Ah thanks. So the mortgage was quite small, still, hard to get one without income. Pooled ownership also makes it much more complicated.

I was the 'owner' of record. The others held rights to the house by agreement with me but all the responsibilities were mine.

The others could have just stopped paying 'rent' and I would be stuck with the full mortgage...or I could have just sold the place and walked away with everything.

Definitely an exercise in trust and mutual self interest.