Section 44-6-121. Rights and liabilities of cotenants; accounting

   (a) Every tenant in common shall have the right to possess the joint property. As long as a tenant in common occupies no greater portion of the joint property than his own share would be on partition and does not withdraw from the joint property any of its essential value, such as mineral deposits, he shall not be liable to account for rent to his cotenant.

(b) A tenant in common shall be liable to account to his cotenant if he:

   (1) Receives any rent or other profit from the joint property;

   (2) Commits any waste;

   (3) Deprives his cotenant of the use of his fair proportion of the joint property;

   (4) Appropriates the joint property to his exclusive use; or

   (5) Uses the joint property in a manner which must necessarily be exclusive.

Orig. Code 1863, § 2283; Code 1868, § 2276; Code 1873, § 2302; Code 1882, § 2302; Civil Code 1895, § 3144; Civil Code 1910, § 3724; Code 1933, § 85-1003.