Homeowner/rent question

[Chuzzle]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA

I co-own my family home with two siblings. Myself and one sibling currently reside in the home, the other sibling lives in another state. Can the sibling who lives out of state legally force us to pay him rent? All expenses regarding the home (taxes, insurance, utilities, upkeep) are paid by me.

 

[FarmerJ]

Can they force you , well if you are one of three who own the property the one who wants rent can ask for rent but do you have to pay it , I don't think so but that one owner can sue in a partition action where they are asking the court to order the sale of the property so they can be bought out of their share . So when you add up the property taxes, insurance ( skip the utilities since they are not there to use them) ALL maintenance cost, (every thing, from that door knob set you needed for the bathroom door, to the paint that went on the kitchen walls to the weather strip that had to be replaced on the back yard door. Add it all up then let the person who wants you to pay them rent know how much his/ her share of those items are OR just keep a running total and if the other one uses the legal system to address this then in court you would be more than free to insist that they should have to pay his /her share of the maint, taxes and ins for the entire time that they were a joint owner with you.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA

I co-own my family home with two siblings. Myself and one sibling currently reside in the home, the other sibling lives in another state. Can the sibling who lives out of state legally force us to pay him rent? All expenses regarding the home (taxes, insurance, utilities, upkeep) are paid by me.

Well, the sibling who does not live in the home can force a partition sale in order to get their share of their inheritance, which would not be good for any of you. That generally ends up with the home sold off at auction on the courthouse steps at a bargain basement price.

In all reality, what you would each be entitled to would be 1/3 of the fair market value of rent for the home, and responsible for 1/3 of the legitimate expenses of the home. Those include insurance, taxes, mortgage interest, depreciation, and maintenance. They would not include utilities as those would normally be paid for separately by any tenants.

If the house is paid for (no mortgage) its just about guaranteed that there would be some profit on a monthly/yearly basis and therefore some money to be split between the three siblings if an outsider was renting the home. Therefore, its quite possible that if you ran all of the numbers you would find that your sibling really did deserve some rent from you. Oh, and one more point, if you are covering the share of the expenses of the sibling who is also living in the home, you do not get to deduct that against the share of the sibling who does not, when you run the numbers.