Legal Question in Business Law in California

One of the co-owners of a rental property had the house re-keyed without permission and in spite of numerous requests has failed to provide keys to the rest of us.

Does this make her liable for anything that happens in/on the property while she is in sole possession?

The property is in a state of disrepair and I have provided bids for demolishing the house. This person who now has the only set of keys was to get refurbishment bids. She has failed to do so. The insurance we have only allows the property to be vacant for 120 days. This deadline is the 6th of September. This person keeps telling the others that if the rate goes up it is my fault as I notified the insurance company the dwelling was vacant. Our contract with them clearly states that all changes to the property must be reported or the policy is void.

I believe that should a claim had been made after the property was vacant and it had not been reported, if the company had paid the claim we would be liable for fraud and have to payback any money. Am I correct?


Asked on 8/21/11, 12:06 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Unless the co-owners have contracted among themselves otherwise, when one takes sole possession by changing the locks and not distributing keys when asked for them, this constitutes an "ouster" of the other co-owners. One remedy for ouster is described in Civil Code section 843.

Another solution that is sometimes appropriate for unhappy co-ownership situations is for someone to file a suit to "partition" the property. The action gets its name from the fact that in earlier days, partition was usually done by the court ordering a subdivision (a "partition") of the disputed parcel. Nowadays, most partition suits seek a sale of the property and a distribution of the net proceeds of sale.

Partition works best when there is a fair amount of equity in the property, and indeed many such suits are settled out of court when the defendant owner(s) see the expense involved and the inevitable result.

As to the insurance issues, let's hope there is never need to file a claim, but if there is, the claim should be 100% honest as to occupancy issues and other such matters, which will probably come up in the process of filling out a claim form.

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Answered on 8/21/11, 6:01 pm


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