Okay, this is a lengthy situation, but I will try and sum it up the best I can.We are in DESPERATE need of advice. My husband and I are active duty military stationed in California.

A co worker of mine was set to deploy, and needed to move out of his house, so we agreed to let him, his wife, and infant baby move in with us temporarily until he left for his deployment and his wife and kid flew home. This was the 27 Dec 08 when they moved in and they were out by Jan 20. So roughly a month.

prior to my co workers return from deployment, his wife got into some family issues at home and decided to come back early. She and her baby initially moved in with some mutual friends of ours, but that only lasted a week before she got into an argument with them. My husband and I were out of town due to a death in the family but she called us and we agreed to let her come live with us until her husband returned. Which was sapose to be in two weeks.

When we returned home from leave she was there, with all her baby stuff in our living and dining room and she had occupied our second bedroom. She did do some stationary cleaning, nothing too in depth though.

at the time my husband and I did not have a washer and dryer, so she moved her's into our house saying "i would rather you guys have it."
When her husband returned from deployment, he and she both just laid around our home doing nothing but playing video games (and arguing with eachother). She is unemployed.

It was brought to my leaderships attention (by her bringing up personal issues to my NCOIC) that they were living with us and pocketing their Basic Allowance for Housing. Which is about 1500 a month. Highly illegal in the military world. The allowance is used to pay rent and utilities, which they were not paying (due to our lease not allowing subletting)
So my leadership stepped in and ordered them to move out of our home and into temporary lodging. So by the time they moved out they had stayed with us about a month.

upon moving out she left the washer and dryer, along with a lawn mower, and weed wacker. This was about 3 1/2 months ago.

We just received a text from her saying that we need to pay her for the washer and dryer. We wrote back countering that she left them saying they were ours. Which she did.
Keep in mind she is desperate for money right now, she works part time and is probably going to be getting a divorce soon, so we believe she is trying to get money in any way she can. But we will not pay for what she gave to us as a gift (this is NOT a nice washer and dryer, about 10 years old)

after that we discontinued communication with her, and then received an "itemized list" of things she claims we owe her all totalling about $1200. A few of the items are acurate, and we have already made arrangements with her husband to cover them (our dogs chewed the rubber off a few of his game console controlers. Totaling $117.00---she was askinng $250.00) but the rest of the list was all hogwash. She is trying to charge us for pet sitting while we were on leave, but we had a verbal agreement with some friends of ours that they would watch our dogs, we never had her pet sit. She also wants to charge us for "cleaing our house' and doing laundry and whatnot. All at commercial prices of above $600.00. Which she did not keep our home clean, and she did SOME laundry not all, which I would consider common courtesey when your living with someone FOR FREE. She also wants to charge us for the stuff that they LEFT at our home. We are telling them to come get the mower and weed wacker and this still has not been done. As far as the washer and dryer goes, we have no intention of paying 800.00 (full retail value 6 years ago)

We never had any type of verbal contract or financial agreements with these people, this is all coming up now that she needs money and her husband (my co-worker) is refusing to get involved. Do we have any legal stance against these claims? Could we counter sue for the cost of food and utilities, etc (because I don't think we could charge rent) to cover the higher cost of living of supporting 3 other individuals? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

If you know where they are presently living I would pack up everything they have refused to come and get and take it to them. Then they have no reason to bother you about the fact you "still have our stuff" and we want money for it. As for cleaning your home and pet sitting I seriously doubt even if the woman gets so desperate as to file a lawsuit she would even win a dime.

You are correct in assuming that the woman is desperate for money. Give her back her stuff and that will definitely throw her for a loop. I'm sure you can afford a washer and dryer, lawnmower, weed eater on your own without her second hand items.

I hope you and your husband have learned a very good lesson about letting folks live in your home. Sometimes a good deed can come back and bite your hand.

Do like twink says ,and give back the things like you've tried. Then, write up a bill for room and board for her, and her family. Make a fair price equal to, or a little MORE what she's asked.

I personally wouldn't have worried about the controller's damage, as it was in your house, and they were staying there for free. At no point did they offer to pay YOU some of the $1500 payments from the government? If not, then shame on them.

It's unfortunate that they're strapped for cash, but that's not your concern, or problem.

You try to do something nice for someone in need , and it bites you in the butt. Oh well, better luck time.

I think you went above and beyond the call of friendship. I wish you the best of luck in finding resolution in this mess.