united-states property massachusetts
Can I prevent co-owners of my house from making modifications without my consent?
<p>I live in the US (Massachusetts) and I jointly own a house, along with my wife and her parents (who live with us). I have noticed a frustrating trend recently with the other co-owners making repairs/modifications without informing me beforehand or asking my consent. For example, the other week my Father-in-law made a new doorway in the fenced storage area under the deck in our back yard, which I was not consulted about. I have tried discussing it with them on several occasions, but my protests seem to be falling on deaf ears.</p>

<p>So, I am wondering if I have any legal options to prevent them from unilaterally making modifications to the house? For example, could I apply for a court injunction to prevent them making modifications without my express consent?</p>

<p><strong>Edit:</strong> Of course, they are my family and I'm not saying I would like to see them dragged off and put in jail/punished. But, if push comes to shove and the 'diplomatic' approach fails, I am thinking that a court summons or some type of official court order might have a 'wake up and smell the coffee' effect of showing them that I am dead serious about asserting and defending any legal rights that I (may) have, as a joint owner.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>I jointly own a house, along with my wife and her parents</p>
<p>could I apply for a court injunction to prevent them making modifications without my express consent?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Imagine you were the only owner of the house but had split personality. Once in a while something would switch in your mind making you try to modify/sell/demolish the house. When it happens, a close friend would talk you back into your normal state. Scared of what you could have done, you apply for a court injunction to prevent <em>yourself</em> making modifications etc. to the house. Unless the court decides you are no longer in legal capacity, it rejects your application.</p>
<p>Legally, <em>join ownership</em> is no different in this context. You have to deal with your joint co-owners like you would have to deal with your other personality in the example above.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>I am wondering if I have any legal options to prevent them from
  unilaterally making modifications to the house? For example, could I
  apply for a court injunction to prevent them making modifications
  without my express consent?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>No. You could ask a court, but it should reject your request.</p>

<p>They are within their rights to do so unilaterally, and to get credit in any subsequent sale for the value they added from their unilateral improvements.</p>

<p>Your only other options are to force a partition of the property (usually with a sheriff's sale of the property at auction with the proceeds divided among the owners according to their entitlements in equity), or to convince everyone to voluntarily enter into a mutual agreement imposing some rules or putting the property into an entity with a management structure (possibly driven by the threat of a partition action).</p>

<p>Generally, a co-owner has full legal access to the whole property and the right to use and enjoy its entiriety, not just a portion of it. </p>

<p>So, say, if your father-in-law wanted to plant a tree, he could do so (because its his property), any where on the property, without your consent. If your wife wanted to plant tulips, she could do so without your consent.</p>

<p>Basically, your assumption that your consent is necessary is not legally correct (socially, it might be nice but...). While you can ask a court for any kind of injunction you'd like, you are not necessarily going to get it. It may change if you think, for example, your father-in-law is constructing something that that is dangerous to your property or the people living there(e.g. a chimney, unless he is/was a licensed builder of chimney, also see below), but otherwise this is more of a social family problem than a legal one. </p>

<p>However, this isn't to say that your co-owners can do everything without your consent. There are generally only one or two things your co-owners cannot legally do without your consent, depending on your type of co-ownership:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>They cannot mortgage or encumber the property. Note that if your father-in-law hired someone to build the doorway, and did not pay them in full immediately, this could be grounds for an injunction (because that unpaid work could produce a lien against the whole property, which is an encumbrance). </p></li>
<li><p>They may or may not be able to sell (their ownership share of) the property without your consent (unless they have a court order). If your joint ownership is a "tenancy-in-common", they need your permission to sell; if you have a "joint-tenancy" they do not need your permission to sell, but cannot sell the whole property, but only their interest in it (their share, if you will).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Note that I'd avoid discussing if you are tenants-in-common or joint-tenants with your spouse and in-laws. The two are largely the same, with the main difference being what happens when someone dies, which tends to be a touchy subject.</p>
