renting from in-law going sour

[hanue]

My wife and I rent from my father-in-law. We have no written lease agreement. I found that he wants us out so he can sell the house.

Can he evict us even though there is no lease and we have paid ontime the amount we verbally agreed upon? Can he change the locks?

This is in Florida.


As more information for those that want it, my wifes father and I had a verbal agreement in June of 2001 that was mutually beneficial. He wanted an investment property and we wanted to move out of the apartment we were in. He did not have the downpayment for an investment property so I signed the loan as a co-owner. so the house was officially in my name. As it was my primary residence, my father in law could afford to make a smaller deposit on the house. I paid the morgage while he funded the remodeling costs. This worked out good because at the time I didn't have a good job and wasn't sure I wanted to get into a morgage if my income wasn't adaquate.

In two years he asked me to sign a quit-claim which I believe signed over my claim of ownership of the house. At which time I became a tenant. We agreed that the "rent" would stay the same.

It is now another two years later and our relationship is a bit strained. He wants to sell the house but I don't think he wants to evict us. So he's grumbling about how the rent is grossly lower than current rents of houses this size. He reminds my wife how he's losing money every month and that we are ungrateful for what he is doing. He is now complaining about how we keep the house and how our pets are ruining his carpet and just generally trying to control every aspect of our lives in that house.

I have started working overtime to save up money so we can leave and get our own house. so what I normally did around the lawn has not been done consistently. Now he's grumbling to his daughter about me that I shouldn't work that much and shirk my responsibilities around the house.

This deal is going sour and I want to know what his legal standing is before I tell him exactly what I think about his attitude. He owns the house, we have no lease, and have paid rent on time. can he kick us out? Does he have to give notice?

What is my legal standing?

 

[calalily]

Check state laws

Check your state laws on Landlord Tenent laws. It is my understanding that a certain amount of notice time has to be given but I'm not positive. What does your wife have to say about all this? Maybe you should get a standard lease (some are on-line) and get her to get him to agree to sign it. Maybe a six-month renewbable or 1 year renewable? That would allow you time maybe, to save up what you need. Has his house payment gone up? Ours did when the property taxes went up and house insurance went up...maybe you could pay a little more if that is the case and that would ease some tension. Even if that is not the case maybe you could offer to pay more and try to come to a mutually agreeable rent increase BUT put it in writing in a lease agreement. Can you afford to hire a neighbor person to help out with the lawn and yard work a couple times a month (bi-monthly)? Have someone come in and clean your carpets too! I would hope and pray that the pets aren't deficating and urinating on the carpets on a regular basis. If your not there to let them out, maybe you need to get a dog run and have them out there when you are not at home. AND trim their nails regularly or have the vet technician do it, it's not that expensive maybe $12. Make sure if you get a dog run there is shade and plenty of water outside so you're not reported for animal cruelty. Do what you can to appease your father-in-law because he'll be your father-in-law as long as your married! He bought the property as an investment right? And as long as he rents it to you at cost or below it's not a very good investment is it? I'm sure he didn't expect you and your wife to live there indefinately and it sounds like you may be taking advantage of him now, even though you helped him out in the beginning.

 

[hanue]

legal standing

Thanks for the reply.
First thing to understand is I agree that it's time to move out. The question is at what time and under what conditions. Personally I don't want to stay any longer than I need too, however, with the housing market prices what they are, we are still unable to get into a house that isn't a crack house.

The two small dogs that we have are well groomed and well loved. there is a patch of ground right by the deck gate that has never been sodded (we resodded the lawn) and so when the dogs run in from the yard they track dirt in. If the grass is wet, then their paws are damp and the dirt travels farther. We have done very well at keeping up the house. The father in law is very meticulous about everything. He insists on mowing the lawn because "I won't do it right" He won't let us clean the carpet because he is convinced we will soak the pad underneath. Yet he will clean it and then send me a bill for his work. I don't want to stiff the guy, but I didn't need him to do it, he insisted that he do it, but I pay for it. We are not the type of people that let's their animals deficate inside. Thats disgusting, and we have two children. All is sanitary, but there is general wear and tear on the carpets. After all a family of 4 has lived here for 5 years!

When the morgage went up because of property taxes I approached him and matched the new price. He's not "losing" money, he is just not making enough money off the deal. In the larger picture he's making a very nice deal in my opinion. We enabled him to get into this property.

If you add up what rents go for and subtract the morgage, then multiple by the months we've occupied you come up with $8440.00 that he has "lost". when you factor in the appreciation of the property and take out the balance of the morgage and what he funded to remodel the place (I was right by his side for all of it and we have talked about what it cost) he is in the black to the tune of $200,000.00. Does that sound like a lop-sided deal to you? It sure does to me.

Add in the fact that when we needed a larger car to haul two kids around instead of one, he took that opportunity to offer his old mini van in even exchange for our compact car which was considerably newer. I checked the blue book values and the car was worth$3500.00, his van was worth $1200.00. Since we couldn't get a minivan that wasn't a piece of junk for $3500, and his was well taken care of, ran well, and we could not fit to baby seats in the car we HAD to take this lopsided offer too. He neglected to mention to me (though I found out later) that he did indeed sell the car for $3500 which means he profited off of our situation $2300.00. Are you seeing a pattern here? My father in law takes advantage of people under the guise of "helping". Yes, he helped us get out of the apartment. Yes, he helped us get a larger car for our kids (his grandkids) but he *always* has to get the lions share of any deal or he's not happy.

He grumbles that I am not grateful to him for what he's done for me. How about the 200K profit in 5 years he's sitting on? He's not expressed any gratitude for that to me either. (nor do I expect or want it)

Now back to the central question. I want to move out, he wants us out. What can he do to me before I get out? What can I do to not get screwed on the way out too?

 

[calalily]

Check your state laws

Thank you for clarifying your situation. You ned to check your Landlord/Tenent state laws. You are a renter even though you don't have a lease. Yoy may be consider by your state to be a month by month tenent. There are laws to protect you, but each state is different. It is my understanding that in most states a tenent has to be given at least 30 days notice to vacate. I don't know if your state (you didn't say which state your in) requires a written notice. An eviction is a certion process which will also be spelled out by your state laws and is a legal rememdy for landlords to get tenents to move out who don't pay rent, who don't abide by their oblications in the lease, the lease has expired, or they are a nuisance. Since you don't have a lease, you may not be protected except for maybe a 30 day notice.One state stated that if the agreement was oral then only 15 days notice were required to vacate the property. It would be in your best interest to try and get a 6 month lease signed between you that would afford you more protection. They have standard lease forms on line that you may download and use for this purpose. Is it possible for you to buy the house from him since you are looking to buy any way and you state that he wants to sell? I am sorry that you are having this difficulty with your father-in-law. Good deeds (yours) never go unpunished it seems. The 6 month lease might allow you time to save money for the down payment. Read your state laws before you do anything and go from there.