This is LONG but I need opinions and answers about my renting situation?

Question

I am posting here because I get the most responses, sorry!

My mom has a VERY big house that she split in two and is now like a duplex. On July 7th I moved back in because my brother wasn't paying his rent, so I took over the worse of the two sides and gave her $1100 when I moved in. When I moved in I was crammed with all my stuff in the living room until my brother could move out and my mom could move to his side. It was like this until at least August. I don't think that month I should have owed any rent because the situation was awful. 

When I moved in I was almost 8 months pregnant. My mom said I could pay $500/mo til after I had the baby and got a new job. So what we did is we put the $1100 toward future rent, plus from July 7th til the end of August I gave her $100-$200/wk so that I'd be ahead and not miss any rent. 

We got into a fight almost 2 weeks ago because she did something EXTREMELY stupid and started a huge fite, it feels like she meant to. Since then I have stayed on my side, locking my doors like I have always done. I applied for assistance because I needed childcare in order to start my job. Well she needed to write how much my rent was and she wrote $0/mo. She is now complaining I can't lock my doors (my little brother is always stealing from me, so even when we did get along I locked my doors and she never came over here) and if I do then she will take the lock off of the door that leads to her side. Now FYI she is not saying this stuff to me because we have not spoken, she's telling my sister. 

Any way I am more then caught up on rent from all the money that I have given her from the time I moved in til I had my daughter in September. Last night I went to my college class and my sister came on my sde to watch the kids. While I was gone my mom burst into my side and started taking stuff, granted her stuff but stuff she took, she only took because she saw I was using them. I don't care because they were hers but my sister called me all shaken up and saying the kids were so frightened and screaming and crying because of it. 

First of all, doesn't she need to give me 24hours notice? I know this sounds petty because we are family but I feel as though she needs to let things cool down rather than act like this. Any way, she is screaming about rent but do i really owe her if:
-my shower/bath tub only has EXTREMELY hot water, I have to fill a bath then run up and down the stairs with buckets of cold water to bathe the kids and myself.
-my toilet is now broken
-when i moved in the bathroom was very dirty and disgusting like it hadnt been cleaned in months, the bathroom had no water. after she got the water fixed i had to clean it. 
-we went two weeks with absolutely NO water in the whole house
-my fridge broke, she let it sit there for almost a month and i cud just not take the smell any more so by MYSELF i brought it outside and then paid to get rid of it after it just sat there (Now I have no fridge)
-there is a leak in my bedroom right over my bed. I can not move my bed because of the way the room is set up. So whenever it rains I sleep on my son's floor and lift my mattress up and push it to a wall. This leak was here when i lived here almost a year ago
-it is freezing here and ALL the window have huge pieces of glass missing (in my room and living room) 
-She also has a bunch of her stuff in my spare bedroom, which she tore the ceiling down in so I am sure it is making my side even colder.

Any way, if she was a regular landlord, would i have to pay rent because of those problems? Remember I am already caught up, she is just being stupid. Also what about the 24 hour thing?

Landlord · Accepted Answer

Rent is due every month, regardless of how you feel about anything.

You sound like the daughter from hell, I really feel for your mom.

Yes, you would have to pay a regular landlord rent.    Obviously you feel entitled to take advantage of others and live off them, but that is only in your head.     In real life you should be paying your own way.

Give your poor mother a break and move out.

Weimaraner Mom · Answer

First of all your mother isn't really a landlord, this really is just a petty family squabble and chances are she didn't "leagally" divide her house into a duplex, therefore you are living in her house.  Granted you pay rent but the landlord tenant thing doesn't really apply here.

If you want to make it legal then a lease contract needs to be drawn up and you both sign it, you agree to pay rent of a specific amount and she agrees to fix things that are broken.  If she wanted you out then she would need to give you notice and or file eviction if you ceased paying rent.  She would also have to provide you with 24 hours notice before accessing your home to make repairs and or perform routine maintenance.

The lines here are completely blurred and this is really just a petty family squabble in which you are both being unreasonable, your mom mostly.  HOWEVER, if this were a real situation where you were renting an apartment you could not stop paying rent until the items are repaired, every tenant landlord law states that you cannot stop paying rent because the LL failed to fix something, if you did that would be cause for the landlord to evict you with just cause.

Sounds like a crappy living situation and as long as you continue living there your mother will continue to neglect her home and her responsibilities.

You have no lease this is not a real rental situation.  The only thing you can do is move out.  You can try and state the laws to your mother and request repairs in writing but I think your demands would fall on deaf ears.

The saying, never do business with friends and family is a phrase that is right 100% of the time.

deb s · Answer

Well... You are a legal tenant.     That means that your mom is required to abide by the laws governing all landlords.

Here is the problem.   1) she either doesn't know or doesn't care what the law has to say.
2) she is really off the wall... it isn't safe to be around her.   3).  she is trying to get you out...and making your life h*ll to get you out.

If I were you.. I would leave.  quickly.   you do not have to give her any notice...what she has done (and continues to do) is called 'constructive eviction'...meaning she has forced you out by making the place uninhabitable.   You could probably sue her once you are gone from there.

I suggest you forget about trying to fight with her...on a legal basis or otherwise (she's nuts).   Get you and your kids out of there before it get worse.   then sue.

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This is LONG but I need opinions and answers about my renting situation?

3 Answers