Options please

[itallcrashed]

I purchased a house 2 years ago off of a friend on an alleged land contract, but they never would give me paperwork. Since I purchased it, I have put new doors, windows, seal plate, sheeting (entire exterior), siding, flooring, electrical and furnace into it. Plus I put $10k down on the house the day I took it. Now, she wants to call it a lease and evict me on a 3 day notice.

The facts of my situation are:

Out of work (company shut down) for 6 months now
Just back to work (commissioned only)
Reserves are down to around $300.00 left.
Now vehicle (sold it and am walking 4 miles each way to work)
Gas shut off on house (live in Ohio)
Finally expect paycheck in early December
3 kids
Property taxes behind
Only insurance is on house
4 judgements from credit cards
3 more in court
Now seller of house is trying to evict me like a leased tenant.

Will chapter 7 help me get time to prove my ownership in the house (I can track all the money I paid and have receipts for all upgrades) while helping to give me a fresh start, or will they just lift the stay 7 puts in place and give her the house and put me under a bridge. I have sold off all posessions with value and can document what I got for them all. Plus, the money from selling my truck was stolen from me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am about to spend this last $300 to file the paperwork, it said it's $274.00 to file. At least we will eat for 1 more day.

[Westlane]

wow...some friend! personally, i would hire a lawyer on contingency. it looks like a good case you may prevail in. unfortunetly it could take some time to win. i dont see how you are responsible for the property taxes or insurance because you appearantly dont have title to the property. and i would fight the eviction big time. at least you would have a hearing and find out what the courts opinion on ownership is.
you are already judgement proof, credit ruined, no need to bk just yet.

[lrprn]

I purchased a house 2 years ago off of a friend on an alleged land contract, but they never would give me paperwork. .

So given the limited information we have at the moment, if I understand you correctly you have been putting many, many thousands of your own dollars into a house for two years with no written contract in hand. And you've kept doing it even though the original owners never gave you the paperwork (how many times did you ask for it?)

If the answer is yes, then unfortuantely you've left yourself wide open to some major financial hurt here.

Did you ever sign anything that set this agreement in motion or was it a "handshake" deal with the official papers to come along at some "later date"?

What are the grounds for the eviction?

[genseeker]

Are there any witnesses? Maybe a mutual friend who is willing to testify they knew about the agreement? That might help you in small claims. Or a longshot option but can you file a lein against the house for all the work & expense you have done? The laws differ state to state but it is worth checking. Make sure you keep all the receipts for all the supplies.

Something hubby did once when someone stiffed him on car repairs...he sent them a certified letter with copies of the receipts for the parts he purchased and requested repayment as agreed in phone call on XX/XX/XXXX. He did have cell phone records to verify he did call the person that date. He also put in the letter that if they disagreed with the work he performed and the parts he replaced, they needed to contact him to resolve the issue. We got the green card and they did receive the letter. He did this when he wasn't paid the week after the car was fixed. Several weeks went by and they still wouldn't pay him and completely stopped answering our calls at all. So I made hubby file against them in small claims for the costs. They received notice and did not bother to show up for court but hubby did. Hubby had the copy of the letter along with the green card and provided them and the priginal receipts as proof. Judge ruled in his favor and then he took a copy of the recorded judgment to DMV and placed a lein on the guy's vehicle. The guy had the car for sale but he was not able to sell it until hubby was paid off because I made it clear the lein would not be released without payment in full.