View Full Version : Verbal expense agreement with free rent- Eviction
Archenemy424
Jan 18, 2013, 11:43 PM
Me, my mother and my little sister moved in with my uncle about a year ago. My uncle set no rent for us but we verbally agreed to pay for groceries for the house, which we have been spending at least 550 dollars a month for, and pay the cable bill. He has no mortgage and pretty much no other bills except for the electricity. Today, my mom mentioned that she is spending 3/4 of her SSD and all of her food stamps on the house. We clean everything and also fix everything. We do the lawn care and snow removal. He then said to her that "she" has 60 days to move out, but not me, 25, or my sister, 20. Can he start an eviction when we haven't breached our verbal agreement? What can we do to protect our family from being forced apart by the court? We do have before and after pictures of the cleaning we have done in his house since we moved in. I know laws vary state to state and I'm in CT. Please help me...
Fr_Chuck
Jan 19, 2013, 12:17 AM
He merely needs to give you proper notice and can ask you to leave at any time, since there is no written lease for a longer period than month to month.
The 60 day notice is all that is needed and most likely was to include all of you.
He would file for eviction in the court if you are not moved out within the time given.
Archenemy424
Jan 19, 2013, 12:36 AM
Should we stop paying for our part of things now so we can save money for an apartment? Our income is only a combined 1200 a month. We spend about 700 between groceries and the cable bill. And my mom is physically disabled and spends roughly the other 500 on doctors bills. That 1200 also includes our combined food stamps. We cannot save any money because my uncle pretty much forces us to spend it. He refuses to pay for anything food wise and he eats about half what we buy. We can get extra time from the courts, up to 90 days, to save up and move out. But I'm concerned with the courts throwing us all out onto the streets because of the circumstances. If he is just "crying Wolf" then us neglecting to buy food and shutting off the cable will give him reason for eviction. But we cannot save any money with our situation. What can we do?
joypulv
Jan 19, 2013, 06:28 AM
I would cut groceries way down, and buy what he doesn't like, and either suffer for a while or hide food in the car or closet or go to MacD's. I would call cable and set a cancel date for 35 days from now. I would tell him all this, and tell him why - you have to save for a deposit and first month's rent elsewhere. Yes, he may be crying wolf, just mad about something. Tell him calmly and quietly and walk away. If he comes to you and says never mind, I didn't really mean it, tell him that you have to take it seriously, and maybe you all need to sit down and work out what's making him unhappy. Make a list of his expenses (you forgot property tax, for one thing, which in my budget is the single biggest expense!) and what you spend and what you do for labor, and put a value on it. Talk over the dining room table with that list and come to an agreement.
PS: You two adult children need to pull your weight more with finances, from the looks of your numbers.
And as you are finding out, you can't sail along like this with any guarantees. And he may say no to all my suggestions - he might really want you out.
joypulv
Jan 19, 2013, 07:06 AM
Also, I live in CT, and I would value the cheapest rent + utilities per adult (3 of you) at 350/mo, assuming you each have your own room, 250 if you share. Yard and house work @ about 15/hr, a bit more for actual snow plowing. Food at whatever it is, and I somehow doubt that he eats 50% and you each eat 16.67%. So be realistic and fair about all expenses if you can get to the stage of drawing up a 4 way budget.
Living with relatives often starts as a loose arrangement, when it really should be done in the usual landlord-tenant way to stay happy.
ScottGem
Jan 19, 2013, 07:34 AM
The notice needs to be in writing. Otherwise, it isn't valid. But he is within his rights to give you a vacate notice.
Archenemy424
Feb 26, 2013, 01:15 PM
His property taxes are only 5000 bucks a year, or about 350 a month. Lately, he has been just being weird to us. He is buying out food that we don't like when we have no money or food in the house. He brags about going on vacation to New York, PA, and the Bahamas next month. He has been having my other uncle over when he knows that we don't get along with him at all. He had my other uncle over the other day without even mentioning that he would be here. I really think that he just wants to control us and manipulate what we do and who we see. I had a friend over a couple weeks ago and he yelled and screamed at him telling him all kinds of untrue things. For example, that he pays for most of the food, that he put 300,000 bucks into this house which is falling apart, literally, and he said that the only reason he still owns the house is because we need a place to live. Just the other day I had a conversation in his car with him about taxes and how much cheaper it is to pay taxes then to pay mortgage along with the taxes. He then said that he plans on retiring and it is supposed to be cheaper to live for him. I agree with that, but he pretty much told me that his intentions were to keep the house to live in during retirement. So now if one of my friends stops over to visit he lies to them and yells things to make us look bad. Then he has people over that we don't get along with and we don't say anything to those people. It is his house and all but what the hell. I'm don't know what to do. I don't know if I can prevent him from having people over that are trying to piss me off. They stand outside my bedroom door and yell their conversations to each other. We just turn on the radio to drown them out. This only happened once so far. He hasn't mentioned an eviction or anything but whenever my mom brings up anything cleaning wise or financial, then he shouts, "You don't like it then move the out". How should I deal with this? Also he does eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between each meal. He definitely eats about half of everything we buy. Every time I leave my room he is eating something.
ScottGem
Feb 26, 2013, 02:32 PM
Your only recourse is to find someplace else to live. Either that or draw up a written contract that specifies what you pay, what you get for what you pay and what he gives in return.