How much for house exspenses?

[dac67]

I have to amend our chap 13 due to the fact I will have to start paying the taxes and liability insurance for a house I am living in. The house is owned by my dad and he used it solely for farm land, but we have been living in it rent free. The house is in major need of alot of repairs. It needs a new roof, siding, windows, etc. It is just a 3 bedroom ranch, one story.
He was going to put work into it, but decided not too and said he was going to "will" the house to us. So I am waiting to get confirmation of this. He said once he sits down with his lawyer he will notify me. He has moved away, he sold his main farm property and what is left will go to my brother.
My question is what is the amount that I can fairly expect to get for monthly house exspenses for this house? I live in NH. I don't know what I can fairly expect to get or ask for. What ever we get will be going into the house because it needs so much work. The land is nice, that is worth more than the house. We are 7 months into a 36 month plan. Thanks for any input.

[lrprn]

Congrats on the free housing, dac67, but sure do understand the frustration of now having to amend your plan to accommodate it as well.

A couple of questions first....is your dad willing the house to you now or will he remain the owner until after he passes away? Has your dad been paying the taxes and liability up until now so they are up to date? Is your dad keeping ownership of the land, will your brother own the land the house is on, or will you own the land the house is on?

I'm concerned that since the house (and possibly the land) could be coming to you as an inheritance during an active Ch 13 case, the trustee may look at your house as an asset he can sell. However, I'm not a lawyer - you need a good bk lawyer to protect your interests in this situation to the fullest. You didn't mention if you filed Ch 13 with a bk-specialty lawyer - did you?

If the inheritance ends up not an issue, then since you've been living in the house already, you should have a good sense of the monthly costs involved in maintaining it and can find out from your dad about the taxes and liability insurance amounts to include in the plan amendment petition to the court.

Please keep us posted on what happens, ok? Good luck!

[SinkingFast]

I would think it would look better to the Court if your Dad "leased" you the house and accepted utilities, maintenance, repairs, taxes, and insurance in lieu of rent. In essence, you're actually paying something for rent as that would be money out of Dad's pocket to take care of all those bills.

As Lrprn suggested, you could ask Dad how much he pays for taxes and insurance. Or you could get an insurance agent to come give you a quote and check with the County Assessor's office on the taxes.

Maybe get some bids for having the work that's needed done on the house and pro rate that out over a 3, 4, or 5 year time period. Live there a couple of months or so to establish utilities expenses. That should get you workable $$$'s/mo "rent" and monthly expenses figures to work with.

[dac67]

Thanks for the replies.
My lawyer said "don't let your dad die in 3 years", just because of the fact that the trustee could pull it out from underneath us.
So we are now taking over all the exspenses, we will not "own" it until he dies.
Honestly I don't want to give my dad any rent money cause he will blow it and not put money into the house. He has been saying for years now he would put new sidng and windows and roof but never has, also at first the house would be his X wifes so she could raise their son in this town because of the good schools, but now they have moved north. We didn't put the money into it cause he can be so unpredictable and take the house from underneath us. So we just had a talk with him and asked if we put the money into it, can you gaurentee you won't sell it on us. To give you an idea we have to cover 3/4 of our house on the outside to withstand the winter, because the insulation is so bad, and also the siding (even worse). As scarey as the house sounds, we maintain our property very nicely it's just the house needs some serious TLC.We live up on a hilltop so to speak and the Northeast winds are brutal when they kick up.
The land I am "supposedly" getting is completely seperate from my brother. He is getting the main farm house plus some land, my house is up the street and was mainly used for farm land use.
Whenever there has been a problem he has fixed it , now we will be responsible. If he was to die shortly though , he just took out 2nd mortgage on the property , it was completely paid for but he is selling some land and when that sells he is going to pay off this loan he just took out on the house, so worse case scenario if he was to die before paying it off , I would have a mortgage on the house.
I did ask the town on the taxes it's up to 4,000 a year and I am not sure what liability insurance goes for, so I was hoping we could ask for 400.00 a month for maintenance, plus I am thinking about 300 - 400 a month for taxes and liability insur. cause it really needs siding, windows, roof(could wait a little longer, and our burner could go it is about 26 years old, I am ready to bring pictures for the trustee of our beautiful plastic covered house. We don't cover the front out of dignity. We go thru alot of oil and propane just to heat the winter, I have to right now budget 500.00 a month for Nov, Dec, Jan , Feb for our heating. So thats why I am trying to get as much as possible for maintnance cause we are going to have to do this peice meal, we obviously have no other means to pull from but what we are bringing in for extra income. It would be easier if we lived in a warmer climate, then we wouldn't have to worry about winter, I'd rather deal with air conditioning.
So I have asked him when this all gets ironed out if he could write a letter for my lawyer and trustee, just the opposite, in lieu of rent that we are now responsible for all taxes, insurance and are responsible for the upkeep of the house. House rents around here easily go for 1200. - 1800. a month so that why I am gonna try for 400.00. Thanks again.

[Grace]

I'm kind of interested in the answer to this question. I wonder how the trustee will see the request for house maintenance expenses, things like physical repairs and such, if you don't actually own the property.

[dac67]

Me too!
We are keeping all receipts. Like today we had to replace a section of pipe from our furnace. We had a guy come out and and look at the condition of our furnace and he found major big holes in our tubing, he said this is serious and needs to be replaced, and he emphasized it again and again, he said more than once I don't want to read about you people in the paper. I can't believe we haven't been found dead yet. The exhaust pipe was half rotted, the guy at the parts store said you really should of had a carbon monoxide detector, so when I get the extra 30.00 I will. The oil company wanted to charge 78.00 an hour for labor plus supplies, well I am in a 13 so there is no 250.00 300.00 laying around so I convinced my hub he could do it and we did to the tune of 50.00.
My dad could of cared less and he never took care of this house so we are starting from scratch and doing what we can when we can which is snails pace right now.