Can Minority Owner Force Others to Sell

[CaliHomeOwner]

My question involves real estate located in the State of California. My parents left a vacation condo to us three kids. We all own it 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. One of my siblings wants to sell, but the other two of us do not want to sell since the real estate market is so low. We currently have the property on an annual lease. Since we have 2/3 vote to hold onto the property, does my sister have any recourse to try to force us to sell? Unfortunately, none of us are in a position right now to buy out my sister.

Thanks!!

[Mr. Knowitall]

She can sue for partition or sale, and in all likelihood the court will order a sale. (But it will likely cost her quite a lot of money to hire a lawyer to bring that action.)

[SChinFChin]

Yes, she can force a sale. There's a few ways to handle this.

Partition sale is obviously one way. But there are a few ways the 2 siblings could buy out the third, and the methodoly has to do of there is a current mortgage on it or not.

A have a tenant whose dad passed on, and also left the house to 3 siblings, one of them my tenant with no mortgage. He wanted to keep the house, move in, but his brother and sister both wanted to sell. Since he owned 1/3, the bank considered that his equity downpayment, gave him a mortgage for 2/3's the value of the home, which was exactly the ownership percentage of his siblings.

In your case, you can either:

- Get a mortgage to buy her 1/3 out if there is no mortgage.
- If there is a mortgage, Refi, use the cashout, and pay out her the equity.
- Have her hold a mortgage, and pay her monthly if she is willing, or she can sell the mortgage, albeit at a discount.
- Go to court, pay lawyers on the partition sale, then made to sell it into a bad market.

These are all the options I could think of.