10.4 Co-Owners

A co-owner has the right to use co-owned property and need not pay rent to other co-owners.1  However, a co-owner cannot prevent another co-owner from using the property.2  A co-owner in exclusive possession may only be liable for rent beginning on the date that another co-owner requests occupancy and has been refused.3  A co-owner cannot be divested of possession by a summary eviction proceeding; the remedy for co-owners who disagree about use of co-owned property is judicial partition of the property.4  A succession representative or administrator also cannot evict an owner from the property through a summary eviction proceeding.5

When it comes to co-owners leasing to a third-party non-owner, all co-owners must consent to lease a property. Arguably, one co-owner could rescind that consent and move to terminate the lease.6

If a tenant or occupant facing eviction may have an ownership interest in the property, advocates should argue that city and justice of the peace courts lack jurisdiction to adjudicate disputed title to immovable property.7  Title disputes cannot be decided via a summary proceeding.8

• 1La. C.C. art. 802; McCarroll v. McCarroll, 701 So. 2d 1280, 1289 (La. 1997).
• 2La. C.C. art. 802.
• 3McCarroll, 701 So. 2d at 1290.
• 4In re Succession of Deal, 2013-200 (La. App. 3 Cir. 11/13/13), 129 So. 3d 686, 688.
• 5Matthews v. Horrell, 2006 CA 1873 (La. App. 1 Cir. 11/0/07), 977 So. 2d 62; Coon v. Miller, 175 So. 2d 385, 387 (La. App. 2 Cir. 6/28/65); Deal, 129 So. 3d at 688.
• 6La. C.C. art. 805; Brown v. Brown, 48,274 (La. App. 2 Cir. 8/7/13), 121 So. 3d 1242, 1245.
• 7La. C.C.P. art. 4847 (city and parish courts); La. C.C.P. art. 4913 (Justice of the peace court); Millaud v. Millaud, 99-CA-2145 (La. App. 4 Cir. 04/05/00), 761 So. 2d 44.
• 8Fradella Constr., Inc. v. Roth, 503 So. 2d 25, 26–27 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1986).