Joint tenancy pertains to property ownership in which each party on the title to the property holds an individual interest in the property. An example of a joint tenancy is the ownership over a house by a married couple. In this situation, joint tenancy comes with the ''right of survivorship''. That means that when one of the joint tenants dies, the interest of the deceased joint tenant automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant or tenants and does not form part of the estate of the deceased.
Tenancy in common, on the other hand, refers to ownership over a certain property by parties who do not automatically have a right of survivorship (for example friends or siblings). They are co-owners of the property, however their shares and interest over the property do not have to be equal and depend entirely on the agreed shares of the parties. In a tenancy in common arrangement, if one of the parties dies their interest in the property forms part of the deceased’s estate and does not automatically pass on to any co-owner of the property.