Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Assuming the ownership is in equal portions, he has as much right to refuse to sell as you do to sell. Unless he agrees to something, you have to file a partition petition and the court will then order the house sold because it can not be split in half. Bryan Whipple, a very good real property attorney who also answers questions on this site has filed such suit and estimated one he did about a year or so ago cost about $14,000. If you do not have a large amount of equity in the house, it may not be worth selling.

Can you put pressure on him by saying you will not pay your part of the mortgage and he can not afford to pay the entire amount by himself, if only he lives there would your moving in make him want to sell, offer that he will get somewhat more than you in cash but you get that difference in tax advantages, etc.

Well thanks, Mr. Shers! Indeed, fewer people can or want to file partition suits these days, because so many recently-acquired properties don't have enough net equity (if any) to warrant the cost of doing a contested partition suit. Sometimes, just filing the suit induces the reluctant co-owner to give in and negotiate an out-of-court sale or buy-out, so filing for partition may nevertheless be a strategy.

As far as selling without a co-owner's cooperation and participation goes, you can in theory sell your share of a co-owned property, just like you can sell your 100 shares of AT&T, but you can't sell the whole schmear. "He who sells what isn't his'n, must buy it back or go to prison." There is little market for half interests in single-family homes, since the co-owners have coequal rights to possess and use the entire property, and strangers don't want to buy into a forced roommate situation.

A couple of major elements you didn't discuss in your question are (1) who is currently in possession of the house; (2) are you both borrowers on the home loan (if there is one); (3) is the property worth more than the liens against it; and (4) are the two of you still able to discuss business matters civilly?

Please feel free to contact me directly for further no-obligation Q's and A's.

The other two problems with selling your 1/2 of a co-owned property are that it will probably be an event of default on the mortgage, and even if it isn't, all you will get for your 1/2 is 1/2 the equity, because the buyer will be subject to the mortgage.