[allisonx]

Dh and I made an agreement with a family "friend" that we would pay the mortgage on their house because it isn't easy to get a mortgage for her house due to some inspection issues--there are two houses on one septic and it causes issues with banks not wanting to give the money.

We have been paying on time for the past 7 months. Our agreement says the following:
the owner hereby accepts payments for the dwelling located at (address) for the period commencing on the 12 day of NOvember 2007 and monthly thereafter until the last day of until pay off ? 2008 until all payments are made or full purchase and early pay-off penalty is paid in advance, at which point leasee acquires said property.
However, now she is all high and mighty saying we are only renting and we have to do this and we have to do that and we can't change the house unless it is fixing things we've "torn up" when we haven't torn up ANYTHING. A few of the neighbors dislike my family in general and are telling her that there are holes in the walls and all the carpet is ruined when they haven't even been in the house since we have been making payments. Also she never gave us a copy of the signed lease and now that she has given us a copy she's added things, like a 1 year after the ? that follows until pay off in the payment section of the lease. I don't know what to do. DH and I made life changing decisions (baby) based on the fact that we had a secure place to live and now she has given us a copy of the lease with all sorts of new things in it, but since we never had an original copy we cannot prove that and I"m not sure if anything would stand in court anyway.
She also said we could do whatever we wanted with the property. When we moved in we had 2 dogs and 2 cats, and she said she was fine with that. We added a goat to the mix, making sure to call her before we did and she was fine with that too. Every animal we have we checked to make sure with her first even though we didn't have to, and she said it was fine. She complains that there are weeds growing and that we are "tearing up the property." her "weeds" are sunflowers and zennias that we planted this spring.
Needless to say, I am p**sed that she is doing this to us. She did something similar to my sister in the past. She knows that I am due in September and that I really don't need to deal with this stress. I am wondering if she has been paying the mortgage with the money we've been giving her, because in a letter she sent us she said that she couldn't get "another mortgage" on the property.

[mrmnmom82]

You need to make sure you get reciepts. You don't have an agreement with her unless your, and her signiture is on that lease. You only have a verbal agreement, which will not stand up in court. So, if you want to reduce your stress, have a sit down with her and say you though you had a different understanding of the arrangement, don't sign anything until it says only what you agree to. Any additions will have to have your signiture next to them, and hers, to be enforcable. Please get reciepts for your house payments. If you're paying the mortage, you should suggest you just take the money straight to the bank, they'll give you reciepts.

If you have no proof that you have payed previously, she can kick you out with only 30 days notice, she can actually do that right now, since without a contract, you are on an assumed month by month lease.

[allisonx]

we do have a signed contract from 11/07. she added after we signed. we also have receipts.

[DK615617]

I would ask her to sit down with you and talk about it. Have her over to the house so that she can see that you haven't damaged anything. Try to explain to her what you thought, and ask her why she has changed her mind. Also, find out if she has been paying the bank. I know that sometimes people get caught up in the thought of having extra money and "forget" to pay the bank and then the people who are paying the rent (or mortgage) end up being kicked out when the house is forclosed on. That is why a rent to own can be dangerous......
I am sorry that you are having to go through this. Sometimes friends are so inconsiderate. (and family- we had my BIL really mess up our lives right after I had Tiffany)
I know how hurtful it can be. Hang in there. And try to talk to her, maybe she just is afraid because of what the neighbors said.
Good luck to you.

[mrmnmom82]

Have you signed the new lease she gave you? Before you sign it, sit down and talk to her, let her walk through, clarify her expectations. How long will you have to do this before you own the house?

If the last lease expired 12/07, you are in an assuemed month to month situation, until you sign this new lease.

Wait, I just re-read your post, is there an end date on the lease, or does it just end when the property is paid off? She cannot add to the lease after you have signed it, she has no legal right to hold you to these additions. Wasn't your signature on the lease that she is adding to? She's just jotting in additions with a pen in the margin? Or is she printing up a new one now with these new additions? Don't sign it unless you are willing to agree to the changes, you may not have a legal foot to stand on if you don't have the first lease as proof of the changes. You may have to sit down and talk it out with her.

Sorry, one more thing, if you don't have a lease in your hand with your and her signature on it, you are in a month to month contract. Because there is nothing to prove otherwise.

[allisonx]

It was an open-ended lease and she scribbled in the margins in different colored ink (you can tell on the copy she gave us) that wasn't initialed by either of us a date. We do have a copy of the lease, and she has told other people that will tell whoever they need to that she added to it after we signed it. She says that because she put the one year in she can give us a new lease in November, but we are pretty sure we can prove that she added it in. We are calling a real estate lawyer on Tuesday because that is DH's first day off during the week. Hopefully he'll be able to offer us some advice on what to say to her and what to do from here. If we were able to get a mortgage on the property, we would just do that, however it's near impossible to get a mortgage for her house. She had to lie to the original company to get the one that she has now. I think what it is is she hasn't been paying the mortgage with our payments and now she has fallen behind and wants to refinance and is worried that with our current contract she won't be able to, which she won't. We are going to try to find out if that's the case because we're pretty sure that would make all of her accusations and "changes" instantly invalid.

[mrmnmom82]

I hope everything works out. And I hope you guess can just take over the mortgage, I would be hesitant to hand her anymore payments if you don't think she's paying the bank. Ask the lawyer if you can just pay straight to the bank.

She can't just add stuff into the margins when she feels like it! I hope the lawyer doesn't cost too much. Good Luck!