Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Helped a friend, now they won't pay or leave
A friend of my moms was losing her house in a forclosure.She needed someone to take over ownership of the property while she lived there & was responsible for the monthly payments taxes upkeep & all of the costs incurred by the ownership transfer.Her daughter & adult gr&son who both lived there would start contributing to the monthly paymnts.The daughter had an agent that would process the transaction.The agent told my mom that she should sign a note for $48000 with the friend as the beneficiary & get a new loan for $192000(in moms name)to make it more believable to the forclosing bank.He said that the note would be reconveyed at the end of escrow & my mom would not owe the friend anything.The agent had the document recorded & wont reconvey.a years passed & they never tried to collect the $48000.The friend signed an agreement stating if the payments were late they agreed to sell the house.Moms copy was stolen.The friend has a copy.My mom found out that the daughter opened escrow on another property when mom was in escrow.The mortgage payments continue to be late.The taxes were never paid.My mom is trying to sell the house.They threatened to remove the real estate sign & wont let agents show the house.What can she do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Helped a friend, now they won't pay or leave
I'm not exactly sure what happened here, but fraud was likely committed somewhere. If your friend's mother has equity worth saving in the house (or she wants to save it), she should see a lawyer and try to remedy all this.
Re: Helped a friend, now they won't pay or leave
It's very hard to tell what happened here from the compressed version of the facts you've given. I realize there is a space limit and therefore maybe there was just no way to describe your mother's predicament adequately.
This whole situation reeks of fraud. Can't tell who was (or is) trying to defraud whom, but I'll bet there's at least one evil scheme wrapped up in this offbeat deal, and I can't be sure it wasn't your mom, or her helpers, trying to outfox the mortgage man.
I would be happy to try to dissect the deal and give you advice if you can send me more particulars (without revealing any names-use initials in telling your story), including who did what to whom and when, what money changed hands, which agreements are in writing and which are only oral, what documents were notarized and/or recorded, approximate dates, etc.
Your mom will almost certainly need the assistance of an attorney to unwind this situation and explain and enforce her rights.
This offer of additional advice, and any advice rendered, shall not create an attorney-client relationship. Such a relationship shall arise only upon execution of a written representation agreement.
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