Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
I and several members of my extended family own a four bedroom house, one of the co-owners wants to sell now and I don't, so it looks like it could be partitioned. The co-owner that wants to sell has lived in the house, with his daughter, for 17 years not paying anything to the other owners, he has paid for things like upkeep, improvements, and taxes but that is nowhere near the roughly $250,000 worth of rent free housing he has received over the years. The question I have is this, in the partition process will the value he has received from living there for free all these years be taken into account and be recoverable by the other owners?
2 Answers from Attorneys
It shouldn't be........ a co-owner is NOT required or expected to pay rent to the other co-owners, since each co-owner has an absolute right to possess, occupy and use the entire property, along with the other co-owners. This right can be modified or waived by an express agreement between the co-owners, and sometimes is. However, you make no mention of an agreement to pay rent in exchange for sole possession. Therefore, my conclusion is that the occupant co-owner is not and was not obligated to pay rent, and a court considering a partition case will not and cannot award back rent, although it can make other adjustments to the net proceeds of a partition sale.
I agree with Mr. Whipple. A tenant in common may occupy property and does not owe rent to the other co-owners.
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