Looking for advice on my situation

[Christopher Balint]

Ok, so where to start. I’m currently living in a duplex with my Uncle John, the second oldest of three brothers, who has been barely paying rent for 30 years living there. The house has been in my dads name for about 10 years now when the house was passed down to him from his brother Vic, the oldest of the three. The house has been in the family since the 40’s, and when my Uncle Vic got a hold of it, he agreed to let his brother, John rent out the top unit. John has been there so long now on very underpriced rent, he has believed the house has become his. Because my Uncle Vic had gotten tired of the BS, my dad had taken it over thinking he was saving a family gem. But now of course 10 years later since my dad has been taking on the taxes and other expenses and still losing money to the house due to my Uncle living there, he also has gotten fed up and wants to get rid of it. The house has been very very neglected for quite some time now, consequences of having a bad tenant who is also family, and needs to be most likely torn down or a complete new rehab. Me listening to bigger pockets for a couple years now thought this would be a great opportunity to house hack so everybody wins. So I talked to my dad and moved out of my apartment and into the house August 2019. I quickly realized I’m taking on way more than I can chew, starting with trying to get my uncle John out of the house. This stubborn old man is 67 and believes that he is still owned something from his siblings and is making very difficult for my entire family. So I decided that my father and uncle needed to talk it out. Thinking that these two men in their 60s could talk let Adults was a huge mistake, considering that the sit down turned into a fist fight back around Christmas. My Uncle had taken my father to court for assault. Now it’s time to come pay taxes on the house which are a little over 11k/year, and my father rather just give it up to the government than be bothered with it anymore. I think it’s not smart to throw a house away for a crappy tenant, especially since the house had been paid off many years ago and I got it appraised for 240K as is. I told my father I would take it over but he refused as long as his brother still lives there. Really at a lost year and have till the end of the month. 

[Lynnette E.]

It will never, ever, ever get better with your uncle.  He has been there too long and is not going to move on his own.  Nor will he fix the place with his funds or pay market rate rent.  It will not change.

The only real solution is to sell it to someone else and let them evict the uncle or raise the rent.  He was promised the ability to rent it and he has.   He can continue to rent it with a new landlord, if he does what the new LL wants.  

If you feel sorry for him, set some money aside for him for his first/last month rent and moving expenses when the new LL asks him to leave.  That will also keep him off your couch in the future.

But it will be better for all of the family if you let someone else deal with the uncle.  Emotionally your dad can not.  And you can just tell the uncle that you have to sell it because the income from rent does not pay for the taxes, insurance and needed repairs.  So sorry, but you can not afford to keep putting your money into this property, its a money pit that you can not feed any longer.  THEN SELL IT.  Don't let him promise paying more and then extend your father's misery.  He won't keep the promise in the end and it will be the same situation.

The house is not a family gem.  It is trashed.  Once it is sold, you can buy a better investment, and remember those that helped allow this from the gift of the first property.

Carefully think through your action.  You uncle will be mad when you put it up for sale and likely try to stop the sell.  It would be better for you to actually physically not be there or any of your stuff you value because he may react in ways that are violent.  BUT, if you are living there, you can be the resident giving permission for potential buyers to come into the property to look at it.  You don't need all the occupants to give permission, just one person per unit.  So if you are living there you have the advantage that he can not block access.  I'd suggest officially staying there-living there, maybe on an old couch on random nights, don't give up your occupancy.  But really move out yourself and stuff.  Maybe let uncle think you are sometimes sleeping over at a girlfriend's house, but you can not move in with her, but are living at the property until it sells. Or you are staying with some relative sometimes as they are not feeling well, need extra help.  But you are officially still living in the property, so you can give access to the potential buyers.   Some story like that.