Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You need to provide additional information. If you did not live in the house, clearly you were not a tenant. If the primary purpose of the situation was that you were going to live there while they were away and part of your duties as a tenant was to take care of the property, you are a tenant. If you were hired as a caretaker, depending on how much freedom you had in performing your duties and some other factors you were either an independent contractor or an employee. nothing need be by law in writing, but it is reckless not to have the terms written down as otherwise there will be a dispute as to what actually was agreed to.

You need to think this situation out in much more detail and get everything in writing as there are numerous dangers, such as whether you get injured are you entitled to Workers' Comp., are you covered by the home owners insurance, etc.

Don't Do Stuff Verbally. Go to small claims court for your reasonable expenses.

A third possibility is that the agreement was a social agreement, like a date to the prom. The law doesn't provide a remedy when your date stands you up, nor for other routine agreements between freinds, neighbors and acquaintances. Nevertheless, legal contracts often don't need to be in writing. Try small claims if you can't work something out more gracefully.