can a tenant demand money for work done of his own remission

[Michael W.]

Hey all I have a question,

I am fairly new to the landlord process but I have a few properties. and I started noticing I might need help with some of the repairs. I had a family member who was in a bad situation who offered to help me. but he lived in another state.

So what I did was to purchase him a home and made a agreement to sell it to him for what I paid for it and finance it myself.

we agreed on a extremely low payment for a set period and everything was fine he helped me when I couldn't go myself. or when I needed extra hands.

shortly after he moved in he started to remodel the home. he put in a new floor in the kitchen and re tiled the bathroom etc...

I didn't ask him to do any of these things. but didn't think anything about it as far as I was concerned it was his home.

I don't call wells fargo when I remodel why should he ask me.

we had always done the purchase via verbal agreement but about two years in he said he would prefer a contract.

I agreed but told him that he would have top pay for the attorney to write the agreement  < probably about $200.00 > so he hemmed and hawed and I got the contract made but he never signed it. I asked him several times but he always blew it off. I explained all we needed to do was to go to a notary but again nothing and he never brought it up again

yesterday he informed me he was moving out and he wanted to be paid for the work he did on the home and he grabbed a arbitrary number from the air of $4000.00 that he wanted now or the home would not be in good condition when he leaves. he suggested he would remove any improvements he did and the home would need a lot of work when he was done..

Now beyond the entire blackmail thing can he do that?

can a tenant < because that's how I am looking at him now> demand payment for work they decided to do on their own? I never approached him about tiling or doing anything like that. I did offer to help but again because he was buying the home.

and can he vandalize the home before he leaves and remove something that is firmly affixed to the home? tile lights heck the hvac for all I know

[Joel Owens]

Tough spot.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Are you in a landlord friendly or tenant friendly state??

Since you didn't get a written agreement it's your word against his in a front of a judge in court. Is your family member judgment proof meaning they have low income and bad credit etc.??

You could if local to the property go take pictures with a date and time stamp of the improvements. This way you have a record if he destroys the property when you go to court. He could say you gave the lower rent in exchange for the improvements.

Have you looked at these "improvements" he has done to the property?? If the finish is not professional he might have actually devalued the property instead of improved it by poor application and use.

At this point you might want to get a consult from an eviction attorney that is local to the property to see options.

No legal advice given.