Well, back to square one, lol.

[junebug]

we will have our house to ourselves again in a few months. BIL, his GF and my nephew will be moving out. because Ryan (nephew) doesn't like the school here because the girls are too preppy. and because BIL doesn't like our dogs and the pet hair. okay, i myself get annoyed at the dog hair but good grief. i sweep everyday, we went out and spent $40 on a brush to help rid the dog of some of his hair. whatever.

a little backstory for those who don't know. when we left for California back in Feb. my BIL had agreed to buy this house off of us. he finished fixing up a few things and had agreed to pay the rest of this years taxes plus give us some money here and there to go toward buying it off of us. Well, California didnt work out for us so we came back and we were going to take over my dads house. but then we decided to move back in here; we like Kokomo better; just until we figure out what's going on with Chad's VA disability claim and until our credit was better to get a VA loan and our own place, maybe in a year or so, not sure. so now, they say they are leaving in a few months. and that we should pay them money for fixing up the house that they wanted to buy from us but now don't. they haven't paid anything on the property taxes; we will have to now. a little bit a month, not a huge deal for us. Chad and i are a little upset over all this. we don't like the idea of us paying them for the work they did all of a sudden. it just doesn't seem right. are we wrong? do we owe them? this is all such a mess!

[FireWolf]

I don't think you would owe them anything, to be honest. They've lived there rent/mortgage free for quite awhile and the work they've done should be considered as payment for living there....but that's just my opinion.

[my3hens]

Totally agree with Firewold. I dont think they are entitled to anything! I actually think its quite unfair they are up and moving like that!

[junebug]

thanks, lol. i personally don't think we owe them anything either. we've been sharing utilities; they pay electric, trash and the water softener bill, we've been paying gas, phone, internet and cable. they aren't leaving right away, but i wish they would now, lol. its going to be very awkward around here!

[Stacey42]

Unless they have been paying rent all this time, you don't owe them anything in my mind. In fact, they probably owe you. I'd see how much places like yours rent for & add up all the time they have spent there & compare it to the repair costs & then show that to your BIL.

[junebug]

Originally Posted by Stacey42

Unless they have been paying rent all this time, you don't owe them anything in my mind. In fact, they probably owe you. I'd see how much places like yours rent for & add up all the time they have spent there & compare it to the repair costs & then show that to your BIL.

hahaha!! i like that! the road we live on has 3 houses; ours, an tiny abandoned one that had fire, and one other one that is a rental; i think it rents for about $550-$600 a month? not sure. that's about the average around here for rentals. i doubt we give them anything. we don't mind paying the taxes but i don't think we owe them crap.

not to mention that i've been the only one in the last few weeks doing the dishes, cleaning, etc. they hide in their room, only coming out to use the bathroom or to do laundry.

[my4boys]

nada...zilch...zero........is what you owe them. I totally agree with Stacey that they prolly owe you!!!!

[FireWolf]

Originally Posted by junebug

hahaha!! i like that! the road we live on has 3 houses; ours, an tiny abandoned one that had fire, and one other one that is a rental; i think it rents for about $550-$600 a month? not sure. that's about the average around here for rentals. i doubt we give them anything. we don't mind paying the taxes but i don't think we owe them crap.

not to mention that i've been the only one in the last few weeks doing the dishes, cleaning, etc. they hide in their room, only coming out to use the bathroom or to do laundry.

I think I'd then be adding maid service onto their bill as well!

[junebug]

my mom totally agrees that we owe nothing and that they should give us $$. with this many people agreeing, we can't be wrong, lol!

[DawnMarch]

I guess the only other things I would take into consideration are how much $ and time they have spent on these fix-ups. It's one thing if they've painted a bedroom or something vs. say, a $20,000 bathroom remodel. I have the feeling it's more of the first kinda thing. You might come up with a chart to show how much the "rent" would have cost them vs. the cost of the improvements to prove your point.

Also, how much have your own changes in plans affected them? Like, were they okay with you moving back in or did you just tell them you were moving back in because the house is "yours." And was their decision not to buy the house affected by that? Did you really still want them to buy the house? Do they feel "forced out?" If they feel like they made those improvements on the belief that they were going to be able to buy the house, and now your change in plans have made it so that's not an option for them, then I could see why they would feel like you might owe them something. Understand that I'm NOT saying any of this is true -- just thinking about how they could justify things from their own point of view!

[jessica31876]

Id say to compare actual costs of repairs versus what the rent/mortgage and taxes would be. If it comes up more on their side then maybe youd owe them but I doubt that would happen. Ive been in this situation more times then I can count where Ive let family members come live with me and my husband and they dont think they should contribute a dime so I know how hard it is

[junebug]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

I guess the only other things I would take into consideration are how much $ and time they have spent on these fix-ups. It's one thing if they've painted a bedroom or something vs. say, a $20,000 bathroom remodel. I have the feeling it's more of the first kinda thing. You might come up with a chart to show how much the "rent" would have cost them vs. the cost of the improvements to prove your point.

Also, how much have your own changes in plans affected them? Like, were they okay with you moving back in or did you just tell them you were moving back in because the house is "yours." And was their decision not to buy the house affected by that? Did you really still want them to buy the house? Do they feel "forced out?" If they feel like they made those improvements on the belief that they were going to be able to buy the house, and now your change in plans have made it so that's not an option for them, then I could see why they would feel like you might owe them something. Understand that I'm NOT saying any of this is true -- just thinking about how they could justify things from their own point of view!

lets see, they put up a wall in our living room and made a bedroom, and they painted the kitchen and another room. that's about it. they asked us to move in with them. and we weren't planning on staying here forever, maybe a year or so then it would be all theirs. the house might be in our name for now, but we still considered it 'theirs'. we had an agreement that they'd pay the property taxes for this year and then once they were paid they'd start paying us a little a month toward them owing it. they claim they want to leave because Ryan hates the school and they don't like our dogs' hair.

[ajf9597]

I wouldn't think you would owe them anything if they haven't paid any rent. And if the fix ups were their idea and not necessary, then it should come out of their own pockets.

[junebug]

some good has come out of it; Chad told them they could include the appliances when they took over the house. i didnt agree to this. but now since they don't want it, i get to keep my brand new fridge, my LG microwave (this thing is awesome.), and my favorite, my Bosch dishwasher! i lOVE that thing! so whatever, they can move

[cheltzey]

Originally Posted by junebug

some good has come out of it; Chad told them they could include the appliances when they took over the house. i didnt agree to this. but now since they don't want it, i get to keep my brand new fridge, my LG microwave (this thing is awesome.), and my favorite, my Bosch dishwasher! i lOVE that thing! so whatever, they can move

Did they pay for the appliances or were they yours to begin with? If they did, then you most likely owe them. But if not, I'd say to tally up expenses and see what side of the line they fall on. Pretty much what everyone else said.

[junebug]

Originally Posted by cheltzey

Did they pay for the appliances or were they yours to begin with? If they did, then you most likely owe them. But if not, I'd say to tally up expenses and see what side of the line they fall on. Pretty much what everyone else said.

they were ours to begin with. we bought the microwave and the dishwasher last year and the fridge isn't even a year old yet. Chad just decided that when they wanted to buy the house that we'd let them have them cause they didnt have any. they go with the house. now that they aren't paying us for the house and are leaving, i'm not letting them have them. it was a package deal, lol. they're mine again!