Right of First Refusal (Colorado):    In 1987, an owner with 50%
interest in a property (bare land in Pitkin County) gave a right of
first refusal to a third party for a hefty sum, and this transaction
was unbeknownst to me, the owner with the other 50% interest in the
property (i.e. we each have 50% of the land as tenants in common).   
Subsequently, a wealthy potential buyer wants the land and has offered
to buy the entire property for a set price.    Is the person who owns
the right of first refusal, if he exercises this right, legally
allowed to purchase only the interest (50%) of the owner who signed
over the right of first refusal or must he purchase the entire
property as the potential buyer wants to do?    The owner of the ROFR
does not want development on this property and wants to control the
property by any means.   By exercising this ROFR on only 50% of the
interest in this property, this person with the ROFR basically
precludes me (who didn't sign the ROFR and didn't know about it at the
time) from selling the property.    In fact, both of us owners now
want to sell to the potential buyer, and we are unclear as to what the
person with the ROFR can do.    Can I demand that the person with the
ROFR purchase the entire property under the terms and price set by the
potential buyer?   Legally, can the person with the ROFR purchase just
the 50% interest owned by the person who gave him the ROFR, thus
controlling the land and disallowing the other owner (me) to reap any
profits?   I'm trying to find an attorney in Denver or Aspen who knows
about such issues, but no luck so far.   We have a deadline to respond
to the buyer's offer by August 28, 2006, so time is short.    If you
don't know the answer, do you know where I can find it or who
(paralegal or otherwise) would be able to give me the answer?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 23 Aug 2006 05:36 PDT

roferman-ga,

Hello.  I had hoped to have an answer to your question by now, but I'm
in a place with very slow and intermittent internet access, which is
making research rather difficult.

I will open up your question to other researchers, and perhaps they
can assist more quickly than I can.

BUT...from the looks of things, you will need a lawyer.  I don't know
why you've had difficulty in finding one with experience in this area,
but there are plenty of real estate lawyers and firms in your area.

Try these two, for starters:




http://www.hollandhart.com/practice.cfm?IDName=DeptID&ID=100
Holland & Hart 

Real Estate  Practice Group Manager 
Daniel R. Frost 
Phone: 303-295-8323 
Email: dfrost@hollandhart.com 
 
[This is a very large firm in Denver]





http://www.aspen-law.net/PracticeArea1.shtml

Allen, Wertz & Feldman
215 South Monarch Street
 Suite 303
Aspen, CO 81611
970.925.6105 (Phone)
970.925.9398 (Fax)

[a smaller firm in Aspen, with a focus on real estate law]


In the mean time, if you can provide any additional information on
your situation, it would help researchers here to better understand
the options at this point.

Good luck...

pafalafa-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by hagan-ga on 24 Aug 2006 08:05 PDT

Hello, Roferman, and I'm sorry for the difficulty you find yourself
in.  Before I can help, I need to know a little bit more about the
ROFR itself.
Was it in writing?
Is it a ROFR that obligates the holder of the option to buy "under the
same terms and conditions," or does it simply give the holder of the
ROFR a veto power?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 28 Aug 2006 16:06 PDT

roferman-ga,

Well, my vacation's over, I'm back to full-fledged internet access,
your question is still open, and August 28th is just about over.

So...are you still interested in information on this topic, or has the
cow left the barn already?

Let me know your thoughts on this.

pafalafa-ga

First, please note that this a free comment and NOT an "answer" to
your question, which only a G-A Researcher (blue name) may post.
Second, this is, of course, no legal or professional advice, as you
can read in the disclaimer below.

These sites explain the rights of a tenant in common to unilaterally
deal with his portion of the property.  The second site is specific to
Colorado:
http://homegarden.realtor.com/homefinance/RealEstateNews/Buyers/title.asp?poe=homestore
http://www.cobar.org/group/display.cfm?GenID=418

Here is an interesting site explaining "right of first refusal."
http://www.firstam.com/faf/html/cust/jm-options.html

The article makes clear that the actual wording of the RoFR is important.

If you can post the relevant text in a Request for Clarification,
I expect that this will help a Researcher to give you an answer faster.

Good luck!