the estate is $25,000 or less, then $6 for every $1,000 or part of $1,000 between $25,000 and $50,000, then $14 for every $1,000 or part of $1,000 above $50,000.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board's October 2026 benchmark for a Langley detached house is $1,448,100. Take a mortgage free house at that figure and nothing else in the estate:
- Sole owner. $150 on the band to $50,000, plus $19,586 on the 1,399 thousands above it. About $19,736.
- Tenants in common, half each. The half share is $724,050. $150 plus $9,450 on the 675 thousands above $50,000. About $9,600.
- Joint tenants, surviving spouse. Nothing on the house, because it never reaches the estate.
In South Surrey and White Rock the October detached benchmark is $1,606,500, so the sole owner number is higher again. These are fee calculations only. Legal fees, and the months a probate file can take, sit on top. How a sale runs once a house is in an estate is covered in selling a house in probate in BC.
Adding an adult child to title is not the shortcut it looks like
The probate saving is why parents ask about putting a son or daughter on title as a joint tenant. Read the Supreme Court of Canada first. In Pecore v. Pecore, decided May 3, 2007, the Court held that the presumption of advancement, the presumption that a parent meant a gift, is limited to gratuitous transfers to minor children. For an adult child, the presumption is a resulting trust: the child is presumed to hold the property in trust for the parent, and the onus is on the child to show a gift was intended, on a balance of probabilities.
So when the parent dies, the house is presumed to belong to the estate, not the child, unless there is evidence the parent meant the survivorship to be a gift. If there are other children, that is a lawsuit waiting for a date. Do this with a lawyer and a written record of what was intended, or not at all.
Transfer tax on adding a family member is a separate question. Exemption code 05 covers a transfer of a principal residence, or an interest in one, to a related individual, so adding a child to a parent's home can be exempt if the conditions are met. The province's own worked example adds one owner's wife to a title held by three people and taxes only the share that came from someone who was not related to her. The full rules for what you pay are in BC property transfer tax in 2026.
Switching, and severing
You can change your mind. Exemption code 16 covers a transfer from joint tenancy to tenancy in common, or back, if the owners before and after are the same and no owner's interest changes. That is section 14(3)(i) of the Property Transfer Tax Act, so the switch itself is not taxed.
Severing does not need the other owner's agreement. Section 18 of the Property Law Act lets a joint tenant transfer their interest to themselves, and says that transfer has the same effect of severing the joint tenancy as a transfer to a stranger. Once registered, there is no survivorship on that interest.
When both owners die together
The Wills, Estates and Succession Act deals with the case people prefer not to picture. Section 5(2) says that when joint tenants die at the same time, or in circumstances where it is uncertain who survived, each is treated as having held the property as tenants in common. Section 10(2) goes further: if it cannot be shown that one survived the other by 5 days, one half passes as if each had survived. Half the house goes through each estate. That is a reason for both owners to have a current will even with joint tenancy.
Co-owners who stop agreeing
Either structure can end up in court if the owners fall out. Under the Partition of Property Act, when owners holding half or more of the property ask the court to sell it and divide the money, section 6 says the court must order a sale unless it sees good reason not to. A 50 per cent owner can force the issue. Section 13 of the Property Law Act lets an owner who paid more than their share of the mortgage, taxes, insurance or strata payments because the other defaulted apply to the court for relief, and section 13.1 allows an action of account against a co-owner who took more than their share. A written co-ownership agreement before you buy is cheaper than any of these.
What to say to the lawyer
- Married or common law, one family, wills that leave everything to each other. Joint tenancy usually fits.
- Blended family, friends, siblings, or unequal down payments. Tenants in common, with the shares written on the transfer and a co-ownership agreement beside it.
- Parent thinking of adding an adult child. Lawyer first, and read Pecore before the meeting.
Title is settled when the conveyancing documents are signed, often in the last few days before completion, and it is easy to sign without reading. If you are buying with someone else in Langley, South Surrey or White Rock, raise it when the offer is accepted, not at the lawyer's desk. What else is registered on a title is covered in easements and rights of way on title and what title insurance covers. If you want a current value for a house you already co-own, start with the home value tool.
Sources
At bclaws.gov.bc.ca: Property Law Act sections 11, 13, 13.1 and 18; Wills, Estates and Succession Act sections 5 and 10; Probate Fee Act sections 1 and 2; Partition of Property Act section 6. At www2.gov.bc.ca: the property transfer tax exemption code list for codes 05, 08 and 16, and the related individual principal residence exemption page, last updated March 17, 2026. Pecore v. Pecore, 2007 SCC 17, from decisions.scc-csc.ca. Benchmark prices from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board's October 2026 statistics package. Checked November 10, 2026. Not legal advice.