I Let My Cousins Live In My House For 7 Years At Half Of Market Rent. They Got Evicted By The Sheriff, Owe Me 20k, Trashed The House, And Are Now Trying To Claim Ownership Of My House.

LOCATION: MO

TLDR: I let family live in my house for 7 years at roughly half of market rent with the agreement I'm not a landlord and problems were theirs to deal with. They repeatedly fell behind and eventually owed around 20k. I paid the mortgage while also paying rent elsewhere. I finally evicted them, won multiple times in court, and had the sheriff remove them. Now they are claiming ownership rights, demanding either the house or 20k, filing appeals, filing complaints with HUD and the housing authority, filing a lis pendens against the property, and generally trying to cost me as much money as possible. I even have messages showing they threatened years ago to drag things out and cost me money if I tried to remove them.

My lawyer says there is not much I can do yet because most of what they have filed is technically part of the original eviction case rather than separate lawsuits. Has anyone dealt with something like this before? How can I stop this endless cycle of vicious and petty lawsuits?

Full Story

About seven years ago, I let two cousins move into a house I own because they were struggling financially. One receives SSI and the other is unemployed and pursuing SSI.

I was trying to help family, not become a landlord. Instead of charging market rent, I only charged enough to cover the mortgage payment, which was approximately half of what a comparable house would rent for in my area. The understanding was simple. They would make the monthly payment, handle repairs and maintenance, and I would stay largely out of it.

Over the years they fell behind multiple times, often by thousands of dollars. At one point they received rental assistance during COVID and were able to get caught up. I gave them another chance.

Unfortunately, the pattern repeated itself.

Eventually they stopped paying again and ended up around 20,000 behind.

Meanwhile, I was still paying the mortgage on the house and also paying rent to my sister where I was living. For years I was effectively subsidizing their housing situation while falling behind financially myself and being unable to save much of anything.

When I finally decided enough was enough and told them they had to leave, everything went off the rails.

I hired an attorney, filed for eviction, won the eviction case, defeated their attempt to dismiss it, got their late trial de novo thrown out, and ultimately had to have the sheriff physically remove them because they refused to leave voluntarily.

Since then, it feels like they have made it their full time job to make my life miserable and we are currently fighting the appeal.

Some of their claims include:

• That they should not have owed rent because the roof leaked.
• That they should not have owed rent because the sewer would back up during heavy rain.
• That they should not have owed rent because I allegedly lacked an occupancy permit.
• That they have sweat equity and therefore partial ownership of the home.
• That because I once discussed the possibility of selling them the house, they somehow acquired ownership rights.
• That I wrongfully denied them access to belongings.
• That her adult son, who was never on the lease, was wrongfully removed and is now suing me.
• That I caused their 7 year-old undo trauma

The roof and sewer allegations are especially frustrating because I was aware of both issues, and they had expressly agreed to handle repairs and maintenance as part of our arrangement. I did not expect them to replace the roof, however, they originally claimed patching a roof would be no problem when they knew of the small leak when they first moved in. When they fell behind in rent they decided that was beyond their means they started demanding I fix it, which is hard to afford when this arrangement does not make any profit and is actually costing me money since I'm covering their rent/cost of mortgage while payung rent to live somewhere else.

The sewer issue was also not some catastrophic ongoing disaster. During heavy rain there would occasionally be water backup through drains in the basement. Drain plugs were installed and the issue was effectively resolved. If their claims about constant sewage flooding were true, I do not think they would have felt comfortable storing enough belongings in the basement to pack it nearly wall to wall with possessions.

I also have documentation showing they agreed to handle repairs and maintenance.

On top of the lawsuits, they have:

• Filed a lis pendens against my property.
• Repeatedly demanded settlements where I either sign over the house or pay them 50,000 because they claim that is how much they invested in improvements.
• Filed complaints with HUD claiming I improperly took money, although I still do not know what funds they are referring to.
• Filed complaints with the housing authority over the eviction, despite the rental assistance they received being years earlier and unrelated to the eviction itself.
• Filed appeal after appeal whenever something does not go their way.

One thing that really bothers me is that I have evidence from years ago during an earlier dispute where they specifically stated that if I pursued eviction they would drag things out and cost me money.

That is exactly what has happened.

Another issue involves their belongings.

When they were removed, they immediately left the city and then left the state, choosing to stay in Airbnbs. They did not contact me regarding most of their property until more than 25 days after the eviction.

The sheriff had advised that they had already been given substantial time to prepare for removal and that anything left behind after the eviction would effectively become my responsibility to deal with. Based on that understanding, and because they made little effort to retrieve many of the items left behind, most of the property was ultimately disposed of.

They finally left, then returned asking for specific items like a purse and some meds. All the requested items were gathered, as well as a bunch of non requested items for their daughter, because they had barley grabbed anything for her so we were trying to make sure she had clothes and some items. They left again, then when they though we were gone, attempted to break into the house, so I called the police who were still there when they returned a 3rd time so they were legally ticketed with trespassing

They are now using that as another basis for claims against me.

Some of the most absurd allegations stem from the actual eviction day.

According to them:

• The sheriff originally said they would only have 10 minutes to pack.
• The sheriff then gave them approximately an hour.
• Instead of spending that time packing, they spent much of it arguing with and yelling at law enforcement.
• The deputy allegedly threatened them because he rested a hand near his firearm.
• My father supposedly had personal connections with the deputy and that is the real reason they were removed.
• Her son allegedly had to physically protect her from the deputy by standing between them.

The reality, as observed by everyone else present, was that she was the one actively screaming in the deputy's face.

My attorney's position has basically been that there is not much I can do right now because almost everything they have filed so far has technically been part of the original eviction case.

Most of the motions, appeals, requests for review, and other filings have been child proceedings stemming from that original action rather than entirely new lawsuits.

According to my attorney, courts generally allow parties broad latitude to pursue appeals and post judgment motions, even when those efforts ultimately fail. Because of that, there has not yet been a clear point where we could successfully argue they are engaging in abusive litigation or misuse of the legal system. Despite random motions like "Motion for Judicial Notice of Child Trauma".

The one possible exception is the separate lawsuit filed by her son, who was never a party to the lease and is now bringing his own claims. That appears to be the first matter that is truly separate from the original eviction proceedings.

So while friends and family keep telling me to sue them back, my lawyer's view is that the courts see most of this as continued litigation arising from the same underlying case, not a pattern of independent lawsuits that would justify sanctions or restrictions.

At this point I have won the eviction, won a judgement of rent, won subsequent motions, defeated multiple attempts to undo the eviction, and continue to prevail whenever actual evidence is required.

My problem is that every victory costs money.

I am out roughly 20,000 in unpaid rent that I will likely never recover because their income is primarily protected income that cannot realistically be garnished. I have spent thousands more on attorneys. Meanwhile, they continue filing because they qualify to proceed in forma pauperis and can continue initiating actions with little financial risk to themselves.

They managed to get a free attorney at one point and subsequently fired him for basically informing them they their claims and demands were a lost cause.

It has now been 4 months since the initial eviction and my lawyer is telling me that I should give them some of the items they keep requesting. They have also already threatened litigation for anything damaged or missing. Well they keep demanding to get into the house to get them, which is a no go, and a lot have been disposed of because the house was TRASHED. Like couldn't see the floor from clothes and garbage trashed. aside from the fact that I want to keep some of the items to help furnish the house and offset some of the money the owe/have cost me, I know they are going to sue in civil court, because items have already been removed and they basically listed the entire house in their wanted items. I'm also just beyond fed up and really don't want to play nice anymore.

It honestly feels like they are not trying to win anymore. It feels like they are trying to financially exhaust me.

Has anyone dealt with a former tenant or family member who repeatedly filed claims, appeals, complaints, and lawsuits despite repeatedly losing? At what point does a court consider this abusive litigation, and is there any realistic mechanism for recovering attorney fees, obtaining sanctions, or restricting someone who appears determined to weaponize the legal system simply to cause expense and frustration?