Short answer. Yes, but only after the option has passed down the line. Article 913 first offers the right to any heir or devisee who did not originally have it; if nobody there takes it either, the property is sold at public auction at the instance of any one of the interested parties.

What the law says

any heir or devisee who did not have such right may exercise it; should the latter not make use of it, the property shall be sold at public auction at the instance of any one of the interested parties

Civil Code, Article 913 — Auction If Right Unused. Read the full provision →

The auction is a last resort, not a first move

There are two steps before the property is sold. The right to keep an indivisible property and pay the others in cash belongs, in the first instance, to a particular side. If that side declines, the article passes the same right to any heir or devisee who did not have such right — anyone else with a stake in the estate may step into it and take the property on the same terms. Only when that offer is also refused does the property go to auction. An heir who wants a sale cannot skip the middle step by simply declining himself.

Any one interested party can force it

Once the options have run out, the sale happens at the instance of any one of the interested parties. That phrasing is deliberate and it is the practical heart of the provision. No unanimity is required, no majority, and no consent from the heir who has been occupying the property and would prefer the matter to stay unresolved. A single interested party can move the sale forward. The reciprocal of that is that nobody can be compelled to buy: refusing the option is a right, and its consequence is the auction rather than a forced purchase.

What the auction converts, and for whom

The sale turns the property into money, and the proceeds are then distributed according to the shares that were already established — the auction settles who receives cash instead of land, not who is entitled to what. Nothing in the article stops an heir or the devisee from bidding, and where the property has family value one of them frequently does. The outcome an heir most often regrets is refusing the option in the belief that the property could not really be sold, and then watching it go to a stranger at the price the bidding produced.

Decide with the appraisal in hand

Because the choice is between paying the others out at an agreed valuation and taking whatever an auction yields, the decision needs a realistic figure for the property and a realistic view of what it would fetch on a forced sale, which is usually less. An heir considering the option also needs to know he can actually raise the cash, since the right is to buy the others out, not to promise to. Where several heirs want the property, that is a matter to settle among themselves before the auction step is reached.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.