Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

My fiance and I moved into this home back in 2014. Her parents new we were looking for a place and offered to have us move in here and take it over under the condition that we fix it up (borderline dilapidated at the time) and pay the taxes on the place, with the idea of her inheriting the house when they passed.

We found out that they don't actually own the house. Her grandfather does, but her aunt has power of attorney, and now she is trying to evict us (which is a shocking thing to hear when we were operating under the idea that we were soon to be home owners).

There was never a lease or contract drawn up or signed, so this is a verbal contract apparently. We're fine with moving, but now they're throwing everything they have at us to try and force us to move out quickly because they think they can sell the house if we aren't living here.

We're about 2 months from being able to move (after draining our bank accounts trying to fix the place up), and no guarantee that we will be able to find a place in the middle of winter to move in to quickly.

Anything we can do to buy ourselves some more time? They haven't given a written notice yet, but we're pretty sure that's coming soon.


Asked on 10/09/16, 12:48 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

This is complicated -- to complicated for this kind of forum. You may possibly wind up having a case against your fiance's parents for letting you think you could take over and put money into the place, or possibly a mechanic's lien claim against the home and owner. But since you're not even married yet there are additional complications depending on whose money was used. Since it sounds like you sunk a lot of money into the place, you really need to get a lawyer to protect your interests. And because you and your fiance may wind up with conflicting interests, you and your fiance may need your own attorneys.

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Answered on 10/10/16, 1:27 pm


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