My brother had it happen to him on a rental house being managed by a rental company (so he didn't have a key). A neighbor called and said someone was in the house. They waited for him to leave then brother & sons went through the kitchen window and threw everything on the lawn and destroyed a fake rental agreement from Staples. Then they sat on the porch (3 big guys) and waited. The person pulled up in a van, meekly took his stuff, and left. Sometimes it's better to do things on your own.

We've had several cases of squatting in Houston in the past year or two. It's absolutely insane that the owners don't have much/any, recourse. These people had FAKE leases with the owners or agents listed. Lawyers suggested having house sitters for vacations, hospital stays, even for a weekend! Install exterior cameras around the home & yard, w/ some hidden and/or too high to see/disable. Interior cameras on entry/exits, main living areas, kitchen & main suite. You need to be able to access them remotely & have footage saved in 2 places online. Then THE OWNER can prove trespassing, breaking & entering and any destruction of property. But all this can cost THOUSANDS that most people don't have. They go for upper middle class areas usually, where neighbors don't really know each other, but the homes are nicer/bigger. Sad 😔

Ok i dont undersrand this,someone can just move in your house and sheriff can't do anything but a senior citizen tenant or a poor single mun who late on rent in virginia can be kicked out on street in days.How messed up is that.Just another screwed up american thing.Frankly if it was me i wouldnt conta t authorities at all and the people would mysteriously dissappear one by one and end up about 500miles away in a field.

This is insane. They break and enter, which as far as I know, is a crime. Then, they essentially”steal” your house from you. You go to jail for stealing a car and you have to give it back. But you can steal someone’s home, not go to jail and you don’t have to give it back, sometimes for years while it goes through the courts and in the end nothing happens to them. Squatter’s “rights”. How do they have the right to steal your home?

This type of sh*t is why I sold my rental. People suck.

The concept of Squatter's rights is absurd. I know in the US, you pretty much have to have them formally evicted if they won't leave willingly and that costs you money.

We had a renter who chose not to leave. It took us 2.5 years in court where we paid for her and her adult kids and a boyfriend,along with 9 cats to live there. She "owned it in her heart" (exact lawsuit wording). We finally got a condemned house back. It cost us $98,000 in court, her utilities and to repair damage. She belongs in jail-but nope! Not here!

"Oh dear, the furnace needs maintenance and has been producing dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.... Now who do I call to remove these bodies?"

Post the judges address in the situations so squatters can move to thir home, see how far these laws change.

I wish legislators would address this and return rights to the property owners

If someone did that to my house, they'd leave with bruises and possibly some broken bones. Get the f**k out of my property, you scumbags!

Part II = A constable came and served papers on the squatter's and gave them about 5 minutes to remove things of need, like medicine, clothes, work tools, and important papers. They were also informed if they returned without permission it would be considered breaking and entering a 3rd class misdemeanor. The paperwork also gave them a civil stand-by within the next 14 days. Which is an agreed upon time, that they can come and retrieve the rest of all their belongs as long as a police officer and property owner/landlord are present. I as the property owner/landlord though, can not remove, sale, or give away anything on the property until that 14 days has expired. Which to me this is still way more then a breaking and entering trespassing squatter deserves. Giving them even more rights now to waste more of my time and money. (Part III coming)

So... does this 'prison guard' still have her job? she essentially stole the house. that's over $5000 and a felony.

I live Tennessee. Effective this month (July 24) police can remove squatters within 72 hours. Probably the only decent thing this red governor has done

couldnt he have claimed the furniture was his and tell the officers they were breaking into his property?

Worked with a guy in the 80's whose son lived in Florida. A neighbor I think it was left one day and didn't close the garage door. When they came home squatters had taken over the garage. Law enforcement couldn't make them leave. As for the guys son, they finished up grilling out one day and looked and the neighbors were carrying away his picnic table. Their reasoning? He wasn't using it anymore and they wanted to eat outside. And yes there was a fence between the properties. I hate cities. Try that c**p where I live and you're highly likely to get shot and 100% guaranteed to be charged and arrested.

BP, you censor the most mundane posts but you're not going to delete the ignorant, racist comments on this thread? This is pathetic. You're going to lose viewers if this is how you run your site because normal people don't want to be subjected to the racist b******t in these comments.

The word audacity comes to mind. POS work hard to screw the system and those of us making an honest living. You were probably too nice to her a*s. I'd be like that myself. But the old girl took you seriously, made some calls and cleared out.

Great job loved the beginning to end but I think you were still to nice I would of gave them one hour to have everything out and no more or it was gone :)

I'm in Washington state, some areas here outright state tenants have more rights than anyone even if they are not paying. One poor guy had to give up his place because his Tennant isn't paying (even sat down with him to figure out what he could afford). He is living in a trailer he spiffed up. My comment to that was to move it into the driveway. Oh yeah, that Tennant is renting out the place on airbnb, so not only is he not paying rent, he's making coin. (A friend of the owner saw the ad)

Ok peepz listen, they cannot break into your home and live there. Here in NL the house has to be empty with no one registered to live there for at least a year. If you intend to go live there and you are just busy renovating you can easily throw them out. The rights are because of empty houses while there are people homeless, or young couples who cannot afford anything these days. It is a crime to have a perfectly good house and let it rot.

Erk.This is disgusting. I'm so mad at the "owner". Imagine: you have no home, no incomes and find an empty house. You break into it. You feel more secure, can have more stability in your life and a crazy man who could just tell nicely to the squatters to leave the house when the mother come back to the house, instead use this crazy method. It's human beings ffs ! they didn't kill anybody, they didn't steal anything I think? Of course it would be different if it was a house with someone living in it but here, it was empty ! (sorry for my English which is not my first language)

I'm curious as to how long this home was left unoccupied. We have houses in our area that have been unoccupied & unkempt for years. While families live in vans in the WalMart parking lot. I understand this law obviously favors opportunity seeking vagrants and that is unfair. I just hope no charges were pressed when the family left peacefully in the 24 hours given.