| Court orders. | 31.— (1) Any person having an estate or interest in land which is co-owned whether at law or in equity may apply to the court for an order under this section. |
| (2) An order under this section includes— | |
| [PA 1868][PA 1876] | |
| (a) an order for partition of the land amongst the co-owners, | |
| (b) an order for the taking of an account of incumbrances affecting the land, if any, and the making of inquiries as to the respective priorities of any such incumbrances, | |
| (c) an order for sale of the land and distribution of the proceeds of sale as the court directs, | |
| [AJA 1707, s. 23] | |
| (d) an order directing that accounting adjustments be made as between the co-owners, | |
| (e) an order dispensing with consent to severance of a joint tenancy as required by section 30 where such consent is being unreasonably withheld, | |
| (f) such other order relating to the land as appears to the court to be just and equitable in the circumstances of the case. | |
| (3) In dealing with an application for an order under subsection (1) the court may— | |
| (a) make an order with or without conditions or other requirements attached to it, or | |
| (b) dismiss the application without making any order, or | |
| (c) combine more than one order under this section. | |
| (4) In this section— | |
| (a) “person having an estate or interest in land” includes a mortgagee or other secured creditor, a judgment mortgagee or a trustee, | |
| (b) “accounting adjustments” include— | |
| (i) payment of an occupation rent by a co-owner who has enjoyed, or is continuing to enjoy, occupation of the land to the exclusion of any other co-owner, | |
| (ii) compensation to be paid by a co-owner to any other co-owner who has incurred disproportionate expenditure in respect of the land (including its repair or improvement), | |
| (iii) contributions by a co-owner to disproportionate payments made by any other co-owner in respect of the land (including payments in respect of charges, rates, rents, taxes and other outgoings payable in respect of it), | |
| (iv) redistribution of rents and profits received by a co-owner disproportionate to his or her interest in the land, | |
| (v) any other adjustment necessary to achieve fairness between the co-owners. | |
| (5) Nothing in this section affects the jurisdiction of the court under the Act of 1976, the Act of 1995 and the Act of 1996. | |
| (6) The equitable jurisdiction of the court to make an order for partition of land which is co-owned whether at law or in equity is abolished. | |