Tenants in Common in Oregon: Deeds, Rights, and Partition

If you and someone else own Oregon real estate together and your deed doesn’t say anything special about how you hold title, you are tenants in common in Oregon by default. Each of you owns a separate, transferable share of the same property, each of you has the right to use the whole thing, and when one of you dies, that share passes through the estate rather than to the other owners. Oregon reaches this result more aggressively than most states because it has abolished traditional joint tenancy in real property, leaving tenancy in common as the fallback for almost every multi-owner deed.¹

How the Arrangement Gets Created

ORS 93.180 controls what happens when a deed or inheritance transfers real property to more than one person. The statute automatically creates a tenancy in common unless the deed explicitly declares a right of survivorship.¹ There is one big exception: when married spouses take property together, the law presumes a tenancy by the entirety instead, unless the deed clearly says otherwise. Everyone else, whether siblings, business partners, unmarried couples, or friends buying a cabin together, lands in a tenancy in common by operation of law.

Shares do not have to be equal. One owner might hold 70 percent while two others each hold 15 percent, often reflecting who put in what toward the purchase. If the deed is silent on percentages, the law presumes equal shares regardless of who actually paid more, which is a costly assumption to make quietly.

Joint Tenancy Doesn’t Exist Here

Oregon is one of a handful of states that has completely done away with joint tenancy in real property. Writing “joint tenants” on the deed with no other language about survivorship just creates a tenancy in common.¹ People moving from other states run into this constantly.

You can still get a survivorship result, but it works differently. When a deed declares a right of survivorship, ORS 93.180 creates “a tenancy in common in the life estate with cross-contingent remainders in the fee simple.”¹ While all owners are alive, each holds a tenancy in common; when one dies, the surviving owners automatically receive the deceased person’s share. The end result looks like joint tenancy survivorship, but the mechanics are distinctly Oregon’s.

What Each Owner Can Do With the Property

Every co-tenant has the right to use and occupy the entire property, no matter how large or small their share. If you own 10 percent, your right to walk through the front door is the same as someone who owns 90 percent. No co-tenant can lock another out or claim exclusive control over a room or section. This idea, called undivided possession, is the defining feature of tenancy in common.

Financial responsibilities generally follow each owner’s percentage. Co-tenants owe their proportional share of property taxes, mortgage payments, insurance, and necessary repairs. When one owner covers more than their share, they can seek reimbursement from the others. In practice this is where most co-tenant disputes start: one person pays the property taxes for years while another contributes nothing, and eventually the paying owner wants their money back. A claim for contribution can be brought directly or raised inside a partition proceeding.

Rent From Third Parties

When co-tenants rent the property out, each owner is entitled to a proportional share of the net rental income after legitimate expenses like taxes, insurance, and maintenance. If one co-tenant collects all the rent and refuses to share, the others can bring an accounting action in court to recover what they are owed. A short written agreement up front about how rent and expenses are handled avoids most of these fights.

Being Locked Out

If a co-tenant changes the locks, threatens you, or otherwise blocks your access, Oregon calls that an “ouster.” Under ORS 105.050, a co-tenant bringing a possession claim must prove the other owner denied their right to the property or acted in a way that amounted to a denial.² A successful ouster claim can entitle the excluded owner to compensation, typically measured by fair rental value during the exclusion, and it strengthens the position of an owner who later files for partition.

What the Deed Needs to Say

The most common instrument for creating a tenancy in common in Oregon is a bargain and sale deed under ORS 93.860.³ It conveys whatever interest the grantor holds but gives no guarantees about the quality of title. Parties who want title protection use a warranty deed or buy a title insurance policy.

The deed needs to include:

Full legal names of everyone receiving an ownership interest.
Ownership percentages, if shares are unequal. Without this, the law presumes equal shares.
A proper legal description using subdivision references, lot and block numbers, metes and bounds, or a reference to a recorded document. A street address alone is not enough, and a tax lot number by itself does not qualify.⁴
The grantor’s signature, acknowledged before a notary public, judge, or justice of the peace.⁵

The legal description usually comes from a prior recorded deed or the county assessor’s records. A title company or real estate attorney can prepare the deed, and that expense is worth it when shares are unequal, owners are numerous, or the legal description is complex.

Recording With the County

After signing and acknowledgment, record the deed with the county clerk in the Oregon county where the property sits. Recording puts the transfer into the public record and protects your interest against later claims. An unrecorded deed may not hold up against a later buyer who purchased the same property without notice of your interest.

Recording fees vary by county and have climbed in recent years. As of 2026, expect roughly $105 to $128 for the first page of a deed, with $5 for each additional page.⁶ The clerk’s office usually processes the filing while you wait or returns a recorded copy by mail within a few business days. Call ahead to confirm the current fee, since the legislature periodically adjusts surcharges.

Why a Co-Tenancy Agreement Is Worth Writing

Oregon law provides only a bare framework. It tells you who owns what and that everyone can use the property, but it says nothing about the decisions that actually cause conflict: who pays for a new roof, whether one owner can list a room on a short-term rental platform, or what happens when someone wants out. A written agreement fills those gaps.

A useful agreement covers:

Expense allocation, including how payments are tracked and how a late-paying owner is handled.
Usage rules, including whether owners can live in the property, rent it out, or make alterations.
Decision-making thresholds for refinancing, renovations, or accepting a purchase offer, whether by majority or unanimous vote.
Exit terms, including buyout mechanics, a right of first refusal, and how the property is valued if someone wants to sell their share.
Dispute resolution, such as required mediation or arbitration before litigation.

The agreement is a private contract between the co-tenants and doesn’t need to be recorded. It can override many of the default rules that would otherwise apply and gives owners control over situations the statute simply doesn’t anticipate.

What Happens When a Co-Tenant Dies

A tenancy in common carries no right of survivorship. When one owner dies, that share does not pass automatically to the surviving co-tenants. It becomes part of the deceased owner’s estate and transfers under their will or, if there is no will, through Oregon’s intestacy rules.¹ The heir might be a spouse, a child, or someone the surviving co-tenants have never met.

The inherited share receives a step-up in tax basis to its fair market value on the date of death under federal law.⁷ Only the deceased owner’s portion adjusts, not the whole property. If the property is later sold, that stepped-up basis reduces or wipes out capital gains tax on the inherited share, because the gain is measured from the new higher value rather than the original purchase price. The surviving co-tenants get no basis adjustment on their own shares.

Creditor Claims Against a Single Owner’s Share

A tenancy in common offers no built-in asset protection. A creditor with a judgment against one co-tenant can place a lien on that owner’s fractional interest. If the property is later partitioned, the lien follows the share assigned to the debtor, and partition costs take priority over the lien.⁸ In the worst case, a creditor can force a partition sale to collect the debt, which pulls every co-tenant into the process whether they wanted to sell or not.

Federal tax liens are especially aggressive. Under 26 U.S.C. § 6321, a tax lien attaches to all property and rights to property belonging to the taxpayer.⁹ For a tenancy in common, that means the IRS lien reaches the delinquent owner’s fractional interest, can survive that owner’s death and encumber the share when it passes to heirs, and can support a forced sale of the debtor’s interest.

Medicaid Estate Recovery

Oregon’s Medicaid estate recovery program adds another risk when someone inherits a share from a person who received Medicaid benefits. Under ORS 416.350, the state can recover the cost of medical assistance paid to someone who was 55 or older when they received benefits, and the statute defines “estate” broadly to include interests held as a tenancy in common at the time of death.¹⁰ Recovery is limited to the percentage the Medicaid recipient owned, but it can still complicate a later sale or transfer.

Ending It Through Partition

Any co-tenant can force the issue by filing a partition lawsuit in Oregon circuit court. Under ORS 105.205, anyone holding a tenancy in common interest, whether for life, for a term of years, or in fee, has the right to bring a partition action.¹¹ You do not need the other owners’ consent, and the court cannot refuse to act just because they prefer to keep the property.

The court has two options. If the property can be physically divided without serious harm to the owners’ interests, the court orders a physical partition and appoints three referees to divide the land.¹² Physical division is realistic for large rural or agricultural parcels and almost never workable for a single house on a residential lot. When dividing would destroy value, the court orders a sale and appoints referees to handle it, then distributes the proceeds based on each owner’s percentage.

Partition is not cheap. ORS 105.405 governs how costs are allocated: the plaintiff initially pays referee expenses, surveyor fees, and related costs, but those amounts can be rolled into the overall partition cost, and reasonable attorney fees for work that benefits all the co-tenants are shared proportionally and become a lien on the individual shares.¹³ Total costs for a contested partition typically run from $5,000 to $25,000 or more, depending on whether the property needs a professional survey, whether appraisals are contested, and how hard the parties fight. If your co-ownership is heading toward conflict, a negotiated buyout almost always costs less than a courtroom result.

1
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 93.180 – Forms of Tenancy in Conveyance or Devise to Two or More Persons
2
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 105.050 – Cotenant Shall Prove Ouster
3
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 93.860 – Bargain and Sale Deed Form and Effect
4
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 93.600 – Description of Real Property for Purposes of Recordation
5
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 93.410 – Execution and Acknowledgment of Deeds
6
Linn County, OR. Recording
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent
8
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 105.220 – Tenants and Lien Creditors as Defendants
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6321 – Lien for Taxes
10
Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 416.350 – Recovery of Medical Assistance and Estate Claims
11
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 105.205 – Who May Maintain Partition
12
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 105.245 – Sale or Partition Ordered by Court
13
Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code 105.405 – Costs and Expenses of Partition