Parents-in-law use inheritance promise to mislead us into funding their home renovation

My family is facing all sorts of troubles and disputes simply because my parents-in-law did not transfer ownership of their assets to their children early on.

My husband is the youngest of three brothers. He and I got married and decided to live in Hanoi. In 2017, I discussed with my husband about potentially renovating his parents’ house in our hometown as it was old, dilapidated, and unsafe.

At that time, we talked about the plan with my husband’s two brothers. The eldest was living in the south and said he had "no intention of returning to the hometown," so he left the matter for us to handle. The second brother said he had no objections.

After some discussion, my parents-in-law and my husband’s brothers vaguely told us: "Just pay for the house renovation yourselves, and you can live there later." They said they would not get involved or make any claims on the house.

Believing the house urgently needed renovation, my husband and I borrowed nearly VND500 million (US$19,700) to rebuild it. Initially, the renovation was for the well-being of my parents-in-law, but we later saw it as a potential place to settle down in the future. After much effort, we built a spacious house for them, which we thought would belong to us.

However, in mid-2023, my husband’s eldest brother struggled with his business and his marriage fell apart, so he got divorced and brought his child to live with my parents-in-law in the house we built. The issue is that it has been five years and my parents-in-law have not transferred the ownership of the house to us. Legally, the house still belongs to them, not us.

Recently, my parents-in-law urged us to build a new house on a nearby land plot that they own as they would keep the renovated house and eventually pass it to the eldest brother.

Feeling upset but not wanting to create conflict within the family, I told them: "We can build a new house, but only if you transfer the land plot to us first."

Yet, to this day, they have not handed the land over to us. Honestly, I have always been accommodating to maintain peace in the family. Over the years, I have treated my parents-in-law with care and respect without expecting anything in return. But we cannot just pay for a new house only for them to give it to someone else.

What should we do?

*This opinion was translated into English with the assistance of AI. Readers’ views are personal and do not necessarily match VnExpress’ viewpoints.