Can I Sell My Half of a House When There is a Co-Owner

One option is to negotiate a buyout. The co-owner who does not want to sell can buy you out since you are the one who wants to sell. This is often the easiest and best option. It is not always feasible. The co-owner may not have the cash or ability to finance a buyout of our interest. You may not be able to come to terms on the buyout.

Alternatively, the you can offer to buyout your co-owner. Once you own all of the property, you can do whatever you want with it, including selling to a third party. This may be an acceptable option for you. However, your co-owner may not agree to this if they have already expressed that they do not want to sell their interest.

As counterintuitive it as might sound, a co-owner who owns property as a tenant in common has the right to sell their interest in the house to a third party. That third party may be another family member, or they may be a stranger. This is probably not what the co-owner who does not want to sell would want. Also, most strangers probably would not want to co-own a house. They would rather own the entire house.

As with any asset that is co-owned, each owner has a share of co-owned property. Shares of a home can be sold even if owners disagree about selling. Yes, this means shares of a home can be sold to strangers. However, most strangers don’t want to co-own a home together. So selling property shares like this isn’t a feasible option unless the co-owner knows and likes the new co-owner.

The third option is to petition the court for an order to partition the property or sell the property. In other words, ask the court to intervene and resolve the issue. The court proceeding is called an action for partition. You can initiate the action by filing a complaint. Discuss with an experienced estate attorney in New York what to include in the complaint and where to file it.

The court will consider the interests of the parties and the nature of the property. If the property is unimproved farmland, it might be easy to split it down the middle, given each co-owner 50% of the property. Each co-owner would then be the owner of their 50% of the original property and would have the right to sell it if they want to.

However, if the property is a house, partition may not be possible. You can’t cut a house in half. It would be unfair to give one party the downstairs and the other party the upstairs. It would be unfair to give one party the house and the other party the yard and driveway.

Instead, of partitioning the house, the court would require the house to be sold. The proceeds would be divided between the co-owners. You would get your desired result of selling your half of a house when there is a co-owner.