What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? oregon
Heres the situation (more details below): verbal agreement to renovate/repair a
residential home in exchange for rent/future rent, verbal lease for a couple years, no
written lease. We kept up our part of the agreement, they didnt. Now they cant afford the
mortgage payments are threatening to sell fast leaving us out on the streets without
compensation for our costs/labor. Cant do mechanic's lien as we arent licensed
contractors. We can't afford to move & want to stay. We have a real vested interest in
the property & offered to take over the payments. How can we stop any possible sales or
evictions? We really need some viable ways to COA's here.
Thanks in advance!
18 months ago, my husband and I agreed to move into a house that needed some SERIOUS
work in order to make it rent-able/sale-able. The owners live a couple hours from
portland and no one had lived in the home for about 3 years, allowing it to fall into
disrepair & vandalized. Sometime in that time frame, the owners decided to do some
renovation on the home and began tearing out walls and fixtures. Then they left it at
that.
The owners offered us to live in the residential home in exchange for our monthly
rent to be paid for by us being onsite caretakers (allowing us to live in a home rent-
free), providing basic care and security for the property. In addition, they were to
provide construction materials and we were to supply the labor to renovate/restore the
home to a sale-able/rent-able state. Any materials/improvements on the home we provided,
as well as our labor, was to go towards any rent they may charge after the home was up to
legal specifications to make it rent-able..in other words, our labor and anything we paid
for ourselves was to be taken off the rent later when they could charge us rent legally.
The owner stated outright that anything we put into the house was credit towards future
rent paid. Because this house was in such a state, it couldn't be rented legally, so it
was a verbal agreement for us to be here for a few years. We have witnesses to the
agreement as well.
Well, we knew what we were in for when we saw the place, but we were in dire need of
a roof over our heads at the time. When we moved in, many of the walls were bare to
studs, no heat (thank goodness for a working fireplace!), windows were loose in the walls
or broken, floors trashed, no ceiling/walls/floor/toilet/sink in the bathroom, electrical
system totally needing to be replaced, garbage/junk all over the greatly overgrown yard.
in other words..its a construction zone, and all evidence shows that the property had
been abandoned (except they still paid the taxes).
This is how the last 18 months have gone...despite the LL repeatedly promising to
have not only a written agreement with us for the lease, and supplies and materials
purchased and delivered to us, the only thing the LL has ended up purchasing was 2 rolls
of Romex (appox $25) after we moved in. The written agreement never materialized either
(all previous verbal agreements were restated and reinforced several times since we moved
in).
The first year we didnt have hot water or central heat (once again, thank god for the
fireplace & the stove!), we have been using only a couple of electrical sockets for the
entire house, and despite several requests for the owners to get the garbage services
going (since they are the only ones who can do that and are required to pay for it) we
still have no weekly garbage service.
We fixed the gas furnace finally and bought a new water heater. We paid for
plumbing repairs, painting the house, drywall, bathroom fixtures (including sink/toilet),
purchased and installed a new electrical box on the outside of the house (so when we do
the wiring it will be routed to there), turned a open "covered" patio into a enclosed
shop area, turned another outbuilding into a shop/office, purchased lighting fixtures,
saved the yard, and a bunch of other things. We have estimated that our money spent and
labor into the place would be reasonably between $30-$40k (yes, we have receipts!), much
more than they could have rented the place for if it was up to legal specs.
We didnt mind the 'camping', we had agreed with the owners not only us being here
for many years, but the possibility of eventually owning the place. We like the neighbors
and the neighborhood and looked at the place as if it was ours. The owners liked that and
encouraged us to treat it as such.
Heres where it gets really upsetting for us. The owners now tell us that they cannot
afford the monthly mortgage payments and want to sell asap. We are not in a position to
get a loan or purchase the property through the usual normal means. We offered to "lease
to own" the place, which we can afford, and just pay them what they would be paying the
bank, and then a bit more. Well, they are considering us as buyers, but are threatening
to also sell it on the open market (one of those "90 days cash/we buy your house"
places). We cant file a mechanic's lien as we are not licensed contractors. How can we
prevent them from kicking us out with a 90 day notice, secure the interest we have in the
house, and prevent/stall a sale? Other than suing them for the time/money we have put
into the place and then placing a judgment lien on the property, we need other ideas for
being able to stop them in their tracks of a sale and stay in the home? For us, moving is
not an option..we just cannot afford it as everything we had to spare went into this
place. We have a vested interest in the property.
Heres the situation (more details below): verbal agreement to renovate/repair a
residential home in exchange for rent/future rent, verbal lease for a couple years, no
written lease. We kept up our part of the agreement, they didnt. Now they cant afford the
mortgage payments are threatening to sell fast leaving us out on the streets without
compensation for our costs/labor. Cant do mechanic's lien as we arent licensed
contractors. We can't afford to move & want to stay. We have a real vested interest in
the property & offered to take over the payments. How can we stop any possible sales or
evictions? We really need some viable ways to COA's here.
Thanks in advance!
18 months ago, my husband and I agreed to move into a house that needed some SERIOUS
work in order to make it rent-able/sale-able. The owners live a couple hours from
portland and no one had lived in the home for about 3 years, allowing it to fall into
disrepair & vandalized. Sometime in that time frame, the owners decided to do some
renovation on the home and began tearing out walls and fixtures. Then they left it at
that.
The owners offered us to live in the residential home in exchange for our monthly
rent to be paid for by us being onsite caretakers (allowing us to live in a home rent-
free), providing basic care and security for the property. In addition, they were to
provide construction materials and we were to supply the labor to renovate/restore the
home to a sale-able/rent-able state. Any materials/improvements on the home we provided,
as well as our labor, was to go towards any rent they may charge after the home was up to
legal specifications to make it rent-able..in other words, our labor and anything we paid
for ourselves was to be taken off the rent later when they could charge us rent legally.
The owner stated outright that anything we put into the house was credit towards future
rent paid. Because this house was in such a state, it couldn't be rented legally, so it
was a verbal agreement for us to be here for a few years. We have witnesses to the
agreement as well.
Well, we knew what we were in for when we saw the place, but we were in dire need of
a roof over our heads at the time. When we moved in, many of the walls were bare to
studs, no heat (thank goodness for a working fireplace!), windows were loose in the walls
or broken, floors trashed, no ceiling/walls/floor/toilet/sink in the bathroom, electrical
system totally needing to be replaced, garbage/junk all over the greatly overgrown yard.
in other words..its a construction zone, and all evidence shows that the property had
been abandoned (except they still paid the taxes).
This is how the last 18 months have gone...despite the LL repeatedly promising to
have not only a written agreement with us for the lease, and supplies and materials
purchased and delivered to us, the only thing the LL has ended up purchasing was 2 rolls
of Romex (appox $25) after we moved in. The written agreement never materialized either
(all previous verbal agreements were restated and reinforced several times since we moved
in).
The first year we didnt have hot water or central heat (once again, thank god for the
fireplace & the stove!), we have been using only a couple of electrical sockets for the
entire house, and despite several requests for the owners to get the garbage services
going (since they are the only ones who can do that and are required to pay for it) we
still have no weekly garbage service.
We fixed the gas furnace finally and bought a new water heater. We paid for
plumbing repairs, painting the house, drywall, bathroom fixtures (including sink/toilet),
purchased and installed a new electrical box on the outside of the house (so when we do
the wiring it will be routed to there), turned a open "covered" patio into a enclosed
shop area, turned another outbuilding into a shop/office, purchased lighting fixtures,
saved the yard, and a bunch of other things. We have estimated that our money spent and
labor into the place would be reasonably between $30-$40k (yes, we have receipts!), much
more than they could have rented the place for if it was up to legal specs.
We didnt mind the 'camping', we had agreed with the owners not only us being here
for many years, but the possibility of eventually owning the place. We like the neighbors
and the neighborhood and looked at the place as if it was ours. The owners liked that and
encouraged us to treat it as such.
Heres where it gets really upsetting for us. The owners now tell us that they cannot
afford the monthly mortgage payments and want to sell asap. We are not in a position to
get a loan or purchase the property through the usual normal means. We offered to "lease
to own" the place, which we can afford, and just pay them what they would be paying the
bank, and then a bit more. Well, they are considering us as buyers, but are threatening
to also sell it on the open market (one of those "90 days cash/we buy your house"
places). We cant file a mechanic's lien as we are not licensed contractors. How can we
prevent them from kicking us out with a 90 day notice, secure the interest we have in the
house, and prevent/stall a sale? Other than suing them for the time/money we have put
into the place and then placing a judgment lien on the property, we need other ideas for
being able to stop them in their tracks of a sale and stay in the home? For us, moving is
not an option..we just cannot afford it as everything we had to spare went into this
place. We have a vested interest in the property.
