I am hoping that there is someone out there that can provide a little legal council into my housing matter. My father and I currently live in a house which resides on a horse farm of a very wealthy individual. This wealthy individual owns the house that I live in, but used to let his horse trainer live here. We have been paying rent to the horse trainer for years now, and they have decided that they want to up the rent, and try and kick us out. My question is what legal grounds do they have since they do not own the house, and I'm pretty sure we have not signed a lease of any kind, more of an oral agreement. Any kind of council here would be greatly appreciated

Generally, whoever you rent from is the landlord. With no lease you are considered on a verbal month to month occupancy.

It is probable that all the landlord has to do is give you a 30-day notice of what the new rent amount will be. From there your option is to accept it or move.

If I were you I'd approach the owner about the situation - to see if he might be willing to do a lease that assures you of at least 1-2 years at a fixed rate.

Your state laws would govern even a sublet situation.

I'm assuming that the horse trainer is subletting the house to you and your father, is that correct? At least in practice if not legally, since you state that "no lease has been signed, more of an oral agreement." What was stipulated in your "oral agreement?" When push comes to shove, the horse trainer has no legal standing on his own whatsoever. If he wants to up your rent and/or kick you out he'll have to go through the owner of the property. The owner will have to honor the conditions of the lease he signed with the horse trainer, if any, as that lease is, in spirit, your lease and you can hold the owner and the horse trainer to the terms of that lease. At least that's how any reasonable judge would handle it. Once the lease between the owner and trainer expires, however, then the owner is free to do as he wishes. If that means letting the trainer charge you more rent or kicking you out altogether, so be it. About the only ace you may have up your sleeve is to investigate whether the owner and/or trainer are reporting their earnings from the rent you pay to the IRS. You can periodically send a statement to the IRS, accompanied by copies of your canceled rent checks, documenting the income the landlord and tenant are receiving from your rent and let them know that you are doing so. Start with the trainer first since it's probably more likely that he'd be evading payment of taxes on the rental income more so than the owner. That may make the trainer back off. Kind of a low-down tactic, I know, but if it'll work, use it.

I personally would leave the IRS out of it- unless you really hate the horse trainer and owner and don't want to live there!

:cool: You should know if you have signed a lease or not... the horse trainer is sub leasing it to you... the rent increase must be justified and if you have a lease he cannot increase the rent until your lease is up... Question does the owner of the property know you are living there... see what they have to say about your situation.. bottom line... it is the owner of the property' decision that counts here and their actions.. deal with that first...

You've been living there for years? At the same rent? I would assume the owner knows you live there.

Seems to me the trainer has a right to raise your rent if he hasn't done so for years. He even has a right to tell you to get out since you have no lease and are, therefore, on a month to month basis.

I would say your only option is to contact the owner and ask that he terminate whatever agreement HE has with the trainer and enter into a lease with you. If he refuses, then you don't have much recourse.

Ok this really is not complicated, the farm owner owns the building, and as part of his benefit and pay they allow the trainer use of this house. The trainer does not wish to live there so he rents it out. The money you pay him is would always be income, since it is rental money, minus any of his expense to maintain it.

So the land owner has allowed him to sublet the home. You have a legal but verbal ( it sounds like) rental agreement. Since it is not a written lease, or even a written rental, you are on a month to month rent.

They don't even have to up the rent to make you move, they merely have to give you a 30 day notice to move out and you have to move.

So basically you can either pay the increased rent or move.