Andrew A sold a 25% share in his 2010 Fairline Phantom 48 based in Cala D'Or, Mallorca, Spain a couple of months ago as a result of an ad posted on yours2share. The current boat share ads are here.

This case study is about a French property which was sold in tenths by a regular yours2share advertiser Ginny Blackwell of FrenchPropertyShares.com. Ginny advertised shares for sale in Maison Bleue in Quarante, Languedoc, France in 2007 and 2008

Maison Bleu is a three storey, three bedroom, three bathroom village home in Quarante, a small historic village with all services, only 30 minutes from the Mediterranean beaches and near the Canal du Midi. Narbonne is 30 minutes drive and it is 45 minutes to Carcassonne, with easy connecting flights to London.

yours2share strongly recommends that any sharing agreement is recorded in writing and that all sharers take professional independent legal advice before signing any sharing agreement. This is standard practice for purchase of real property and is also essential for the purchase of other high value assets.

There are three fundamental mechanisms for sharing all assets:

• Joint ownership by all parties (co-ownership, shared ownership, partial ownership or fractional ownership)
• One party owns and the other(s) pay for use or occupation through a licence, lease or hire agreement
• Shared use, where no money changes hands, as both sides benefit in other ways.

If you have a spare room, live near to an area of good employment, and are looking for ways of generating some income (or simply want some company), you may be considering taking a lodger. However if you occasionally need to use your spare room, want your home to yourself sometimes and don’t like the idea of a permanent lodger, then consider letting a room for weekdays only.

If you are currently commuting long distances, weekly commuting or overseas commuting, or contemplating any of these, consider renting from Monday to Friday.

You did an outstanding job. Merci!

Ginny B

Joint or fractional ownership enables a small group of people to get together and buy a valuable asset such as property, boat, mobile home or aircraft. Usually there are between two and twelve partners: three, four, five and six partners are most common.

The advantages are obvious: great value for money, better for the environment, shared responsibility, and the enjoyment of being part of a group of people that loves the boats, car, villa as much as you do. What bothers people most is the fear of falling out with your partners. This usually happens when one sharer wants to do something different to the others, and it is exacerbated, if they actually go ahead and do this.

Margaret Flatman from Norwich in Norfolk sold her 1/5th share in a Hunter Legend 340 based in Nidri, Lefkas, Greece to Peter Dow from Topsham, near Exeter in Devon. The share was advertised in October 2008 and was sold the following month. The current boat share ads are here.