Real Estate: Deed incorrectly filed as “Tenants by the Entirety” — but we’re not married. What are our options and who is responsible?

Location: MA, USA

A friend and I recently purchased a building with multiple units as our primary residence. We are not married and intended to take title as tenants in common, 50/50.

However, when we reviewed the recorded deed, it states that we hold title as tenants by the entirety — which we never instructed and is legally inaccurate. We’re explicitly listed as unmarried on our Declaration of Homestead, and we never told anyone we were married.

When I raised the issue, our attorney (separate from bank’s closing attorney) said they had to check with the closing attorney and title insurer. Their recommendation is now to:

1. Have both of us deed the property to one person,
2. Then have that person deed it back to both of us as tenants in common.
3. Both filings happen at the “same” time.

They mentioned that some title insurers don’t recognize a change in tenancy if the same two individuals deed to themselves again without a break in the chain. However, this feels overly complex.

My questions:

• Has anyone dealt with this before? Is this two-deed process actually necessary in MA?
• Couldn’t this just be corrected with a single confirmatory or corrective deed?
• Who should be financially responsible for correcting this? We never authorized the “tenants by entirety” language. The filing fee was in the thousands for the first filing.
• Would this error have any implications for estate planning, taxation, or future title disputes if left uncorrected? Is tenants by entirety even enforceable if you aren’t actually married? (in fact we are both marrying other people and will be married to different people soon)

Appreciate any insight from attorneys, title agents, or anyone who’s navigated something similar. Trying to get it right without paying for someone else’s error.