Here’s a picture of the door. Notice that you can see light on the handle side…right-bottom side.
This is because the top hinge on the left is attached to a piece of wood and that wood is separating a bit from the door frame.
Top hinge (notice the vertical crack in the wood close to left side of the hinge)
Middle hinge
Bottom hinge – Notice the black gap gets narrower as you go down from the top hinge to the bottom hinge.
If I hold the handle and lift vertically, the door is easier to close and it doesn’t rub as much against the frame.
Can I just take the screws off and put in a really long screws?
I can potentially bend the top hinge, but I feel like that will only be temporary because of the hinge is separating from the wood (the crack next to the top hinge)
UPDATE
I took out a screw from the hinge and it was only 1" long. So, I took a few 3" screws, drove two of them into the top hinge and one in the middle hinge and the door now closes without any binding at all.
Best Answer
It's quite likely that 3-4" screws will grab hold of the framing behind that top hinge and pull it tight, completely fixing the issue.
It's possible that you may need to loosen the screws in the middle hinge, tighten down the top hinge, then tighten the middle hinge screws.
Also, be on the look out for any nails or screws that hold the casing against the framing. Usually, when a door is installed, the opening is 1/2 - 1" wider than the door casing so there's plenty of room to get the frame nice and square in the opening. This extra space is filled with shims to hold it in alignment, then it's nailed or screwed through the shims to hold it steady. It's these screws/nails that I'm referring to. They may have been covered with wood putty before the frame was painted, so they may not be very obvious.
If it was nailed into place, the nails may be slowly slipping out of place, but the heads are remaining buried under the putty. As you pull the frame back straight, it may actually pop the nail through. This will be obvious, and you only need to hammer it back in, then use a nail-set to get it below flush. Some putty & touch-up paint and you're done.
If it was screwed into place, the screw could cause the casing to bow as the threads hold the casing in place while your new, longer screws pull the hinge back in line. Use a long straight edge to detect this. The high spot will likely be a screw location & a magnet should confirm it. You may have to scrape some paint & putty away, loosen these screws, tighten the ones in the hinges then drive these back home.
Finally, do not try to bend the hinge. It won't fix this problem and it will create new ones.