Co-owning property in Zimbabwe

Many Zimbabweans co-own property whether as business partners, family members or spouses. Joint owners are also known as co-owners. Under Zimbabwean law, co-owning property arises where two or more persons jointly acquire immovable property together. Each co-owner holds an undivided share in the whole property, rather than a physically distinct property.

Each co-owner in the immovable property has a right to deal with his or her undivided share in the property as they wish. The High Court in Chayitara v Kanokanga & Another 2021 (1) ZLR 170 (H) 173 held that each co-owner of property in Zimbabwe has the right to a share in the entire thing and one co-owner may not prevent another co-owner from using the joint property in proportion to his or her undivided share.

In Zimbabwe every co-owner of property has the right to freely and without reference to the other co-owners alienate i.e., sale his or her undivided share. Furthermore, every co-owner may insist on partition of the property at any time and if the co-owners cannot agree on the manner in which the property is to be divided amongst them the court will make an order which is fair and equitable in the circumstances. In such a situation, the court will either allow one of the co-owners to take it and pay out the others, or order that the property be sold and that the proceeds be divided among the co-owners according to their shares.