What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas
I have a very complicated issue on my hands.
First the background.
My mother owns a house here in Houston. She is the original owner (the one and only the house has ever had). We lived there for a couple of years when my mom lost her job. She got behind on the mortgage payments and they were about to foreclose on us when she found another job in Austin. We needed to leave immediately and find somebody to buy the house before it completely ruined her credit. She had worked at a menial job at a family owned business. The 2 owners, a middle aged couple, had been looking for a house and offered to buy the house and pay back the amount that was already in default to bring it up to date. My mom jumped on the idea and let them move in. About a year later my mom lost her new job (completely different story ) about the same time the couple closed their business. My mom is no longer and probably will never be in the position to move back into this house for the rest of her life. The people living there do not have good enough credit to buy the house themselves and have continued, for the past 4 years, to pay the mortgage note in my mom's name. The house is over 1750 square feet which is large when it was just my mom and I. Now there are 6 adults, 3 dogs, and so many birds that my boyfriend can't stay in the house for more than 5 minutes before his eyes turn pink and he can barely breathe. The house needs at the very least new carpet and paint. My mom couldn't ask them to leave because then she'd have no way to pay the mortgage payment. She can't attempt to rent it or sell it while they're living there because it's a complete disaster. This has the potential to be a VERY nice house (which it used to be even though my mom had made no real improvements on it since it was built in '97).
Now here's where this gets sticky. I will now have the means to move in and make the payments myself. I plan on moving back to Austin in a few years but I'd at least like to get this house fixed up to either rent or sell it. These people never signed any kind of lease or contract with my mother. They have also been consistently 1 month behind in rent since their business closed (over 3 years ago). They are hurting my mom's credit even more with consisten late payments. I want to kick these people out as soon as I have the means (probably around the beginning of 2006).
Here are the real issues though:
1. How much notice do I have to give them minimum to vacate?
2. If I give them notice and they stop paying the mortgage note before leaving, is there any way I/my mom can recover that money from them?
3. Can I recover the money they should have paid if they are one month behind?
4. A brand new stove/oven was included when the house was built. I'm concerned they might take the stove. If there anything I can do to prevent this?
5. Should I attempt to take pictures of the house before they leave to keep them from stealing fixtures or breaking things on purpose? If they do this, do I have any legal grounds to seek payment for any items broken or stolen?
6. If for some reason they refuse to leave by the date set, how do I go about evicting them if they have no lease? Does it help that they are behind on the mortgage/rent payments?
7. Will the amount they intially paid to the mortgage company to bring the loan up to date have any affect on me?
I don't expect these people to try to make life difficult for me but this situation is so complicated and people are so unpredictable that I want to be prepared as best I can. If there are any other issues I need to be concerned with, any information would be much appreciated.
I have a very complicated issue on my hands.
First the background.
My mother owns a house here in Houston. She is the original owner (the one and only the house has ever had). We lived there for a couple of years when my mom lost her job. She got behind on the mortgage payments and they were about to foreclose on us when she found another job in Austin. We needed to leave immediately and find somebody to buy the house before it completely ruined her credit. She had worked at a menial job at a family owned business. The 2 owners, a middle aged couple, had been looking for a house and offered to buy the house and pay back the amount that was already in default to bring it up to date. My mom jumped on the idea and let them move in. About a year later my mom lost her new job (completely different story ) about the same time the couple closed their business. My mom is no longer and probably will never be in the position to move back into this house for the rest of her life. The people living there do not have good enough credit to buy the house themselves and have continued, for the past 4 years, to pay the mortgage note in my mom's name. The house is over 1750 square feet which is large when it was just my mom and I. Now there are 6 adults, 3 dogs, and so many birds that my boyfriend can't stay in the house for more than 5 minutes before his eyes turn pink and he can barely breathe. The house needs at the very least new carpet and paint. My mom couldn't ask them to leave because then she'd have no way to pay the mortgage payment. She can't attempt to rent it or sell it while they're living there because it's a complete disaster. This has the potential to be a VERY nice house (which it used to be even though my mom had made no real improvements on it since it was built in '97).
Now here's where this gets sticky. I will now have the means to move in and make the payments myself. I plan on moving back to Austin in a few years but I'd at least like to get this house fixed up to either rent or sell it. These people never signed any kind of lease or contract with my mother. They have also been consistently 1 month behind in rent since their business closed (over 3 years ago). They are hurting my mom's credit even more with consisten late payments. I want to kick these people out as soon as I have the means (probably around the beginning of 2006).
Here are the real issues though:
1. How much notice do I have to give them minimum to vacate?
2. If I give them notice and they stop paying the mortgage note before leaving, is there any way I/my mom can recover that money from them?
3. Can I recover the money they should have paid if they are one month behind?
4. A brand new stove/oven was included when the house was built. I'm concerned they might take the stove. If there anything I can do to prevent this?
5. Should I attempt to take pictures of the house before they leave to keep them from stealing fixtures or breaking things on purpose? If they do this, do I have any legal grounds to seek payment for any items broken or stolen?
6. If for some reason they refuse to leave by the date set, how do I go about evicting them if they have no lease? Does it help that they are behind on the mortgage/rent payments?
7. Will the amount they intially paid to the mortgage company to bring the loan up to date have any affect on me?
I don't expect these people to try to make life difficult for me but this situation is so complicated and people are so unpredictable that I want to be prepared as best I can. If there are any other issues I need to be concerned with, any information would be much appreciated.