The property is an investment property for you since you don't live there. However, depreciation is not a deduction allowed on an investment property. The only way you could deduct depreciation is if you rented the property out. This may be to your advantage, however, since when you sell the property you have to recover the depreciation you took as ordinary income (as opposed to capital gain income) to the extent you have a gain on the sale.
When you sell the house at a gain, the couple that lives there can only exclude their share of the gain from taxation, you would have to account for your share on your tax return.
Since you are all legally obligated to pay the mortgage and property taxes, the portion the couple pays is not income to you, as there is not anything in the mortgage agreement that says you have to pay, only that it gets paid.
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