E-mail count as contract?

[ajritter04]

What is the name of your state? New Mexico

My husband and his mom have agreed to rent a house she owns again we already tried this last yr and she let us move in for about 16 hrs before she just up and kicked us out leaving us homeless for 3 day till we could find another place.

Now she has fixed up this house because she figured she was going to get thousands of dollars for rent.....come to find out she can get $700 the most and thats pushing it. We told her this all along she stopped fixing it up and wants us to rent it now. I am more than uneasy about doing this again so I wrote her an e-mail making sure she wasn't going to screw us over again. I for one couldn't handle the stress again I have also been told by several therapist that it would be the worst thing for my son to go through this again he's autistic and we have made huge milestones in his speech and everything.

In the e-mail I said we wont move in that house with a 1 year contract. she e-mailed me back and said if we want a yr contract then thats what we'll have but if we break it she will collect rent for the whole year.

We have no plans of breaking it, if she changes her mind which is is so good at doing can that e-mail be used as a contract and enforced?

 

[moburkes]

What is the name of your state? New Mexico

My husband and his mom have agreed to rent a house she owns again we already tried this last yr and she let us move in for about 16 hrs before she just up and kicked us out leaving us homeless for 3 day till we could find another place.

Now she has fixed up this house because she figured she was going to get thousands of dollars for rent.....come to find out she can get $700 the most and thats pushing it. We told her this all along she stopped fixing it up and wants us to rent it now. I am more than uneasy about doing this again so I wrote her an e-mail making sure she wasn't going to screw us over again. I for one couldn't handle the stress again I have also been told by several therapist that it would be the worst thing for my son to go through this again he's autistic and we have made huge milestones in his speech and everything.

In the e-mail I said we wont move in that house with a 1 year contract. she e-mailed me back and said if we want a yr contract then thats what we'll have but if we break it she will collect rent for the whole year.

We have no plans of breaking it, if she changes her mind which is is so good at doing can that e-mail be used as a contract and enforced?

Nope. There are way too many other things that need to be written into a lease than "You can stay here for a year".

 

[Cvillecpm]

Send her a one year lease for her signature.

 

[ajritter04]

Ok well at least I know not to take one step towards that house without a 1 yr contract.

 

[Alaska landlord]

Never do business with family or friends. You will live to regret it.

 

[moburkes]

Never do business with family or friends. You will live to regret it.

100% agree. If you were about to be screwed the first time, I'm not sure why you expect this time to be any different.

 

[acmb05]

What is the name of your state? New Mexico

My husband and his mom have agreed to rent a house she owns again we already tried this last yr and she let us move in for about 16 hrs before she just up and kicked us out leaving us homeless for 3 day till we could find another place.

Why didn't you sue her for moving expenses?

In the e-mail I said we wont move in that house with a 1 year contract. she e-mailed me back and said if we want a yr contract then thats what we'll have but if we break it she will collect rent for the whole year.

We have no plans of breaking it, if she changes her mind which is is so good at doing can that e-mail be used as a contract and enforced?

Well not quite, but it is possible. She would have to actively try to rent the place and could only charge for for the time it is empty plus her costs for advertising and cleaning.

On the bright side she can't kick you out or anything in that year either unless you break the lease.

 

[Alaska landlord]

100% agree. If you were about to be screwed the first time, I'm not sure why you expect this time to be any different.

What mo said, but also whenever she drops by you will have your mother-in-law and your landlord conducting an informal inspection. She will not be able to resist her impulse to point out how you are destroying or neglecting her property.