Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Oregon
I own a house with my sister and have it for sale we have about 700,000 into the home, and it hasn't sold after 8 months. I would like to rent the house until the market gets a little better. She won't do it and now wants to just unload the house and take a HUGH loss. I told her she could continue to sell but she would need to take the loss. We then received a letter from an Attorney stating he would be filing a Partition when our listing is up in a few days. Can he do this even though we are willing to sell, just not give the house away. They want to re-list at 600,000 and then in July 15th drop down to 575,000 and then Aug 15th drop down to 550,000. Also we have asked my sister to send all of the accounting to us and she has refused. Just going through the bank Statements we have found she did not match a 4,000. dep we did. we were also told by this attorney we could not come and bring our Motorhome to the property, if we did he would file with the courts to have us removed. We aren't sure if we need an Attorney. We live in Calif. and the house is in Oregon. Also the attorney has stated we will be responsible for half of his fees.
I look forward to hearing from you.
David Young
1 Answer from Attorneys
In Oregon, an owner of property can "maintain a suit for the partition of the real property according to the respective rights of the persons interested therein, and for a sale of all or a part of the property if it appears that a partition cannot be had without great prejudice to the owner." ORS 105.205. That means that your sister can force the sale of the property. Even if you prove that selling the house is prejudicial to you, the remedy to that is a court-ordered auction of the house, which may produce an even worse result.
You should be able to get all of the accounting documents by means of discovery in the lawsuit. If your sister refuses to provide those documents, the court might not order the property to be sold. Until the property is sold, I see no reason that you cannot come and bring your motorhome, since you are half-owners of the property, and having you and your motorhome there would not preclude showing the property to prospective buyers.
If you are opposing the sale, then the court can decide who pays the attorney fees, and it could be your sister alone. See ORS 105.405, below:
105.405 Costs and expenses of partition.(1) The expenses of the referees, including those of a surveyor and assistants of the surveyor when employed, shall be ascertained and allowed by the court, and the amount thereof, together with the fees allowed by law to the referees, shall be paid by the plaintiff, and may be allowed as part of the costs of partition.
(2) The reasonable costs of partition, including reasonable attorney fees and disbursements, that are for services performed for the common benefit of all parties, shall be paid by the parties that will share in the lands divided in proportion to their respective interests therein, and shall be included and specified in the judgment. They shall be a lien on the several shares, and the judgment may be enforced by execution against the parties separately. When, however, a controversy arises between some of the parties only, the court may require the expense of such controversy to be paid by any of, or all, the parties thereto. [Amended by 1971 c.502 �1; 2003 c.576 �368]
Here are Oregon's laws about partitioning: http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/105.html
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