tmm99
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- May 15, 2008
- Messages
- 5,221
A friend of mine has a jointly owned property - a duplex - she lives in one unit and her cousin lives in the other. A few years ago, the cousin took out a line of credit and she is still paying this back.
They had a semi-fallout and now they are putting the duplex up for sale so they can go their separate ways (they are still cordial with each other at least on the surface.) The cousin has been renovating her unit in preparation for the sale of the house. My friend hasn't been doing much although when she initially moved in, she did some renovations. Anyway, the cousin is now saying she has so far spent over $xx,000.00 on renovation. Evidently, the amount of money the cousin mentions is not just material cost, but the labor cost which cannot be substantiated with receipts since she is doing the work herself with her friends (not licensed.)
What I read said (googling) "a co-owner is entitled to recover the value added by his or her improvements of the property.", so by her doing renovation, she is entitled to "recover the value", but how do you measure the value she added?
Lets say, for example that this house sold at the market value. That is, the only increase from when we bought it, is a rise at the regular rate of the increase of the value of property in this area. What then? Can she then claim all that money back on renovations?
How do you even determine how much more the cousin should get over my friend? Is it just up to my friend and her cousin to negotiate the amount? What if they don't agree on the breakdown?
Any comments appreciated.
They had a semi-fallout and now they are putting the duplex up for sale so they can go their separate ways (they are still cordial with each other at least on the surface.) The cousin has been renovating her unit in preparation for the sale of the house. My friend hasn't been doing much although when she initially moved in, she did some renovations. Anyway, the cousin is now saying she has so far spent over $xx,000.00 on renovation. Evidently, the amount of money the cousin mentions is not just material cost, but the labor cost which cannot be substantiated with receipts since she is doing the work herself with her friends (not licensed.)
What I read said (googling) "a co-owner is entitled to recover the value added by his or her improvements of the property.", so by her doing renovation, she is entitled to "recover the value", but how do you measure the value she added?
Lets say, for example that this house sold at the market value. That is, the only increase from when we bought it, is a rise at the regular rate of the increase of the value of property in this area. What then? Can she then claim all that money back on renovations?
How do you even determine how much more the cousin should get over my friend? Is it just up to my friend and her cousin to negotiate the amount? What if they don't agree on the breakdown?
Any comments appreciated.
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