No lease, No rent, No eviction?

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grle4lif

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I am an adult child living in an in-law suite/basment apartment with my husband and daughter in my fathers house. We have lived here going on 3 years now. We moved in after making a verbal agreement with my father that we would be responsable for repaying the loan that was taken out to remodel the basment so we could move into the house. At the time the verbal arrangment was made it was also said by my father that he would not make us pay anything towards the increase in the utility bills.

We began repayment of the loan aproximatly 3-4 months before even moving into the residence and all the work done to the basment of the house was contracted out and paid for by my husband and myself! We have also dropped thousands of dollars over the years in fixing up and renovating things here and there around the property all with the intention of someday owning what was promised to us which was ultimatly the house!

Now being as how all these agreements, promises, and commitments were made with my father, my flesh and blood, I did not think i would need to have a contract drawn up, or have to sign anything stating that this is what we talked about, this is what we agreed upon, and this is the deal we have so on and so on. I was dead wrong!

I woke up yesterday morning to find a court order taped to my door from my father for falire to pay rent and complaint for repossesion of property! It states that we are behind in our rent and we owe him a ton of money I wasnt aware we owed him?

We do owe him some money though and some of it is for the repayment of the loan but it is definitly not close to the amount he claims we owe for "rent"! Regardless of that, my husband went to him about 2 months ago to discuss that we were gonna be unable to make the loan payment for at least the next month and possibly the one for the followinng month as well and cold he make the payments till we could catch up and he agreed with out any resistance! He was also informed at this time that we did not expect to get him paid off until around June when we would be receiving our taxes back

I dont understand how he can file for faliure to pay rent without any kind of rent ever being owed, or any kind of document, contract, or lease stating that I agreed to pay such and such an amount on this day of the month? Not to mention how can he prove that I never paid him anyway considering the exchange of the loan payment is always cash and no recipts are ever given?

After all my hard work, sweat, tears and blood my husband and I have put into this place over the course of three years, im being put out of my childdhood home by the very man who helped in creating me for, reasons unclear to me still at this time! I am in total disbelief at the moment over this hole situation but I still need advice and help... PLEASE! I need to know if my family and I have any rights and how I mite legally be able to proceed with the best possible chance of keepmg our home and belongings?

Im also curious to know how he can evict us on grounds of non payment of rent when there was never actually an exchange of money that was classified as "rent" between us as well as never having any kind of writing contract stating we pay "rent" on this day of every month in this amount or anything else for that matter?
 
Your dad (as landlord) cannot evict anyone. Only the court can hand down an actual eviction.

It's always amazing to me that folks spend thousands of dollars to remodel/rennovate places they don't actually own. Why would you do that, especially since you and your father never sat down and did any of this legally (i.e., write out any type of contract). As a result, these muddled messes of "tenants" getting kicked out by "landlords" for failure to pay rent (in this case, the loan) seems to happen quite a bit.

Your court order (if this actually did come from a court) should specify a date and time for a hearing in front of a judge to determine whether the eviction should be granted or not. Make certain you attend this hearing and bring all the evidence of what you two have paid for to remodel this place over the years.

You may be up a creek without a paddle since your posting implies you received no receipts for anything.

Gail
 
There is a date and time for a hearing on the document I recieved and I will definitaly be present with anything I have thats proof we put money into this place. As for recipts... I do not have any for the cash given each month for the loan payment but I do have reciepts for the other major purchases made for the home as well as having the actual contract for the work that was done in the remodeling and it is all in my name and clearly states I am the person who made the payments to the construction company! Could this be of any help to my case?

And just to kinda defend myself a little I wanna say that I never thought my father of all people would take advantage of and betray me the way he has! If I was not living with him in the house that he and my mother built before i was born, and then grew up in as a child, and now luv so much that I hope it to one day be my own I would not have invested the time and money into a place I was "renting" such as I did this place! I was under the impression that this house was to passed down to me by my father when he passed away...whenever that may be...and that I was making an investment into something that would potentially be mine! I was not suppose to be paying "rent"!

In the mean time if we were able and willing to build a house we would do so on the parcal of land that is located directly behind my fathers exisiting house. This land is jointly owned by my father and myself!
This is why I guess I am so confused because this was not ever really suppose to be temporary as far as us living here...it was a long term plan for us to eventually build a house right behind this one and then when my father passed away someday in the far off future we would then inherit this house as well and own the whole thing! Looks like that plans just been derailed a little!
 
Also do what you can prior to the court date to get caught up in the past due payments... if he is asking for more money than what you believe you owe, let him explain that to the court.... but at the very least you know that you have the late payments to make up.
 
At first I would of agreed with you about trying to catch up on payments before the court date but as more time is passing I am forced to think of the possibility that in a matter of weeks I could be without a place to live if my father is not at all interested in letting me stay regardless of whether payments are braught up to date or not! I have also thought about the fact that if the payments submitted to him were and are being considered as rent then I believe I am completely current because of the four months prior to us moving in that we submitted payments to him so he could make the payments on the loan! After considering both these thoughts I am not sure if trying to catch up on payments and continuing to hand over money for a place that is apparently no longer going to be considered mine is a wise choice at this point.... Are there any thoughts on this?
 
The deal was that you'd be paying the loan on all of this.

Then your husband goes to dad and tells him you won't be able to do the loan payments for a couple of months.

Dad gets ticked because he now has to pay this...and because there is nothing in writing that says you'll ever catch up on any of this. Dad probably thinks you're wasting your money on other useless stuff and that you're taking advantage of him because, well, that's what it often comes down to when families try to walk the line between being a family and being a landlord/tenant.

You may believe you're current because of the money you previously paid prior to moving in but you'll need to sell that idea to the court.

As previously mentioned, dad cannot evict anyone. Only a court can do that. Decide you're not going to pay him anything and yes, the court will grant his request to evict you.

Folks should never rent to families (or friends for that matter)...and they sure shouldn't do this without a clearly written lease outlining responsibilities.

Gail
 
You have made a very good point Gail and I guess that line of thinking hadnt crossed my mind yet but it has now and I think I know what I need to do....Thank you!
 
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