WeNeedAdvice
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina.
Well let me start off by saying I am not sure if I am asking this in the right place or not since it kind of covers 3 different areas. If I am asking in the wrong place I apologize. I also know this may be a lot of information to read however I am trying to cover as many facts here as possible. I am removing any names for obvious reasons.
Now to get to the facts, My wife's mother passed away a few years back and her home was left to her husband (my wifes step-father) and her children and stepson. The home was purchased by my wifes mother who was a single mom at the time and the "husband" (which I will use to refer to him) was not even in the picture until about 11 years later. The husband lived in the home for a couple of years after she passed away before moving out to live with his girl friend. Prior to moving in with her, he asked my wife and myself if we would be interested in renting it. We discussed rent money to basically cover the bills, taxes, and insurance as he was going to leave the power and cable in my wifes mother's name. We agreed and he was supposed to let us know when or if he decided to move in with her. We found out a couple months later he had contacted a realtor to rent out the home without discussing it with any of the kids and was getting ready to rent the home out to a stanger. In the process we also found out he offered it to my wife's neice right after we had first talked and agreed on it. We immediately went to him to go back to what we had discussed. We agreed to rent the home however he had jacked up the rent as well as was not covering any utilities with it. We have been in the home for over a year now and now he wants to go up on the rent again, force us to pay him to keep the yard up, make us get rid of our dogs (which he knew about prior to us moving in and whom have been in the house the whole time and have never tore up anything), as well as many other things. We also found out that he let the homeowners insurance lapse and has not been carrying any insurance on the home for a number of months now. Numerous times we have had to deal with him calling my wife up at work yelling, screaming, and cursing at her as well as showing up at my wifes job and here in the yard doing the same thing to us through out our time here. Out of our time here we have been late with the rent only once and that was only for a couple of days due to my mother being admitted into the hospital. He constantly tells us one thing and then gets mad when we follow what he asked us to do. There are also several things wrong with the home and he wont fix them such as leaking faucets, a door jam thats busted (was kicked in the day he moved out and prior to us moving in - someone broke in), a sidewalk thats a huge tripping hazzard, etc.. Without getting into too much on him here and attacking his character, he is not a very nice person to say the least. If it were not for the sentimental value of the home to my wife as well as a personal interest here we would have moved a long time ago.
This is the part from the will (names and locations removed for obvious reasons) that covers the property...
I guess basically what I am asking here is...
1) Can he rent the home without the childrens permission?
2) If so can he charge us rent for something that is partially ours to start with?
3) If so does the rent go to him or split up among the parts?
4) Can he dictate to us what we can and cant do in and at our own home?
5) Can he move us out?
6) Who is responsible for taxes, insurance, and repairs?
7) Who gets sued if someone gets hurt on the property?
8) Can he force us to pay him to keep up the yard?
9) What can we do about the harrassment from him?
10) Can he force us to get rid of our dogs?
11) Is there any kind of way he can sell the property without all the children signing off on it?
Any other advice you can provide too would be much appreciated. Thanks for you time and help.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Well let me start off by saying I am not sure if I am asking this in the right place or not since it kind of covers 3 different areas. If I am asking in the wrong place I apologize. I also know this may be a lot of information to read however I am trying to cover as many facts here as possible. I am removing any names for obvious reasons.
Now to get to the facts, My wife's mother passed away a few years back and her home was left to her husband (my wifes step-father) and her children and stepson. The home was purchased by my wifes mother who was a single mom at the time and the "husband" (which I will use to refer to him) was not even in the picture until about 11 years later. The husband lived in the home for a couple of years after she passed away before moving out to live with his girl friend. Prior to moving in with her, he asked my wife and myself if we would be interested in renting it. We discussed rent money to basically cover the bills, taxes, and insurance as he was going to leave the power and cable in my wifes mother's name. We agreed and he was supposed to let us know when or if he decided to move in with her. We found out a couple months later he had contacted a realtor to rent out the home without discussing it with any of the kids and was getting ready to rent the home out to a stanger. In the process we also found out he offered it to my wife's neice right after we had first talked and agreed on it. We immediately went to him to go back to what we had discussed. We agreed to rent the home however he had jacked up the rent as well as was not covering any utilities with it. We have been in the home for over a year now and now he wants to go up on the rent again, force us to pay him to keep the yard up, make us get rid of our dogs (which he knew about prior to us moving in and whom have been in the house the whole time and have never tore up anything), as well as many other things. We also found out that he let the homeowners insurance lapse and has not been carrying any insurance on the home for a number of months now. Numerous times we have had to deal with him calling my wife up at work yelling, screaming, and cursing at her as well as showing up at my wifes job and here in the yard doing the same thing to us through out our time here. Out of our time here we have been late with the rent only once and that was only for a couple of days due to my mother being admitted into the hospital. He constantly tells us one thing and then gets mad when we follow what he asked us to do. There are also several things wrong with the home and he wont fix them such as leaking faucets, a door jam thats busted (was kicked in the day he moved out and prior to us moving in - someone broke in), a sidewalk thats a huge tripping hazzard, etc.. Without getting into too much on him here and attacking his character, he is not a very nice person to say the least. If it were not for the sentimental value of the home to my wife as well as a personal interest here we would have moved a long time ago.
This is the part from the will (names and locations removed for obvious reasons) that covers the property...
I devise my real property located and known as (subdivision name and location here) having the street address of (address here) lying in (county name here) to my husband, (husband name here), for the term of his natural life with the remainder to my children, (childrens names here) and my stepson (stepsons name here), in equal shares. With the consent and joinder of my children, my husband, (husbands name here), may choose to sell this property during his lifetime, however, as a specific charge upon this devise, the net proceeds of such sale shall be divided equally among my children, (childrens names here) and my stepson, (stepsons name here), and my husband (husbands name here).
I guess basically what I am asking here is...
1) Can he rent the home without the childrens permission?
2) If so can he charge us rent for something that is partially ours to start with?
3) If so does the rent go to him or split up among the parts?
4) Can he dictate to us what we can and cant do in and at our own home?
5) Can he move us out?
6) Who is responsible for taxes, insurance, and repairs?
7) Who gets sued if someone gets hurt on the property?
8) Can he force us to pay him to keep up the yard?
9) What can we do about the harrassment from him?
10) Can he force us to get rid of our dogs?
11) Is there any kind of way he can sell the property without all the children signing off on it?
Any other advice you can provide too would be much appreciated. Thanks for you time and help.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?