Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
George Sheres Says, "You need to provide additional information." If a homeowner asks you to take care of their home,pets and property for one year while away, and you do, is the H.O. your boss or your landlord? Do you consider accepting the agreement an actual hiring? There is no written agreement of any kind and homeowner will not pay for any expenses incurred by caretaker as nothing was in writing.
More info: Unfortunetly, I had made this agreement with the intent that the homeowner would cover the details prior to leaving. Perhaps intentional, but he neglected to leave any instructions, what he expected of me and my duties, how did he expect me to take care of and pay for his animals without food, supplies or money, what bills were to be paid and when or if, emergency contacts, unforseen events, any important issues etc....Things of that nature. He left nothing but his home, pets, vehicles and bills. Consequently, his failure to provide a written contact nor agreement and there was absolutely no way of contact nor communication whatsoever that entire year, I had to assume he trusted me enough to use my own judgement as to how things were managed The only thing he asked me was, "will I take care of "EVERYTHING?" And he was gone.He left to serve a one year jail sentance. That was in January of 2007. I stayed at his home taking care of "everything" & fulfilling my obligation as deemed necessary to the best of my knowledge and ability. This included; providing the necessary supplies to maintain the interior and exterior of his property, providing care and food for one dog and a cat, maintaining three vehicles, providing the materials to complete his (already in progress) large landscaping project, and any bills that came in were paid on time. This was alot of work and this was business. I never agreed to do it for free.and I did not agree to incurring any costs out of my pocket either. So naturally, I presumed the homeowner had an obligation in the agreement requiring fulfillment as well, which meant together with an understanding that upon the fulfillment of my obligation to the homeowner, per our agreement, "everything" included, taking care of his pets, yard,home, vehicles and bills, he would in turn fulfill his obligation to the agreement, thus I would be compensated for my time and the H.O. would reimburse me for any expenses I incurred upon termination of my services. However, the H.O. returned home and continued and utilizing my services while allowing me a room, rent free. It has been four years now and the H.O. continues neglecting to purchase food and necessities required for the proper care and feeding of his animals. In addidtion, he also fails to provide the necessary supplies and materials necessary for upkeep and maintenence of his home and property. Consequently, out of his irresponsibility, failure and neglect, the expenses at this time should be his obligation, remained my responsibility and expected of me. Subsequently, I have sustained over $30,000.00 in costs. I have spent over 6500 hours of my time working in and on his home improvements, upkeep, cleaning, maintainence inside and out as well as pet care. His home is completely updated He has served me an unsigned 30-day notice to surrender the property to which I hold the lease(this case, there never was one) and he refuses to pay me. His behavior becomes very hostile and vulgar that I am reluctant to ask anything of him. He attempts to belabor me and humiliate me in front of his guests by shouting obsenities all the while taking some kind of pride in telling them I don't pay rent as to make me look like some kind of welfare slouch. At times I beleive this is his way of retaliating against me for not sleeping with him. This was business and he is fully aware that he is creating a hardship for me by his actions and decisions. I have depleated my savings and I pound the pavement everyday looking for work. My He and his friends have been extremely abusive verbally but never phsyical and they continue to harass me yet he does asolutely nothing and allows it. His unattended guests have stolen my property and he does nothing to remedy it. My 30-days are up as I remain at his house. I have not been successful in finding suitable or affordable housing. I was to believe in Ca. a 60-day notice should have been served me. I don't know what to do and I'm not sure what direction legally I should take. Any further suggestions are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly for taking your time to read this and for your previous answer to my question.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Your situation is messy and I am unsure what can be done about it. He obviously is not going to pay you anything and when the matter goes to trial he will deny any obligation to you. It will be difficult for a judge or jury to believe that this has gone on for 4 years. For oral contracts, there normally is a three year period of time in which you must file suit.
For the immediate problem of the 30 day notice to you, since you have been living there for more than a year, the law requires a a 60 day notice, so the notice you received is not valid [also invalid as not signed as indicates it may not be his intend to evict you]. He can evict you without any reason being necessary. All the money you spent on him may be considered a gift. If you had no place to live when you first stayed there then it might be believed that you did all the work and spent the money in exchange for a place to live. You could sue him but the facts are too unclear as to what the intentions of the parties were for it to appear likely that you would win.
Perhaps you can re-post and get some more responses.
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