Q: I let my brother live with my family 17 years ago when he separated from his wife and family, there was no rent.
We did 29 projects on the house, 25 of which he was paid for. Can I have him legally detained.there were no contracts, bills except for a paper i signed in 2006 that I cannot find dealing with my basement which we dugout together. He had no experience and did'nt under pin the foundation leaving me with tens of thousands of dollors of loss on the value of the house. In fact we put up block walls and irrigation canals all of which will have to be torn Otto underpin walls.
A: You have no case. You jointly participated in the work that you now claim was defective, and which neither of you had any experience or business doing. Homeowner DIY jobs carry that risk: you don’t know enough to follow building codes. That is true even if you were not beyond the statutes of limitations and repose, both of which would bar your claims even if your brother was a third-party contractor you hired to do the job.
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