Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
house being sold, partal owner being difficult
my mother owns 1/3 of a house and her x-boyfriend owns 2/3 of the house, the house is goung to be sold soon( we have to be out of the house by july 1st if the house dosent sell before june 1st) my mother and i have locks on our doors to prevent the x-boyfriend from getting into our rooms, we have even changed the locks another time beacuse he got into my moms room and put his feces on her toothbrush, but recently he he re-broke into her room through a sliding glass door that opens to the back deck and he apparently took the lock off the sliding glass door and cracking the window in the process. while they were yelling at each other in the front yard as of why that was inappropriate for him to go into her room she sprayed him with a hose asking him if he likes his personal space to be invaded.
i know that there was a person that was arrested(but not jailed) for spraying someone with a hose, but would what he did be breaking and entering? we also think hes bi-polar but thats a different story.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: house being sold, partal owner being difficult
If the hose-spraying issue ever went to court, I'd advise pleading self defense.
Breaking and entering? That's a more difficult issue. Someone who owns 2/3 of a property, or even 1/10 for that matter, has a right to possess the entire property, every square inch of it, at all times, jointly with any and all co-owners. That's one of the defects of co-ownership; all co-owners are involuntary roommates of one another.
Nevertheless, ex-boyfriend is probably guilty of an illegal forcible entry and detainer:
"The aim of the statute of forcible entry and detainer is to conserve the public peace, and not only to prevent and punish the forcible entry of those having no right of entry, but also of those who have a right of entry given by law.� 12 Cal. Juris., p. 597. (There are some older [19th Century] cases saying that a tenant in common cannot sue another tenant in common for forcible entry and detainer, but the law seems to have evolved since then and most likely either civil or criminal charges could be brought for forcible entry. Public policy is against anyone trying to enforce a right by creating a breach of the peace).
Further, I would consider the toothbrush incident an assault, both civil and criminal.
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