Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Co-ownership of a house
In 1989, my husband and I
purchased an old house in Los
Angeles. As a friend of ours spent
most of his free time with us and
almost lived there, he offered to buy
half of the house because he could
help since he had more cash than we
did. So he reimbursed us half of the
down payment and then paid half of
the expenses, mortgage, property
taxes, as we worked on the house.
Then his work took him to Japan and
then to France where he settled.
After 4 years he quit paying anything
and has not paid a dime in 15 years.
In 1994 my husband passed away
and I had to take care of this
property by myself with two young
children. It has been a
struggle. I offered
this guy to reimburse him what he
had put in but he refused.This
partner is on title as tenant in
common for 50% of the property. He
is not on the loan papers. A lawyer
friend of mine had told me that after
a few years, I could claim ''adverse
possession'', but does it apply to
homes? I thought it was only good
for land ???
As property value has increased
tremendously over the years, I am
afraid of starting anything as I fear I
could not buy him out or would have
to sell. Thank you.

Asked on 6/03/08, 8:30 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

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Re: Co-ownership of a house

Adverse possession applies to any kind of real property that is capable of possession. It would not apply to mineral rights or future interests.

The problem you would have in asserting adverse possession is that your possession isn't adverse. You are a co-owner; your possession is legal and proper. Co-owners cannot ordinarily possess adversely against on another.

There is an exception. You can make your possession adverse by acts that deny your co-owner the exercise of his rights of co-possession, i.e. by a so-called "ouster." This is going to be VERY difficult if he is overseas and doesn't even want to exercise his rights. If he were knocking at the door to demand co-possession and you were driving him off with boiling oil and a rolling pin, I'd say we have an ouster.

There is another possibility. With the assistance of a lawyer who understands partitions, you could go over the numbers very carefully as to what the results of a lawsuit for partition might be. With you making all the payments for the last 15 years, it's possible he wouldn't be entitled to much of the proceeds of a partition sale. Also, he might find it difficult to defend from afar and the mere filing of a partition suit might get him to settle on your terms.

If partition didn't pencil out, then we could work on estabishing an ouster. There may be ways to oust a co-owner in absentia. I did research on this in the past and may know of a way.

Answered on 6/06/08, 10:18 pm

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