homeowner's legal rights

[susie martin]

We bought our house in Osceola Ar almost three years ago. When the house was shown to my husband and myself we were told by the previous owners, in front of witnesses that the roof on the house would be fixed. We wanted the barstools in the house so I agreed to pay $80 for them. In the contract it was stated that all major appliances were to stay with the house. The female homeowner stated that they had made a mistake and needed to take the washer and dryer with them. Being the person to do the right thing we gave them the washer and dryer and the eighty dollars the day after we moved into the house. The previous owners stated that he was going to leave a ladder and two sawhorses to repair the roof. Three weeks later he came into the office where i worked and said that he was going to work on the roof later. I told him to wait until the temp. cooled off it was too hot to be in the sun. That was almost three years ago. The ladder and saw horses were at our house for the entire time. My husband decided we would do the work ourselves this spring and keep his ladder and saw horses as payment for not upholding his end of the deal. Yesterday while we were at work the previous owner came and asked our minor children for the ladder and saw horses. They let him get them out of our storage shed. We are just wondering if he has any rigt to come to our house after 3 years and take anything off our property? If so than can we charge him a storage fee for storing the ladder for all this time? He still hasn't done any work to the roof. We want to know if anything at all can be done??????????

 

[honestme]

Your Rights

Why have you said 'yes' to everything these people ask. They probably think you are an easy push-over.

You do have rights to any written contract, but you haven't enforced them. If the roof repair is in writing you can contact your realitor or take them to small claims court to collect all costs for it's repairs. You need estimates, pictures, etc. You can fully expect the other person to deny everything in court.

You can't charge rent on the equipment if you agreed to let him leave them without ever mentioning storage. You were NOT obligated to 'keep' that property, as it was actually abandoned. (after a year).

You should seek justice for anything you have in writing, in small claims court. Keep all proof, reciepts, estimates, take pictures, etc. You have the law totally on your side, if you can show evidence of agreements & costs. Eye wittnesses also help, if in person. (not written statements)

I encourage you to stand tall & strong. Write these people a demand letter, with a deadline. RECORD their responce - if verbal.
Then go to small claims to enforce. Don't ever let people lie and use you.
OR just accept that you have 'chosen' to let them get away with it. Then forget blaming anyone, including yourself.
.. Totally your choice!