Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas
My husband and I were given a house from my husbands parents. They told us that they didn't want to have to deal with the bills for it, or keep it up. They knew it wouldn't sell in the current economy (it was 2010). They also told us we could upgrade it if we wanted and we would be "compensated plus some". So we ended up updating the whole house. It was a house from the 70's and needed a lot of work to be live able. We ended up spending about $25k on fixing it up. That includes materials and hired labor, but does not include the cost of labor we did ourselves. I would estimate our labor to be between $8k-10k. The house was never put in our name, and they are selling it next week and told us they would only give us $10,000. We expect the full cost of our materials, labor, plus how much we raised the value of the house by renovating it. They refuse. What are my options to get my money? Do I need to file a police report for stolen goods (our materials in the house)? Do we just need to go straight to a lawyer?
2 Answers from Attorneys
It looks like you are in Gilmer Tex..call local lawyer or call us...you have an oral contract which could be enforced...and a lien for labor/materials...so you could file a mechanics lien on the property which would have to be paid at time of sale..good luck...
The police won't help you. Don't waste your time.
Go talk to a lawyer, today. Your remedy is probably to place a "lis pendens" against the house. This will effectively prevent the sale of the house.
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