Friendship & business don't mix

think you need to take legal advice.

Legal advice would be wise but I would just move out quietly as you are planning to and take with me all the furniture I’d bought and anything else I’d bought which was not purchased in lieu of rent. I’d also gather together any receipts or other proofs of purchase just in case.

And as soon as you are safely moved I’d pull the plug on the ‘friendship’. No forwarding address, block his calls.

Did you sign any kind of tenancy agreement stating exactly what you had agreed with 'your friend'? If yes, then I assume you have adhered to your side of the agreement, so I don't see that he can demand you leave your furnishings behind, unless you had signed an agreement to say you would do this. If no, then, frankly, I see that he has no right to ask you to leave your furnishings.

Considering that you initially agreed to repair his house, and maintain it, in lieu of paying rent, for quite some time, then he decided to charge you rent, seems to me like he's onto a winner ... gets someone else to do all the work, and pay for it, then he decides to hike up the rent payments!

Have you kept invoices/receipts for all the money you have spent on the house repairs/maintenance/furnishings? If so, I'd bill him for them all! ... but first, I'd move out, taking all my furnishings with me, and then take legal advice, if you can afford it. If you can't, you'll have to put it down to experience, and make sure in future that you get everything in writing ... even from a 'friend'.

Hopefully you have kept every single receipt for goods purchased to fix up the property, go back, do a spread sheet detailing all of your labour hours spent working on said property.

I don’t suppose you took lots of before and after photos showing the property and the tatty furniture did you? If you did, put them in the file with you.

I’m sure he won’t pursue you for any money, he knew he was onto a good thing at the time. But if he does hopefully you can back it all up with your receipts.
But please don’t do anything in future without a proper Rental Agreement.

Thank you all for your answers. I do have receipts, no pictures, and that is my plan -- move out quickly and quietly. DH wants me to give him a heads-up, I think that would be a mistake, our adult kids agree with me. As of today, I plan to call him the end of the day movers are finished.

PS. Don’t delete any of his texts to you, especially the one saying that your furniture is better than his so he’d like to keep it.
Good luck with your move.

I think your DH sees him as a friend, to me he’s a Landlord who came up with a good deal (for himself)

If you have your mail forwarded by the Postal Service I see no reason why he should know where you are and you can always block his calls after you have told him you have vacated the property.

Make sure you leave his keys in a safe place and please take photographs of the vacant property, all of the rooms, white goods ( if any) inside and out and empty cupboards, maybe some pictures of the outside and any outbuildings inside and out.
This is standard for people moving out of a rental property, as phone photos are timed and dated, it shows that his property was in good condition when you locked it up for the last time.

As has already been suggested, take everything that you own with you when you leave, which should include any white goods cooker washing, machine etc if you purchased them, and take dated photographs of the interior and exterior as evidence that the house was in good condition when you left.

Tell him when you've left where the keys are and have no further contact.

Grannytomany

Legal advice would be wise but I would just move out quietly as you are planning to and take with me all the furniture I’d bought and anything else I’d bought which was not purchased in lieu of rent. I’d also gather together any receipts or other proofs of purchase just in case.

And as soon as you are safely moved I’d pull the plug on the ‘friendship’. No forwarding address, block his calls.

Wise advice.

Doing business with close friends is a definitely dilema. Not wise.

I agree that legal advice is required here and I would pull the plug on friendship here - there is no friendship here and block his calls and never give him your new address.

Truly a horrendous greedy individual.

Did he throw out his furniture or did you?

It was more of a together sort of thing. We were there, he was there, worker men were there. As we walked through, he said, just throw it all out, it's all old. Except the dining table and a very few other things. Those were stored to return to house.

This man is clearly no longer a friend despite what your DH may wish. He has taken advantage of your generosity. I would as advised earlier, take many photos,take all the furniture you have paid for, and quietly leave without a forwarding address.
He is very much the loser in this situation your friendship is worth more than the money.

Indeed a sticky situation to be in. If there are no signed, legal contracts or leases there’s not much either one of you can do.

It’s a “he said… she said…” situation.

I like what Grannytomany said - a hasty unannounced move, then terminate that relationship.

(Maybe put “his” furniture in the garage 😇)

Unless you had any legal agreements then I think you are probably on a sticky wicket.

I would move out and tell him to get his own bloody furniture and let him chase you if he has any issues with that, obviously take photographs when you leave

Never do business with friends,
My DIL let a friend rent a house they were there for 9 months and trashed the place, the whole house had to be redecorated , it cost £2000.
Furious of course but took it on the chin, decorating is tax deductable, put it down to experience.

If it's causing your poor DH upset, do you have any charity shops that sell cheap furniture? I would definitely take my own and doubt very much that he has any evidence of what his furniture actually looked like or even if there was any there in the first place. Get your own stuff out, other stuff in if you want to, loads of photos and an independent witness if you have access to one and don't worry about this so called friend again. You have given enough money by getting his property up to scratch.

Nantotwo

If it's causing your poor DH upset, do you have any charity shops that sell cheap furniture? I would definitely take my own and doubt very much that he has any evidence of what his furniture actually looked like or even if there was any there in the first place. Get your own stuff out, other stuff in if you want to, loads of photos and an independent witness if you have access to one and don't worry about this so called friend again. You have given enough money by getting his property up to scratch.

We have a brilliant large recycling shop here you can furnish a house for peanuts, they even supply new mattresses if you need one, ideal for kids beds. Even cookers and fridges all checked over and safe

Do you have any evidence of the "improvements" or repairs you made to the property? I would definitely take some legal advice as others have suggested. I would leave him the four walls of his house and nothing else. Without an actual lease he is (probably) helpless to impose penalties. Landlords have many legal obligations and it looks like he has skipped most of his.

No, business and friendship never mix.

Update: We were able to move out as planned with no interference. The movers got all of our belongings, I took pictures as suggested, and the cleaning ladies came. I called Jason when they were done. In a rather terse tone, he said, "So you've moved out without even telling me?" I said, "No, I replied to your first email that I'd find us something else and you said OK." Then in a tone that said he'd been called out, "OK." I haven't blocked him, but haven't heard anything more. Thank you for all of your suggestions. It cleared my thinking.

Well done. And thanks for coming back to let us know. I hope there are no repercussions.

mabon1

Unless you had any legal agreements then I think you are probably on a sticky wicket.

So is he! Best to just vanish and avoid leaving forward addresses with any mutual friends.

As far as the furniture goes have all the receipts for the payment of proving the furniture is yours. I assume there is nothing in a contract saying if you dispose of his furniture that you have to leave replacements.
If he arrives when you are moving and he creates problems ring for the police, record by phone any conversation he has with you, say as little as possible.
Have helpers for witnesses. Send the keys by registered post.