When two or more people own the same property, one of the owners CAN force a sale of the jointly owned property via a partition action or lawsuit. A partition action enables you to force the sale of property when coowners are refusing to sell.Essentially, anyone with a vested ownership interest in real estate may file suit to compel a partition. Explore expert real estate partition and allotment legal services at Moghul Law. In Virginia, if more than one party owns a piece of property jointly, each owner has the right to partition the property to separate their interest.