Squatter Takes Over Couples $2 Million Dream Home Before They Could Even Move In Recruits Tenants
Summary
Transcript
Let’s get it. Y’all some gorgeous, shouldn’t be a problem. And it becomes a nightmare. A total nightmare. Buying a dream home turned into a nightmare. You heard him. For this family from Queens, the house came with something the new owners did not bargain for. A squatter. More than four months after purchasing that home, the family says they still can’t go inside. And they’ve faced roadblock after roadblock trying to get the man who is staying there out.
Investigative reporter Dan Kraut joins us now with more. Sandra, the family says they’ve had can somebody in the chat before I play this article, can somebody in the chat help me to understand what squatters rights are? Let’s do a little bit of research because I got to understand this for myself. Hold on, hold on. Squatters rights. I just want to understand what this is. How do squatters rights work? In what city is this? What are they talking about? I don’t know where this is, but I guess that squatters rights differ depending on where you are.
All right. Everything you need to know about squatters rights. All right. Let me just pull this up before I play the article because I think that we need to get some understanding of what we’re dealing with right here. So this is squatters rights. Everything you need to know about squatters rights in 2024. In any scenario, it is more frustrating than those who overstayed or welcome is long after the scheduled time to leave and that even show up unannounced.
This is especially true learning how to be a landlord and you discover a squatter camped on your property. First instinct may be to force them out, but it may be difficult if they have squatters rights. Without landlord insurance and legal help, you’re stuck wondering what your options are. All right, cool. A squatter is somebody who lives on a land or property that they don’t own any deeds to or legal claim, and squatters have no permission to be there as long as they’re not paying the landlord.
This should not be confused with the term trespasser. That’s exactly what it is. It’s trespassing though similar, a trespasser enters a property unlawfully for a brief period. States considered squatting a civic issue. What? And it’s different because they enter but intend on not exiting the premises. It may seem like a straightforward issue, but it could be resolved by kicking a person out by physical force or other methods.
However, if not handled correctly with proper steps, this situation can lead to the property being stripped from the landlord’s possession and into the hands of the squatters. Some laws protect squatters and thus need to be handled quickly and by the book. Squatters have the claimed properties as far back as a medieval period and in some time, squatter claims can be property gain approval if they built their home within one right within one night.
The nightmare scenario no longer exists in the US and policies are in place of due process. The right deeders, landlords and owners from taking the law into their own hands. Without these rights, landlords could justify the mistreatment of tenants and vigilante justice was spilled into other parts of society. All right, so these are primarily the squatters rights. Squatters must have continuous possession of the land or the property.
Each state has its own laws regarding squatters rights and a length of time between five and 20 years they must reside on the property to claim it. So you could just take somebody else’s property if you there and you able to get there and hang out there for long enough without them being able to identify you there, and that just means that you automatically get claimed to the property.
That’s crazy. Furthermore, squatters must abide by the common laws of the doctrine as follows. Squatters must have continuous possession of the land and the property. Hostile possession. A squatter did not gain possession of the property. Open possession that is not in secret, meaning that they there, you just don’t know that they’re squatter. Actual possession a landlord has cost for trespassing and exclusive ownership. The squatter acts as if the property is their own ensured.
A person can claim squatters rights if they have openly taken residency on your land without permission and pay taxes on the land. All of these increase their chances of being awarded a land that was once yours. Wow, now I got to get fleeced for landlord insurance. This is dumb. As though we’re not getting fleeced enough. All right, let me get back to the story. No choice but to take the man living inside their home to court.
And despite having hearing after hearing, they still haven’t been able to move in. It has just taken over over everything. Everything. Susannah and Joseph Landa bought what they thought was their dream retirement home in Douglas in Queens. We’re looking to hopefully retire and most of all, provide for my son, Alex, who has down syndrome. He has a disability. The new house is right next door to family members.
I just want to know that I can die tomorrow when he’s next to his brother. They signed the deed back in October. And then what happens? The nightmare. The house came with something unexpected. A man living in their home who they say refuses to leave. We couldn’t believe it. We could not believe it. His name’s Bret Flores. They cannot come here early when I’m not here. They have keys.
They’re the owner. This is what happened when the Landis tried to enter with an insurance inspector. They say Flores called the cops on them, even though they say they gave him ten day notice. He wasn’t a renter. Never. You didn’t sign documents that said we have a tenant, correct? Court documents. Detail, in Floris’s own words why he’s there. A signed statement says he was hired by the former homeowner as his caretaker, was paid $3,000 a week, and his employment ended in January of last year when the man died.
He claims he has a license to stay in the house from the previous owner. What a lot of people don’t realize is, in New York, squatters have rights after 30 days. 30 days. How can you have rights if you have no lease? You’re not paying rent. So what is your right? Not only so, he was finessing whoever it was that he was taking care of for $12,000 a month, $3,000 a week, $12,000 a month, almost $150,000 a year.
And then when the guy died, you say, all right, cool, I’m going to just keep staying here, and that’s the end of the conversation, even though they sold the home. So after 30 days in New York, hey, somebody remind me to never buy a property in New York and never buy a property in California. Never buy a property in New York and never buy a property in California.
Now, down in Mississippi and Alabama, they don’t play that nonsense. Down in Mississippi and Alabama, they don’t play that. We gonna get you on about there. You’re not gonna be in here trying to squat and taking over property that you know is not yours. Sir, do you have a deed? Do you have a leash? Are you paying rent? Are you 30 days behind on your rent? Okay, well, we’re going to go ahead and get your removal out of the property.
You are now designated as an illegal migrant, and you do not have asylum seeking privileges and rights on this property. Okay, so I don’t know. I see 757 Kane. He’s in the chat and he’s saying that in Atlanta, but they got some extensive squatter rights and that they can do what they want to do now here in Mississippi and Alabama, we don’t listen to what they got going over there in Atlanta.
And I know that Atlanta, there’s a lot of scammers over there. Anyway, so what we gonna do over here in Mississippi? And I can’t wait to get myself down to Biloxi because I’m a bustain at the Bo Rabage and they treat me like a celebrity and like a king over there. What we’re going to do over here in Mississippi and Alabama, that’s a perk that lives in Oklahoma also.
Okay, I have you, I got you. What we’re going to do over here in Mississippi and Alabama is we’re going to remove you out of the premises and we’re going to make sure that you go ahead and get your exit papers before we arrest you. Now you can stick around. By the time that we get your last couch out, we’re going to arrest you. But if you don’t pay what it is that you got going in Arkansas, they said it as a misdemeanor.
Okay, I like what Arkansas got going on down there. Also, if you don’t get yourself removed from this property by the time that we get this last couch out here, we’re going to go ahead and put the metal bracelets on you because I don’t know what they got going on over in New York, but this is definitely not something that we got going on over here in Arkansas.
His floor has been living there. They claim he listed the home online to rent rooms to other people. The only way to try to get him out, they’re taking him to landlord tenant court trying to get him evicted. We have had already five hearings at civil court. He shows up, no attorney. If it’s not one excuse, is another excuse. He filed the bankruptcy so that prevents everything from going forward.
Meanwhile, they’ve been paying all the bills. Hey, look at this. He got cameras, he got solar. Oh my gosh. That’s crazy. Look at this dude and how he living. Leaving windows wide open 24 hours, including thousands of dollars in utilities. It makes me feel completely forgotten in the legal system. Not able to do. They got to pay utility bills too. Hold on, hold on, hold on. The only way to try to get him out, they’re taking him to landlord tenant court trying to get him evicted.
We have had already five hearings at civil court. He shows up, no attorney. If it’s not one excuse, is another excuse. He filed a bankruptcy, so that prevents everything from going forward. Meanwhile, they’ve been paying all the bills, leaving windows wide open 24 hours, including thousands of dollars in utilities. It makes me feel completely forgotten in the legal system, not able to do anything. As for Flores, no one answered the door.
He did answer the phone. I’m doing my best to try to get your side of the story. So you’re telling me to call your attorney, an attorney who told me you’re going to settle it through the court system. No comment. Our system is broken. We have no rights. We have no rights at all. Nothing. Zero. And this issue may not be resolved anytime soon. The next court hearing for this case isn’t scheduled until April.
I know somebody that can get them out of there for you all. Yeah, they got to holl at me. Hey, sir, you over there paying $2,400 utility bills? I know somebody that could fix that. Absolutely. Listen, when you get in touch with them, you can’t tell them that you know me. If you tell them that you know me, if you sit there and you tell the police that I said anything, I’m going to act like I don’t know you and I’m going to deny it.
I’m just telling you right away. But you’re going to have to get in touch with me. I know somebody that could fix that for you. Yeah, I know somebody that could fix that for you. Lawyer. We call him the equalizer. You know what I’m saying? He going to go ahead and make sure is 100% taken care of. We’re not going to worry about that. Is the craziest thing ever.
What do you mean? How do you have a right to take over my property? What would I do, call the equalizer? Honestly, I know somebody that could fix that. .