I own a flat jointly with my ex-partner or a business partner and they do not want to sell: what can I do? Can I sell just my share?

Asking for division

The Catalan Civil Code allows any co-owner to demand division at any time and without giving reasons. Before suing, the law requires an attempt to reach an agreement, for example through a written proposal or mediation. Often the agreement is for one to buy the other's share or for them to sell the flat together. If there is no agreement, the judge applies these rules:

• If one of the two wants to keep the flat, it is allocated to them and they pay the other the value of their share, as set by an expert.
• If both want it, the one with the larger share keeps it. With equal shares, it is decided by drawing lots.
• If neither wants it, it is sold and the price is shared out.

The rule allowing someone with 80 % or more to demand that the whole property be allocated to them, paying the others, does not apply to a flat owned half and half. In the rest of Spain, if the owners do not agree that one of them should keep the flat, it is sold.

If what you own jointly is a house or a building that could be divided into flats, be wary of proposals simply to divide it under the condominium regime (“propiedad horizontal”). They only end the co-ownership if each of you receives whole flats in proportion to your share. If everyone remains an owner of every flat, the problem is not solved but multiplied.

Selling just your share

You can sell your half without the other owner's permission, with one exception. If the other owner is still your spouse or stable partner and the flat is still the family home, you need their consent or, if they refuse, the judge's authorisation, as explained in another answer. In addition, the law gives the other owner priority to buy it:

• Before selling it to someone else, you must notify the other owner of your decision, the price and the terms in a way that can be proved, for example by “burofax” (a certified letter with proof of content). From that notice, the other owner has one month to take it at the same price.
• If you do not notify them, or you sell at a different price or on different terms, the other owner can take over the half sold by paying the same as the buyer. They have three months from learning of the sale and its terms or from its registration at the “Registro de la Propiedad”, the Land Registry.
• This priority can be waived or excluded when the flat is bought, but if this is done in advance it must be recorded in a public deed.

In practice it is difficult to find someone to buy half a flat. A buyer usually pays considerably less than half its value, because they become a co-owner with the other owner. In return, they can ask for division like any co-owner. In the rest of Spain, the other owner has only nine days to take over the share sold, from the registration of the sale at the Land Registry or, if it is not registered, from when they learn of it.

If the other owner is your ex-partner

• If a judge has granted the use of the family home to your ex-partner, for example because they live there with the children, you can still ask for division. But whoever keeps or buys the flat will have to respect that right of use for as long as it lasts.
• If you are married and get divorced, you can ask for the flat to be divided in the divorce proceedings themselves.
• The Catalan code allows all the assets you own jointly to be divided in a single transaction, including if you were stable partners.