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Real estate law

The rules of an undivided co-ownership

A property of this type belongs to several individuals, called undivided co-owners. No one owner owns an exclusive portion of the property; rather, they each own a fraction.

For example, you buy a triplex with two of your friends and you all contribute equally to the sale price. After the sale, you decide to move into the second-floor apartment. The apartment does not belong to you exclusively; your two friends share its ownership with you, just as you share the ownership of their dwellings on the first and third floors. You and your friends are undivided co-owners of the whole triplex (see illustration in white). In the example above, your shares in the immovable are one third each.

Undivided co-ownership of a property begins informally when several persons, the undivided co-owners, acquire ownership of the same property. However, where an immovable is involved, it is in the interests of the undivided co-owners to draw up and register a formal agreement among themselves. The indivision agreement must be published to be enforceable against third persons.