Parents Died Who Inherits Home

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News about tenants refusing to leave houses they rented, might force families to talk each other, more. There are hundreds of movies about children going to court to question a parent’s will. Why would father leave the family home to his wife of two years, who is barely 25?

That is fiction. In real life, we don’t live in family homes we inherited.  You know the story: “I don’t see myself living in that town, ever again.” We never go back for one reason or the other, and the family home remains unoccupied, weeds all around, an open invitation to  squatters. We might think renting it out is a better option. Not anymore. Stories about tenants refusing to leave when the lease has expired are on the rise. That might be a wrong impression. Maybe we are seeing more cases now because aggrieved owners are going online about their plight, caused by provincial and state laws that favour the illegal occupation.

Families don’t talk to each other. That’s why we wait until we see the family home in the news, with defiant squatters wearing masks. If we talk more, we would come up with solutions. Sell it, or have it occupied somehow. In fact, the first thing on the agenda would be doing research on city regulations about unattended properties; rental legislation and the property’s annual value. How about debt? The property might be owing the municipality back taxes. It might have a massive water and electricity bill. Families cannot know that if there’s no communication.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

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