Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

By "home approvals," I assume you mean home improvements.

I'm also guessing that when you use phrases like "was told" that there are no written agreements.

Lack of written agreements presents a serious problem in enforcing the agreement about living there forever for $1,500 a month - this sounds like a lifetime lease and it may be within the statute of frauds, which requires real-property leses for more than a year to be in writing and signed by a party against which it is to be enforced. However, there may be at least three viable theories to overcome this "friend's" statute of frauds defense.

First, this sounds like a lifetime lease. Since there was some possibility that the tenant's lifetime might have been less than a year, there is some case-law support for an argument that this agreement was not a lease for more than a year and thus was not required to be in writing.

Perhaps a stronger argument can be made based on a theory called promissory estoppel. Courts have wide equitable power to grant relief from a statute of frauds defense when a party has been made promises and has reasonably relied on the promises to their detriment.

In addition, the statute of frauds can sometimes be satisfied, although applicable, when there is collateral written evidence of the existence and terms of the agreement, or when there has been part performance of the agreement in reliance on the oral terms.

So, it may be possible to enforce the agreement or to require some reimbursement of the outlays made to make repairs, but it won't be easy, and a proper evaluation of your aunt's chances would require an interview and an examination of all paperwork that might reflect their arrangements.