The usual position is that the same person may be both the legal owner and the beneficial owner however the legal owner can be different from the beneficial owner – a trustee is the legal owner while a beneficiary of the trust may be the beneficial owner.

There are two forms of joint ownership:
Tenants in common. Each person owns their own share of the property and are taxed on that share for both income tax and capital gains tax. On death that share is decided by their will or under the rules of intestacy.

Joint tenants. Each person has an interest in the property. On death the property passes directly to the remaining joint tenant(s).