Live v. Bellows

This matter involves a controversy over the respective rights and obligations of two joint owners of “rental property” which arose when one ceased to be, and the other continued to be, an occupant of the premises.

The parties in this action, Theodore Live and Nancy Woods (now Bellows) purchased jointly a three-family dwelling at 4 Hastings Square, Cambridge, Mass, where they resided together in one apartment and rented the other two. Pursuant to a written Ownership Agreement dated January 16, 1979, the parties shared rent and expenses on a “fifty-fifty” basis. No problem with regard to their…