Linds064
06-22-2012, 12:33 PM
My wife's grandmother passed away last year and the house she lived in was my wife's uncle's. Her uncle wanted someone to live there rather than let it set unoccupied so he asked us if we would move in. We talked about it and agreed to move in. We had no contract and when we mentioned a written contract he just chuckled. The house was in bad shape, the roof was needing replaced the facial boards were rotten, the floor in the kitchen and in the bathroom was warped from some leaks. The electricity would quit working in part of the house...etc.. Her uncle told us if we did work on it there would be no rent, we asked how much was rent? He said we wont worry about that right now. So we moved in and I did some work on the house, nothing real major, I replaced the kitchen sink and some plumbing, did some plumbing in the bathroom, replaced some of the facial boards and painted the master bedroom and the outside trim. I replaced ceiling fans because the other ones didn't work. I had to take out a rotten wall surrounding the fireplace and restructure that, installed vinyl siding (some of it was under the house from where he never finished installing it) I purchased most of it. I replaced some floor tiles in the dining area also. He told us from the beginning to use anything (wood or tile) that was in his barn ( storage) or in the house he didn't care what we used. I had saved some money to fix the roof and the floors and was wanting to save enough to do both.
Six months go by and that's all I've done to the house, I work at a hospital in the OR and I am on call alot so I had to limit my projects sometimes. He shows up one morning and bangs on the door, (I was in bed because I had just been at work after being called in) he said you owe me $2400.00 back rent, I said how? He said you have not done $2400.00 worth of work to this house and I want the money or I want the work done, he didn't give me a chance to say much but I did say I didn't know how much he wanted me to do a month because he never told us, he said "I told you $400.00 a month" I said no you did not, but he swears he did, but I never was told that before and my wife wasn't either. One day when I was on call the water heater started leaking really bad so I was trying to get the water shut off, I got called in for an emergency at work and had to leave. I called my wife and told her I needed her to leave work and see what she could do with the water heater, so she did. My wife was having trouble shutting off the water so she called her mom to see if she knew what to do, her mom calls her other brother because our (landlord) was out of town on vacation. So we end up purchasing a water heater for $300.00. A few days go by and here her uncle shows up again. He beats on the door and i get out of bed and open the door, he said "So you've had water heater problems"? I said "yes, but we bought a new one and I installed it". He then starts screaming at me and says "its none of my sisters business or my brothers business what goes on at this house, you don't call them you call me , I want you out just get out"! I said "but wait you were gone" and he jumps in his truck and leaves like a mad man. We had no place to go, because we had let a friend take over payments on our mobile home and land. He then puts a letter in our mail box a few days later saying he wanted us out by that weekend and that we had not done what we said we would do. So there's my story and here's my question: He says he is suing us for rent and accusing us of stealing stuff, we took what was ours and nothing that was his, can he really sue us? Does he have a chance at winning a case against us?
Six months go by and that's all I've done to the house, I work at a hospital in the OR and I am on call alot so I had to limit my projects sometimes. He shows up one morning and bangs on the door, (I was in bed because I had just been at work after being called in) he said you owe me $2400.00 back rent, I said how? He said you have not done $2400.00 worth of work to this house and I want the money or I want the work done, he didn't give me a chance to say much but I did say I didn't know how much he wanted me to do a month because he never told us, he said "I told you $400.00 a month" I said no you did not, but he swears he did, but I never was told that before and my wife wasn't either. One day when I was on call the water heater started leaking really bad so I was trying to get the water shut off, I got called in for an emergency at work and had to leave. I called my wife and told her I needed her to leave work and see what she could do with the water heater, so she did. My wife was having trouble shutting off the water so she called her mom to see if she knew what to do, her mom calls her other brother because our (landlord) was out of town on vacation. So we end up purchasing a water heater for $300.00. A few days go by and here her uncle shows up again. He beats on the door and i get out of bed and open the door, he said "So you've had water heater problems"? I said "yes, but we bought a new one and I installed it". He then starts screaming at me and says "its none of my sisters business or my brothers business what goes on at this house, you don't call them you call me , I want you out just get out"! I said "but wait you were gone" and he jumps in his truck and leaves like a mad man. We had no place to go, because we had let a friend take over payments on our mobile home and land. He then puts a letter in our mail box a few days later saying he wanted us out by that weekend and that we had not done what we said we would do. So there's my story and here's my question: He says he is suing us for rent and accusing us of stealing stuff, we took what was ours and nothing that was his, can he really sue us? Does he have a chance at winning a case against us?