Co-owning a property doesn't mean you have to be stuck with it or with your co-owners. The law provides several options, one being a partition action.
As a law firm, we often encounter property owners whose relationship with their co-owners has soured. Frequently, these matters involve relatives who became property owners with family members through an inheritance. Other times, business partnerships that own property either dissolve or turn acrimonious.
When co-owners of a property want to divest themselves of ownership, or of their co-owners, and they have not been able to come to a resolution, the law allows them to bring a "partition action" to force a termination of ownership and dispose of the property interest.
In fact, it has long been held that, “absent an express agreement to the contrary, a testamentary restriction against partition, or extreme prejudice to a co-owner, a partition is a matter of right of a co-owner who no longer desires to hold or use the property in common.” In other words, a co-owner of a property has the right to stop co-owning the property, regardless of the other co-owner's consent.
To maintain an action for partition, all the plaintiff needs to show is their ownership and right to possession of the property.
The courts in New York State have consistently held that a partition and sale is appropriate where the building has one address, one electrical and gas service main, one sewer service, one roof, one basement, one fire escape, and one water supply, and so is incapable of being divided without great prejudice to the owners (unlike an easy split of a warehouse complex, for example).
The courts will typically appoint a referee to determine what credits each party is entitled to from the partition and sale.
Expenditures made by a tenant in excess of his or her obligations may be charged against the interest of the co-tenant.
With tenants in common (when each co-owner owns an undivided share of the property), absent an ouster or agreement to the contrary, each tenant equally bears the costs incurred in maintaining the property. A tenant in common is entitled to be reimbursed for any money spent in excess of their obligations on maintaining, repairing, and improving the property, if these expenses were made in good faith and were necessary to protect or preserve the property.
If you co-own property you no longer wish to own, or have questions regarding your rights and obligations as a co-owner, contact us.
