Original Title: question
question I have a house for rent…my mom recently renewed the contract…however the house is in my name and before she just help me with the house since I was in the states…but recently she just signed the contract without telling me and she doesn’t know the market and only collecting half the rent …also I was thinking about moving into that house…so my question is before she was just doing that house stuff for me…she help me pay tax and she is like representing me legally or soemthing…my question is since I am the real property owner can I disregard the contract she signed (she arrranged the contract with the tenant privatly…didn’t sign in court…does that stand?) does it stand I mean can I just take over the house and contract and do a new contract…I am thinking about moving in also but the contract is already signed hmm…so I was wondering…also she doesn’t let me collect the rent…the tenant doesn’t know me either…long story…any advice would be appreciated
Where is the house located? Taiwan?
How old are you?
Kaohsiung
I am 28
So, your mother, acting as your agent, rented the property and now you want to kick the tenants out because she rented it for to little??? You definitely won’t get any nominations for landlord of the year. Besides, in Taiwan, one doesn’t have to go to court to sign a lease; they sell generic leases in bookstores, all legally binding to my understanding.
If you did pursue this and sought to void the existing contract and succeeded, wouldn’t the tenant, by the same logic, be able to pursue legal action against your mother for impersonating the property owner, deceiving the renter and,thus, sue her for loss and damages. That’s what I would do if her son came along and kicked me out of a property I had rented.
well I needed a place to stay and I was pissed that she didn’t tell me before she signed the contract with them.
well at least I think I want the rent to be the same or similar to the houses in that area…legally can I void the contract the tenant signed with my mom and do another one?
I never sign anything to let her be my agent or anything…but she did pay taxes for me and in the tax form it says something she is “person legally representing me” no clue
she even took all the rent money…I ask for the money now and she is like not giving them to me…or part of it…hmmmmmm
Edited by MT:
I suggest you leave the tenants alone and try to work out your issues with your mom.
And next time you leave the country, legally appoint someone or hire someone to take care of your affairs while you are away. That way, your mother won’t be involved, as it sounds you would prefer.
[quote=“ironfist”]well I needed a place to stay and I was pissed that she didn’t tell me before she signed the contract with them.
well at least I think I want the rent to be the same or similar to the houses in that area…legally can I void the contract the tenant signed with my mom and do another one?
I never sign anything to let her be my agent or anything…but she did pay taxes for me and in the tax form it says something she is “person legally representing me” no clue
she even took all the rent money…I ask for the money now and she is like not giving them to me…or part of it…hmmmmmm[/quote]
Did you purchase the property? I mean, how do you come to own it?
inherited it
OK. I was asking these questions because I wanted to get a better understanding of the circumstances. I was wondering if this was a place that your folks bought in your name and whether you have legal capacity in Taiwan.
It seems to me that you don’t need a legal solution. As others have pointed out, you need to first discuss this with your mother and inform her that you will be managing the property from now on. You will need to do whatever is necessary with whatever authorities are involved to revoke your mother’s right of agency per your property/affairs.
If I were you, I would honor the lease, as its the right thing to do (and because the tenant has certain legal rights to the property now). Its probably only a one year lease… right? If you want to raise the rent or have the tenant move out when the term of the present lease expires, you’d better ascertain what the current lease stipulates regarding this and you’d also better let the tenant know as soon as possible.
my background is taiwanese but I am usa citizen…don’t have any citizenship in tw yet…hmm question since I am usa citizen I heard if I want to sell house or property I can’t? I need to go through my mom or someone that has citizenship in tw?
ya I would try to talk to my mom first…the tenants have been there for few years, I know them and don’t want to do anything rude.
hm what authority can revoke my mom’s right of agency?
thanks a lot…that was very helpful…
I don’t know of any restrictions on foreign nationals selling residential real property in Taiwan. If you can own it, you ought to be able to sell it.
I guess I would start with the tax office.
With regard to the mother’s right of agency, would the op be better to contact the tax office or the department of household registry to verify or alter who has ‘head of household’ status in their family? It is my understanding that Taiwanese citizens can legally and financially separate themselves from their parents by declaring themselves the head of their own household. But, with the op being a US citizen, there may be circumstances which would prevent this.
Tigerman, out of curiosity, is there any equivalent to a ‘power of attorney’ here in Taiwan? If so, this might also be an option for the poster.
I don’t think the property is registered as the household. If I were the op, I would take the form that he identified as having an indisction that his mother is his agent and advise the tax office that he is revoking this agency and ask what steps need to be taken to accomplish this. That would be just my start.
Taiwan uses oodles of POAs. However, I don’t think this would help in this case, as he is trying to revoke his mother’s agency… not to grant a power to anyone.
Thanks for the reply, especially viz. POA. Something I’ve been meaning to look into for personal reasons for a long time. :bravo:
what’s POA, viz?
Power of Attorney