Living with my cousin for 8 months. He never asked for rent but I would give money when I could. Help with household chores and buy groceries monthly. Now all of a sudden he wants me out. What legal rights do I have?
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It's not clear to me whether you would be considered a "tenant" under Iowa law. You never had a formal written agreement but you did pay some money in rent and household expenses. Your agreement did not have a set end date either.
However, even if you were a rent-paying tenant in the legal sense, your cousin (who is effectively your landlord) could terminate your rental agreement with 30 days' notice. See Iowa Code §§562A.9(5):
Unless the rental agreement fixes a definite term, the tenancy shall be week-to-week in case of a roomer who pays weekly rent, and in all other cases month-to-month.
The landlord or the tenant may terminate a month-to-month tenancy by a written notice given to the other at least thirty days prior to the periodic rental date specified in the notice.
So the best-case scenario is that you can stay in the property for another 30 days before you have to move out.
(This assumes that your cousin is not willing to renegotiate the terms of your tenancy, e.g., you start paying rent every week or month. They might be willing to do this, but if they just want you gone, they have no legal obligation to renegotiate.)
Michael Seifert
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In Germany, you get rights when you pay rent. So if it’s the other way around and you let someone live in your home to help them out, it is strongly recommended to not accept some small rent payment so they don’t acquire any rights.
So in Germany you would have no rights. Because you are not a “non-paying renter”, you are not a renter at all.
Barmar
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gnasher729
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