A difficult question on eviction , breach of contract etc. INDIANA?

Question

Confusing , but here goes. My sister and her husband just recently moved into a home. That belonged to his moms then girlfriend. They have since broken up. And now this "ex" is talking about wanting to move back into this home with a new girlfriend. The home in question is a mobile home and this person wanted them to pay $800 for it. It is a fixer upper ! They have paid half , have receipts etc. Have applied at the park for residency , had police reports ran on them etc. So that establishes them as residences at that lot number - correct ? This girl was also in contact with the office stating she no longer lived there , had interest in living there and that she was selling to my sister and her husband. Would they not be references should my sister have to battle this out in court ? Now here is the clincher. After all of this we find out this girl is not the true owner someone else is. She still owed another for it. Isn't this man the rightful owner and the only one whom can evict ?

I would think that if this girl has not fulfilled her agreement with this other man , she in essence is in breach with this owner. Not only for subletting it so to speak. But for abandonment issues as well. Not to mention the fact she has my sister in there under false pretenses. Stating she was the owner , that they would own it , and know to find out she is not the legal owner. My sister and her husband has paid half on this , and the other half was/is due this next week. They have not signed anything other than at the office where the mobile home is. They are the ones on the lease at the trailer court. Not the other girl. Now if my sister doesn't pay the other half to this girl , what can be done ? If this girl accepts money and we get a contract written up and notorized will it hold up ? We do not have the money for an attorney at this time , so is a call to local legal aid recommended ?And finally,if she can evict them , what is the time statute before they have to vacate 30 days?

Answer 1

You're not going to like my answer. But here goes:

Somebody owns the home. Somebody owns the land it sits on. Usually it is the same person, but in the case of mobile homes it can be different. The person who owns the land (the trailer park owner) may evict anyone from it. That person's agent (the trailer park operator & employees & agents) may evict anyone from it.

Most of that stuff you wrote is worthless. Produce the answer to the following question and you will know who can rent to and evict from the trailer:

Who owns the land it sits on?

You can come up with fancy papers and tales of people who lived there and moved out, relationships gone bad, sex, lies, breeches of contracts, receipts for money paid, opinions of ownership, and other opinions of true ownership - but that is the way nine year olds settle disputes on the playground. It's not the real world. Judges don't want to hear it... It is static. Irrelevent noise.

There is an agency that tracks titles to land and to mobile homes. It is there that the answer to the above mentioned question lies. But I wouldn't put much money on the owner of the trailer in this case. It is the owner of the trailer park who will win this fight. You have no standing in a dispute between the trailer park owner and this other girl, no say at all - IMHO.

Good luck. I hope this helps. Sorry if my news was not what you wanted to hear. I will keep looking to see if you add to what you have said and answer more if needed.

Answer 2

You should tell them about your job loss, that fact could work heavily in your favor. They don't want a tenant that can't afford the place any more than you want to stay in a place in you can't afford. One thing confuses me, why do you have to pay an early move out fee of 3k PLUS the monthly rent? Or am I misunderstanding you? Reason I ask is because the penalty fee is supposed to be in lieu of monthly rent, if you were to continue paying rent it would defeat the purpose of a penalty fee..