Squatters in the house.

[Mandelon]

Not my house, but a new client's place. They inherited this home from their in-laws. It has been vacant for two years. A few weeks ago the neighbors reported lights on and people going in and out. My next door neighbor is a realtor and will be working with the owners. So he referred us to them.

The squatters are in there, using power, gas and water. The owners are freaked out over this situation. You have probably heard it can take months to get people out through a tedious eviction process. There's stories of homeowners being arrested for changing locks and whatnot.

So we got the call to help get this home ready to sell. It is going to need a lot of work. Probably $150K or more to make it ready. But the first order of business is to get these damn squatting trespassers out. Usually the cops won't do anything and consider it to be a civil matter. So I go visit the old gal who owns it now and pick up a set of house keys. I explained our plan.

I gather three of my ugliest most tatted up guys and we head over. Not too early. I really don't want to find them in their underwear. LOL We find the front door has been rekeyed. No one answers it despite repeated knocking. Stage two, we go around back and try the various keys. Found a door the keys work in. So now we are in the back door. I start banging on bedroom doors and hollering for who ever is in there. I hear a fairly large sized dog barking. This slows me down a bit. I hadn't considered that.

After a minute one guy comes out of the bedroom. A chubby 30ish black man. I ask him what he's doing in here. He dodges the question. He reveals how many people are there. Him, his girlfriend, the dog and another man. I request he summon the other fellow so we can chat. He does. This guy is older, more lanky but seems friendly enough. Also a black guy. He introduces himself as "Goodfella" LOL OK, I politely but firmly 'splain that they have to leave. They are tresspassing and can't stay. Their free ride has come to an end.

Instead of making a huge conflict right then, I explain that we will be back on Monday with eight guys to start renovating the house. The power is going off, water is going off, we will be spraying paint and hauling out any junk that is in the house and yard. We strongly suggest they use the weekend to get out or Monday would be less comfortable for them. Goodfella and I shook hands on the deal.

I'm gonna pick up a contract from the owner over the weekend and a $5000 deposit. On Monday we will roll in and see what happens. One of my guys will be bringing his Pitbull along. Not sure how that will go, but figure it probably won't hurt.

Stay tuned!

 

[ChrisV]

This happened to my friend. He threw a skunk in the house. Actually worked.


Please keep us updated!

 

[Mikes56]

Where is the house? What state? What city? Typically for squatters, they get arrested on the spot for trespassing. Now that does depend on the police agency that responds and the knowledge of the responding officer. This is NOT a civil matter, there is no lease or agreement. They are squatters and have no rights when it comes to property.

Do a little online research to familiarize yourself with the law for the area that the house is in.

The responding Officer probably won’t know it and you’ll have to school him.

The long eviction process is when a tenant with an expired lease won’t move out or pay the rent.

 

[zhandfull]

I like the strong show of force up front. Let’s hope Monday arrives and they are gone.

 

[Travmon]

Sometimes the best route is the TRUMP APPROACH, Direct and to the point. You were quite fair with the timeline.

 

[4Waters]

An old friend of my dad's had squatters in one of his houses. He told them to leave on several occasions which they didn't. The squatters had a teenaged daughter so he called a buddy that was in the Hells Angeles, gave him a fake lease and 500 each and 3 HA's went into the house, they sat on the couch next to the daughter. The dad asked what they thought they were doing, they showed them the lease and said that they live there now. The squatters packed up their shit and were gone in less than 2hrs

 

[Mr. C]

Body cams. For RDP entertainment purposes of course.

On a serious note. wishing you the best

 

[Outdrive1]

I can’t imagine Mr Goodfella is going to just up and be gone Monday. I look forward to the confrontation.

 

[HotRod82]

Where is the house? What state? What city? Typically for squatters, they get arrested on the spot for trespassing. Now that does depend on the police agency that responds and the knowledge of the responding officer. This is NOT a civil matter, there is no lease or agreement. They are squatters and have no rights when it comes to property.

Do a little online research to familiarize yourself with the law for the area that the house is in.

The responding Officer probably won’t know it and you’ll have to school him.

The long eviction process is when a tenant with an expired lease won’t move out or pay the rent.

Unfortunately, the scumbags only need to produce a fake lease and ONE piece of mail delivered in their name and in most jurisdictions in CA it becomes a civil matter. My parents had squatters in a rental property that was under renovation and it was a nightmare. These people were pros, even the Local Police knew who they were.....they knew every nuance in the law to stretch out their free rental for more than 6 months.
I of course offered to get some friends and handle it but my Mom said no way......hope it goes well for your situation!

 

[poncho]

An old friend of my dad's had squatters in one of his houses. He told them to leave on several occasions which they didn't. The squatters had a teenaged daughter so he called a buddy that was in the Hells Angeles, gave him a fake lease and 500 each and 3 HA's went into the house, they sat on the couch next to the daughter. The dad asked what they thought they were doing, they showed them the lease and said that they live there now. The squatters packed up their shit and were gone in less than 2hrs

I worked with a guy years ago that had a few rental houses, the rental agreement stated one room was locked and kept for the owner to use at any time.
I have no idea if he embellished the story or not but he had renters that were behind and he wanted them out, said 3 of his friends went there at dinner time with a keg and boom box. He was a mean bastard and I imagine so were his friends, they moved shortly after.

 

[JB in so cal]

Cue the broken toilets, sinks pulled out of walls, windows broken...

 

[12vMan]

Best of luck. I hope it works out Monday. Don't have Superbowl hangover!
We had a 7 unit apartment building and one very good paying tenant who was there for many years let his sister move in without us knowing it. He also moved out and left her there without telling our management co. She never paid a single month's rent and was able to stay there almost a year. We were even legally responsible to keep the utilities on! L.A. County... We thought it would be easy, but the laws made it difficult. Otherwise I would have given her 5K to get out had I known how long it was going to take. Our management company isn't new to this either by a long shot. I can't remember what all legal tricks she played, but this was one more reason we ended up liquidating all of our rental properties. I ended up making more in tax favorable dividend stocks without the stress.

 

[lbhsbz]

There's been lots of fires lately....just sayin'

 

[BabyRay]

There's been lots of fires lately....just sayin'

Might not want to burn the client’s house.

 

[OC Mike]

Looking forward to Monday...

 

[lbhsbz]

Might not want to burn the client’s house.

Might be easier to clean up and fix than after what the squatters do to it....

 

[ChumpChange]

Cue the broken toilets, sinks pulled out of walls, windows broken...

Sounds like they are just starting Mandelon’s work over the weekend then.

 

[boatnam2]

Maybe Monday morning you could hire all of them for the demo!

 

[BabyRay]

Might be easier to clean up and fix than after what the squatters do to it....

True.

 

[jet496]

I don't understand how trespassing, breaking & entering, etc. is legal in any way. Our country is fucked if people are allowed to do that to us.

 

[lakemadness]

I like how you roll Mandelon. Checking back in Monday.

I’ve had squatters before.

 

[lbhsbz]

I don't understand how trespassing, breaking & entering, etc. is legal in any way. Our country is fucked if people are allowed to do that to us.

It's CA, things are backwards here.

 

[PlanB]

I helped my dad "evict" people from his rentals back in the 80's. If the people were not compliant, we would literally start throwing their shit out of the residence. Now, at least in states like California, the squatters have more rights than the owner of the property. Good luck...

 

[C-2]

I dealt with a lot of squatters in the 90's. As stated, they most likely will produce a fake rental agreement.

Your best bet is to offer them cash for keys, give them that $5K deposit if they leave within 48-hours. And secure it with cams or even a security company so they don't return and do a rinse and repeat.

--

I've put this story up before...the bank had a post-foreclosure REO owned home on the bluffs in Playa Del Rey. A really famous sports team owner lived across the street...that was the level of neighborhood where it was situated.

I had visited the house when it was empty, but one day I went to check on it and this time radical Muslim's had moved in.

The team owner had a cool son with nothing better to do than give me all the details about the squatters.

The bank tried the legal process for about 2-years. But every time we got the actual lockout date, the Muslim's found a way around LEO enforcing the eviction order. Either with BK, after BK, or with TRO's (temporary restraining orders) filed against the bank! They always stayed one-step ahead of us. Turns out the Muslim's were operating a ring of similar scams throughout the area. But this home was their headquarters. And it caught the attention of the US Postal Inspectors and LAPD. So whenever we got a lockout date, parked several blocks away was a caravan of LEO, waiting to go in behind us (with our permission) after we gained entry. But that never happened. Then out of nowhere we we were told the home was sold and to stop all work on it.

One day I was in the neighborhood and I stopped by and asked the team owner's son what happened. He said his pops and the other neighbors got tired of the eyesore in their neighborhood and they bought the house. Then they hired "the baddest Samoan wrecking crew" they could find in the hood, and within days the Samoan crew went in with baseball bats and chains and cleaned house. Problem solved.

The son said the Muslim's also had a couple of inside sources in the LA Sheriff's office at the Inglewood courthouse, and that's how the Muslim's were always able to stay one-step ahead of the bank.

Go Lakers!

--
Good luck on Monday, hopefully we are all wrong.




Team owner home:

Squatter home across the street (but on the actual bluff)

 

[Hardly Satisfied]

Monday should be interesting

 

[Thing One]

If they give you any shit, have that Lezbo daughter of yours kick their ass.

 

[BingerFang]

Hopefully they don’t fill the toilets full of concrete

 

[riverroyal]

Rich, what the address and time? I can film, from the street

 

[BajaMike]

Not my house, but a new client's place. They inherited this home from their in-laws. It has been vacant for two years. A few weeks ago the neighbors reported lights on and people going in and out. My next door neighbor is a realtor and will be working with the owners. So he referred us to them.

The squatters are in there, using power, gas and water. The owners are freaked out over this situation. You have probably heard it can take months to get people out through a tedious eviction process. There's stories of homeowners being arrested for changing locks and whatnot.

So we got the call to help get this home ready to sell. It is going to need a lot of work. Probably $150K or more to make it ready. But the first order of business is to get these damn squatting trespassers out. Usually the cops won't do anything and consider it to be a civil matter. So I go visit the old gal who owns it now and pick up a set of house keys. I explained our plan.

I gather three of my ugliest most tatted up guys and we head over. Not too early. I really don't want to find them in their underwear. LOL We find the front door has been rekeyed. No one answers it despite repeated knocking. Stage two, we go around back and try the various keys. Found a door the keys work in. So now we are in the back door. I start banging on bedroom doors and hollering for who ever is in there. I hear a fairly large sized dog barking. This slows me down a bit. I hadn't considered that.

After a minute one guy comes out of the bedroom. A chubby 30ish black man. I ask him what he's doing in here. He dodges the question. He reveals how many people are there. Him, his girlfriend, the dog and another man. I request he summon the other fellow so we can chat. He does. This guy is older, more lanky but seems friendly enough. Also a black guy. He introduces himself as "Goodfella" LOL OK, I politely but firmly 'splain that they have to leave. They are tresspassing and can't stay. Their free ride has come to an end.

Instead of making a huge conflict right then, I explain that we will be back on Monday with eight guys to start renovating the house. The power is going off, water is going off, we will be spraying paint and hauling out any junk that is in the house and yard. We strongly suggest they use the weekend to get out or Monday would be less comfortable for them. Goodfella and I shook hands on the deal.

I'm gonna pick up a contract from the owner over the weekend and a $5000 deposit. On Monday we will roll in and see what happens. One of my guys will be bringing his Pitbull along. Not sure how that will go, but figure it probably won't hurt.

Stay tuned!

So sad. Good luck!

 

[DILLIGAF]

What a friggin joke. They should just be dragged out and thrown in the street

 

[Dan Lorenze]

What a friggin joke. They should just be dragged out and thrown in the street

Knowing myself, that's what I would do... No question

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

What a friggin joke. They should just be dragged out and thrown in the street

If you had some friends with a back hoe you'd be ridding the planet of some leeches.

 

[Kenboat]

They pull that shit all over the country, and if you hit or threaten them you end up arrested for assault

 

[Ultra...Good]

Surprised they can't get them for burglary or B&E.

Where I'm at the worst I've heard of is 7 day eviction. Then it only comes down to how busy the sheriff is.

Sucks what you guys have deal with out there, but hey, the weather is nice, right?

 

[Sportin' Wood]

Looking forward to Monday afternoon's report, hopefully this goes the way you hope.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

Niccolo Machiavelli

 

[Eliminator21vdrive]

This happened to my friend. He threw a skunk in the house. Actually worked.


Please keep us updated!

Rent a skunk? # ?

 

[Ultra...Good]

Rent a skunk? # ?

 

[coolchange]

We haven’t really had much of a good winter thread this year.
This is PERFECT! It even has a Pit Bull!
Hope it works out Mandy.
They won’t be gone…

 

[Gelcoater]

This happened to my friend. He threw a skunk in the house. Actually worked.


Please keep us updated!

My first thought was a big bag full of rattlesnakes, but a skunk would do it too.

 

[poncho]

Looking forward to Monday afternoon's report, hopefully this goes the way you hope.

There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

Niccolo Machiavelli

That's an awesome quote

 

[coolchange]

I know there is a certain proclivity of certain people to animals and spiders and such. Good idea.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

That's an awesome quote

I've got a few favorite quotes, that I try and remember. That is one that seems to prove true, in business, life, and relationships. It rarely goes my way when I tell someone what my plans are, or I wait for better weather to react.

It may also be Sun Tzu that had a variation of it and was repurposed.

 

[boatpi]

Two suggestions bring a half a dozen no trespassing signs. This is very important. Post them everywhere inside the windows maybe on the eve on the outside where they can’t reach it take pictures of it and get yourself a camera that works off of cell data at least one or two on the inside or set up a 5G broadcast you can keep an eye on it 24 seven.

If you have a spare car park, a spare car front or another broadcast camera looking at the front door something that has cloud recording it’ll show the front and the trespassing science if someone comes in you have a trespassing if they take one item even burglary
Make sure you have a notarized letter than the legal owner of the house and a copy of the deed with you. You can have the people arrested if you have this notarized letter giving you dominion and control over the property.

 

[NicPaus]

See if one of the neighbors saw them break in.

Recently happened on 1 my Realtor had for sale. Cops made her leave since a neighbor saw her go through the window. Otherwise it was a civil matter. Few days before escrow was to close. I was there the day before. Realtor showed up and locks were changed.

 

[Mandelon]

I have been a RE Broker since 1989. My wife and son are Realtors and work in property management so we are pretty up on the legality of things here. We will push it as far as we can without crossing the line.

NO TRESPASSING signs will be going up first thing on Monday. High enough to keep them from being remove easily.

Mr. Goodfella made no indication about knowing to have a lease or any other falsified paperwork. So I think we will be safe enough on that front. It would all be a lie anyway.

Years ago I purchased a fixer up from a Samoan woman who was about to lose the home in foreclosure. She basically gave me the house for a couple thousand bucks for moving expenses and signed it over to me. I called the bank and told them the family had gotten together to make up the arrears payments and had hired my property management company to manage the expenses. So they got checks from me and I paid the loan up current.

Her son stayed in the house for a week or so after she left. Well, we weren't gonna bother with an eviction so we just started tearing out walls and all the plumbing fixtures. My guys played Mexican Corrido music all day at high volume. He left the next day. LOL

 

[C-2]

Mr. Goodfella made no indication about knowing to have a lease or any other falsified paperwork. So I think we will be safe enough on that front. It would all be a lie anyway.

What did he say, how did he come into possession?

 

[jet496]

Two suggestions bring a half a dozen no trespassing signs. This is very important. Post them everywhere inside the windows maybe on the eve on the outside where they can’t reach it take pictures of it and get yourself a camera that works off of cell data at least one or two on the inside or set up a 5G broadcast you can keep an eye on it 24 seven.

If you have a spare car park, a spare car front or another broadcast camera looking at the front door something that has cloud recording it’ll show the front and the trespassing science if someone comes in you have a trespassing if they take one item even burglary
Make sure you have a notarized letter than the legal owner of the house and a copy of the deed with you. You can have the people arrested if you have this notarized letter giving you dominion and control over the property.

So, if you post No Trespassing signs, that covers it?

Isn't there a law about trespassing (even without signs), if not, at least a law about breaking into someone's home? And if there's no law for that, surely there must be a law that strangers cannot simply move into your house, & since they made it through the front door, now they're part of the family? Yet you can kick family out but not trespassers that are breaking & entering.

I just do not see how any adult, or even our law makers, rationalize that squatters are legal. A 6th Grader would tell you it's not, yet it is LOL. God help us!

 

[dribble]

So, if you post No Trespassing signs, that covers it?

Isn't there a law about trespassing (even without signs), if not, at least a law about breaking into someone's home? And if there's no law for that, surely there must be a law that strangers cannot simply move into your house, & since they made it through the front door, now they're part of the family? Yet you can kick family out but not trespassers that are breaking & entering.

I just do not see how any adult, or even our law makers, rationalize that squatters are legal. A 6th Grader would tell you it's not, yet it is LOL.

Not law makers. It’s the courts.

 

[BabyRay]

So, if you post No Trespassing signs, that covers it?

Isn't there a law about trespassing (even without signs), if not, at least a law about breaking into someone's home? And if there's no law for that, surely there must be a law that strangers cannot simply move into your house, & since they made it through the front door, now they're part of the family? Yet you can kick family out but not trespassers that are breaking & entering.

I just do not see how any adult, or even our law makers, rationalize that squatters are legal. A 6th Grader would tell you it's not, yet it is LOL. God help us!

We live in a country where people have been able to legally choose their gender for the past 4+ years, and the legalities of squatting surprise you?

 

[t&y]

I have been a RE Broker since 1989. My wife and son are Realtors and work in property management so we are pretty up on the legality of things here. We will push it as far as we can without crossing the line.

NO TRESPASSING signs will be going up first thing on Monday. High enough to keep them from being remove easily.

Mr. Goodfella made no indication about knowing to have a lease or any other falsified paperwork. So I think we will be safe enough on that front. It would all be a lie anyway.

Years ago I purchased a fixer up from a Samoan woman who was about to lose the home in foreclosure. She basically gave me the house for a couple thousand bucks for moving expenses and signed it over to me. I called the bank and told them the family had gotten together to make up the arrears payments and had hired my property management company to manage the expenses. So they got checks from me and I paid the loan up current.

Her son stayed in the house for a week or so after she left. Well, we weren't gonna bother with an eviction so we just started tearing out walls and all the plumbing fixtures. My guys played Mexican Corrido music all day at high volume. He left the next day. LOL

Ran across this just a few times out there... lol. From the street cops perspective it all really matters on the timeline of events. There were some we had to walk away from after the buyer/seller/owner let it go for months thinking they could handle it, and those that were escorted off property the same day. Sounds like you have a handle on how to deal with it.

I like the idea of simply showing up with the crew, demo the shit out of the place as if nothing is out of the norm, and basically "help" the squatters move their shit out the door.

Good luck, can't wait for the update on Monday.