Common property refers to property owned by more than one entity. Because of this shared ownership, an individual party’s degree of control over common property is less than it would be if they owned that property alone. Common property is found in a variety of scenarios:
- Common property can mean real property that is owned by tenants in common. Tenants in common each have an undivided interest in the entire property and thus that property is considered common property. Additionally, resources grown on lands that are owned by tenants in common would also be considered common property.
- For example, farm goods produced on land owned by tenants in common is considered common property, and hence, the tenants in common cannot harvest those farm goods without the cotenant's approval.
- Common property can also mean property that is managed by a homeowners' association in a subdivision development or a condominium project.
- In these instances, it is considered common property because all of the owners may use the property, and each owns a specific percentage interest.
- Common property can also refer to lands that are owned by the government for public use like national parks and forests. Because the government is a representative of all citizens, one can view these public lands as common property owned by a nation's body of citizens. Additionally, geographic names of places are generally considered to be common property and thus may not be appropriated as a trade name in ordinary circumstances. Common property also refers to the natural resources on those lands.
- For example, water flowing naturally in a channel of a stream or other source is common property.
- Common property can sometimes refer to the resources deep underneath the surface of land. The property rights to oil and gas deep below the surface to the owner or lessee of land is not an absolute property right and thus, because of the peculiar natural state of such substances, they are closer to common property title than to absolute property.
- Indeed, such substances only become absolute when those substances are effectively captured and reduced to possession.
[Last updated in August of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]