One Owner Won’t Sell: How Ontario’s Partition Act Forces a Sale Among Co-Owners
You own a property together — with an ex, a sibling, or a friend — and one of you refuses to sell. Ontario’s Partition Act gives every co-owner a legal way out: ask the court to compel a sale.
If one co-owner refuses to sell, can the other force a sale in Ontario?
Yes. In Ontario, almost any co-owner has a prima facie right to ask the court to force a partition or sale of jointly owned property. The authority is the Partition Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. P.4): anyone with a legal or equitable interest in the land can apply to have it divided, or sold under the court’s direction where a sale is more advantageous. Courts grant these orders as a matter of course — unless the resisting owner can prove the applicant is acting for a malicious, vexatious or oppressive purpose, which is a high bar. A deadlock is not a dead end: the owner who wants out holds real leverage.
Sources: Ontario Partition Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.4 (Government of Ontario, e-Laws); Ross v. Luypaert, 2025 ONCA 236 (Court of Appeal for Ontario). Verified 2026-08-02.
I am Arthur Zhao, and I have spent 12 years as a full-time Broker across the GTA. One of the messier calls I get goes like this: two people bought a place together — an unmarried couple, two siblings, or a pair of friends who split the down payment — and now one of them wants to sell while the other refuses to budge. The one who wants out feels trapped: their name is on the mortgage every month, yet they cannot touch the property. Here is what most people do not realize: Ontario law does not leave you stuck. The Partition Act gives essentially every co-owner the right to ask a court to force a sale. Below I walk through how that right works, where a court can refuse it, how the process runs, and — the part that causes the real fight — how the money gets divided at the end.
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⚠️This article is general information, not legal advice, and it is not a manual for suing on your own. A Partition Act application is formal litigation involving procedure, evidence and accounting disputes, and every case is different — before you take any step, speak to an Ontario real estate litigation lawyer about your specific situation.
What a partition application actually is (and what it is not)
When a property is held by two or more people who cannot agree on whether to sell, you have a co-ownership deadlock. Ontario’s Partition Act is the old statute built to break exactly that. It lets people with an interest in the land — joint tenants, tenants in common, even mortgagees and others with a stake — ask the court to partition the land (physically divide it) or, where dividing is impractical, sell it and split the money.
For an ordinary house or condo, you cannot cut one home and lot in half, so in practice the court almost always orders a sale. That is why the remedy is usually just called a “forced sale.” It is not a way to punish the other owner, and it is not something you can do on your own by simply listing the property.
The default answer is yes: the right to force a sale is near-automatic
Here is the counter-intuitive part most people miss. In Ontario, applying for partition or sale is a prima facie right. You do not have to prove that selling is reasonable; instead, the other owner has to convince the court that it should not happen. The burden sits on the person resisting the sale.
The Court of Appeal reaffirmed this in Ross v. Luypaert (2025 ONCA 236): a co-owner has a strong right to a sale, and the court will order it unless the resisting owner clears a high bar. In plain terms, “I just don’t want to sell,” “I’m attached to the place,” or “I think the timing is bad” will not, on their own, stop a sale order.
When a court says no: the malicious / vexatious / oppressive bar
Because it is a prima facie right, the situations where a court refuses are narrow. Ontario courts have settled on this standard: an order will be denied only where the person seeking the sale is acting for a malicious, vexatious or oppressive purpose — and the burden of showing that lands on the owner resisting the sale.
Draw the line clearly: not wanting to move, being emotionally attached, or thinking the market is soft is not enough. A court will not refuse simply because the order disappoints the other co-owner, or because one side is being uncooperative. What can actually block a sale is the rare case where the application’s only real aim is to harm the other owner rather than realize a genuine interest.
ℹ️“The bar is high” does not mean “the other owner has no options.” A resisting owner can still argue about the timing and manner of the sale and how the proceeds are divided, and can trade a buyout in negotiation. The accurate reading is: a sale is almost certain, but how it is run and how the money splits is still very much in play.
Joint tenancy vs. tenancy in common — why the label changes your outcome
How the process actually runs, step by step
A forced sale is not a single event. From the first application to the final split of the money, it runs through the stages below. Keep in mind that all of this happens inside formal litigation and needs a lawyer to lead it.
Retain a litigation lawyer and put the demand in writing
Start with a letter, not a lawsuit. Most lawyers first send a formal demand to sell. A large share of deadlocks settle into a buyout or an agreed sale before anyone sets foot in a courtroom — that letter is often the lever that breaks the standoff.
The application and the court order
At the same time, the court gives directions on how the sale runs: who lists the property, how the price and any minimum are set, how costs and legal fees are shared, and whether one owner gets a chance to buy the other out first.
The court-supervised sale
This is the stage where I am often brought in as the agent. A court-ordered listing carries extra constraints on pricing, showings and how offers are handled, so it needs an agent who knows the process, keeps a clean paper trail, and stays neutral between the owners. On closing, the lawyers convey good title to the buyer.
Dividing the proceeds — and the second fight
That division is rarely a clean 50/50. The court applies an accounting that folds in the mortgage principal, taxes and repairs one owner paid alone, plus occupation rent where one owner had the place to themselves. In practice, this fight is often bigger than the one over whether to sell — the next section breaks it down.
Equitable accounting: credits for the mortgage, taxes and the new kitchen
The starting point for splitting the net proceeds is the registered ownership share, but the court adjusts it using equitable accounting. Common adjustments include:
• Mortgage payments: the mortgage principal (sometimes interest, taxes and insurance) that one owner paid alone can generate a credit;
• Necessary repairs and property taxes: reasonable amounts spent to preserve the property can be shared back against the other owner;
• Capital improvements (renovations): work like an addition or a renovation may earn a credit, but courts often value it at the lesser of what it cost and the increase in sale value it actually produced — not simply what you spent;
• Occupation rent (occupation rent): if one owner excluded the other and lived there alone, the excluded owner can claim occupation rent at market value — which is frequently used to offset the live-in owner’s mortgage and repair credits.
In short: who paid, who lived there, and how much value the work added all go into the ledger. That is why, in break-up and inheritance disputes, the real battleground is usually the money, not the sale itself.
Before you litigate: buyout, agreed sale, mediation
A lawsuit is the last resort, not the first step. Litigation is slow, expensive, and burns through net proceeds you could have kept between you. Before you go to court, take these three seriously:
• Buyout: the owner who wants to keep the property buys out the other’s share at an appraised value and refinances to remove them from title — fastest, cheapest, and easiest on the relationship;
• Agreed sale: both sign a written agreement fixing the list price, the agent, the timeline and how proceeds are split, then sell on the open market like any other listing;
• Mediation: a neutral mediator helps you agree on price, division and timing at a fraction of the cost of full litigation.
On cost and time, a realistic word: I will not invent a figure for you. A partition matter varies widely — an uncontested one where both sides cooperate can move relatively quickly, but once the other side fights hard and an accounting dispute is stacked on top, running past a year with sharply higher legal fees is common. If you are going to litigate, get a written estimate from a litigation lawyer for your own facts first.
🚨Do not download a template and file the application yourself. Partition is formal litigation with strict rules on procedure, affidavits and service; one wrong step can sink the whole application and leave you paying the other side’s costs. Leave this process to a licensed litigation lawyer.
💡 My take: the Partition Act hands you a powerful exit card, but the smart way to play it is to negotiate an out-of-court deal with it in your hand — not to litigate all the way to judgment. In most co-ownership deadlocks, the sticking point is never whether the law allows a sale — the answer is almost always yes. It is how the money gets divided. So the order I give clients is always the same: confirm the title and the label first, work out the accounting second, then go negotiate a buyout or an agreed sale with the confidence that you can force a sale if talks fail. Save the lawyers and the courtroom for the one step that genuinely will not settle.
- Ontario Partition Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.4 — Government of Ontario, e-Laws (primary legislation)
- Ross v. Luypaert, 2025 ONCA 236 — Court of Appeal for Ontario: reaffirming the prima facie right to partition or sale and the malicious / vexatious / oppressive threshold to resist it
- The threshold and the accounting principles (occupation rent; mortgage / tax / renovation credits) are summarized with reference to public commentary from Ontario litigation firms (Bennett Jones; melaw.ca; trialcounsel.ca) — secondary sources
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I force the sale of a property if my co-owner refuses to sell?
Yes, through the courts. Ontario’s Partition Act gives every co-owner a prima facie right to apply to the Superior Court for a forced partition or sale. If you hold an interest in the title, the court will normally order the sale unless the other owner proves you are acting maliciously or oppressively — a high bar. What you cannot do is simply list and sell the whole property yourself; you have to bring a formal application, so this is a lawyer’s job, not a DIY one.
My ex moved out but we are both on title and I kept paying the mortgage — do I get more of the sale money?
Possibly. When the court divides the net proceeds it applies an equitable accounting: the mortgage principal, property taxes and necessary repairs you paid alone can generate credits in your favour. But watch the other side of the ledger — if you had exclusive use of the home, your co-owner may claim occupation rent at market value to offset those credits. Who nets more depends on how that accounting shakes out, so have a lawyer run the numbers.
Will a judge refuse to order a sale just because the other owner does not want to move?
No. Not wanting to sell, being upset, or being inconvenienced is not enough. A court will only refuse where the person seeking the sale is acting for a malicious, vexatious or oppressive purpose, and the burden sits on the owner resisting the sale. The Court of Appeal reaffirmed how hard that is to meet in Ross v. Luypaert (2025 ONCA 236).
How long does a partition application take, and what does it cost?
I will not hand you a made-up figure — cost and timeline vary widely with the facts. An uncontested matter where both sides largely cooperate can move relatively quickly; a fully contested fight, especially with a dispute over the accounting, can run past a year and drive legal fees up sharply. The right move is to get a written estimate from a litigation lawyer for your specific situation before deciding whether to litigate or negotiate a buyout.
Does it matter whether we own as joint tenants or tenants in common?
Both can apply for partition or sale, so it does not change whether you can force a sale. It changes who owns what. Joint tenancy carries a right of survivorship — on death, a share passes automatically to the surviving owners; tenancy in common has none, and shares can be held in unequal percentages and pass by will. Because that drives how the money is split, pull the title before you do anything.
Arthur Zhao
Real Estate Broker · FRI · ABR · SRS · PSA · MCNE · E-PRO · CLHMS & GUILD Elite · REAIS
VP & Branch Manager, Bay Street Group Inc.
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