You need to be able to document the improvements with receipts.There could be a "gift" aspect to this, too. 

I'm not sure how to go from there.I suspect I won't be able to gift the property to my daughter because I would still have loan on it. 

I was just gifted a decent amount of money from my Mom to do whatever I want with it so I want to learn and get into real estate investing.

No expenses are deductible on personal days.In this case - The IRS may come and tax you on the rent and disallow you any expenses.On a side note - Allowing a relative to live rent free may require the filing of a gift-tax return if above the annual exclusion.

They just sent me a happy 25th anniversary gift. 

Once him and his girlfriend moved in, they had got the lower unit a plant as a welcoming gift and in my opinion are just really great people.  

To make a long story short a relative has given me and my wife a large sum of money as a gift and we want to use this to purchase our first Condo/home.

She is going to put my name on the title and then gift it to me so I️ don’t have to pay for a down payment .

It sounds like the aunt gifted 1/2 of the property to her nephew, based on the above.

You can always use legal means to gift back that rent to them while at the same time establishing the property as investment without displacing them.