U.S. soldier finds squatters in his house Florida Sheriff says they can stay

[MrColin]

Wait, so he still has legal ownership of the property, right? Because if so he can call 911 and have them arrested for trespassing and/or breaking and entering. Civil matter my ass, how could they legally establish residency without the deed? Something doesn't add up here.

The police like to claim that things are "civil matters" when they are too lazy or don't have fear of pissing off someone with influence. They protect large businesses, politicians, and the rich with extralegal vigilance but regular folks have to sue or drop names of influential people to get help.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

**They moved out yesterday. I don't think this was a squatter issue its more likely a rent/eviction notice issue. Seems like the guy who was watching over the house essentially rented it to this couple.

 

[sze5003]

**They moved out yesterday. I don't think this was a squatter issue its more likely a rent/eviction notice issue. Seems like the guy who was watching over the house essentially rented it to this couple.

Like I said bad friend. He or she saw opportunity to make money. What a an a-hole.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Then any landlord pissed off at tenants can call 911 and claim the people are trespassing. It sucks but the soldier cannot prove to the sheriff that these people broke in. This crap happens quite a bit. I have seen a case around here where the homeowners were gone for 3 weeks and someone rented their house to illegals... the homeowners could not get them kicked out.

If this happened to me I would probably end up in jail.

How about turn off the utilities and then let the building inspector know they are living without electric and water?

 

[smakme7757]

Not strange a criminal would try this. It's a win win situation for them.

Owner gets shipped off to Afghanistan. They move in.

A) He gets killed in Afghanistan, they get a free house.
B) He returns, they get to live there until the courts figure it out, which can take time.

This happens in Australia as well. So it's not uncommon. It's an extremely stupid law in the modern world. It just doesn't make sense. The person with the deed in their names owns the property, why can people make claim to it because they have been working over seas?

Anyway, good to see they are moving out

 

[trenchfoot]

Like I said bad friend. He or she saw opportunity to make money. What a an a-hole.

Here in Hawaii adverse possession laws, instituted by and for the all powerful plantation owners, used those laws to acquire large tracts of land from its previous indigenous owners who were unaware that such laws existed. And when these very same laws were then used in reverse against the plantation owners, the laws were conveniently rescinded, after which imminent domain laws were instituted by the territorial government that was bought and paid for by the plantation owners.

As to the OP, wouldn't it be tragically comedic if the "friend" (former?) of the owner was collecting under the table rent from the squatters?

Heh, like I was previously wondering out loud about........

 

[mrjminer]

Across multiple pages circle jerking each others' pure fiction that exists nowhere in the story, while claiming the content of the story supports your exact fiction. The stupid is overwhelming.

 

[werepossum]

Also it could be the person living there says he is paying rent and has a valid lease. As such the sheriff can't decide if its legal or not, that's what the courts are for.

By changing the locks and probably getting mail the sheriffs hands are tied as if you were renting and the landlord told the police no he's a squatter would you be ok being thrown out? That's why police hate these type of cases and must have a court order to tell them which way to go unless its very obvious.

In this case they have established residency in the house so the law has to be followed.

My question is where is this friend at that was supposed to be watching? If it was reported right away then residency would have not been established and it be a easy arrest for the police.

Exactly. It isn't that these people have squatter's rights, but that due process must be followed.

 

[Vic]

Exactly. It isn't that these people have squatter's rights, but that due process must be followed.

Yep. I worked in foreclosure for a few years and this kind of thing was fairly common.
And more often than not, it was the tenant who was the victim, having paid rent and deposits to someone who wasn't the homeowner (or was no longer the homeowner).
That might not have been what happened here, but that's up to a court to determine, not the sheriff.

 

[BUTCH1]

The reason for being unable to evict them from what I read the other day has to do with the squatters claiming there was a verbal commitment. Sure it's almost guaranteed a lie, but it's the court's place to determine that not the sheriff. The owner fears that if he does go about the process of getting a court order that the squatters will retaliate by destroying the home and costing him a lot of money.

It's quite sad that an owner has less rights to kick someone out of his own place than a bank has to repossess homes they don't even own without informing the resident (it's happened a few times that I've read).

I worked with a dude who rented out a house, the check for first, last and security deposit bounced, he went back the next day, the "tenants" had changed the locks, answered the door and told the owner the GTFO the property, took him almost 6 months to evict them and they trashed the place in the meantime..

 

[MongGrel]

The police like to claim that things are "civil matters" when they are too lazy or don't have fear of pissing off someone with influence. They protect large businesses, politicians, and the rich with extralegal vigilance but regular folks have to sue or drop names of influential people to get help.

Not strange a criminal would try this. It's a win win situation for them.

Owner gets shipped off to Afghanistan. They move in.

A) He gets killed in Afghanistan, they get a free house.
B) He returns, they get to live there until the courts figure it out, which can take time.

This happens in Australia as well. So it's not uncommon. It's an extremely stupid law in the modern world. It just doesn't make sense. The person with the deed in their names owns the property, why can people make claim to it because they have been working over seas?

Anyway, good to see they are moving out

Here in Hawaii adverse possession laws, instituted by and for the all powerful plantation owners, used those laws to acquire large tracts of land from its previous indigenous owners who were unaware that such laws existed. And when these very same laws were then used in reverse against the plantation owners, the laws were conveniently rescinded, after which imminent domain laws were instituted by the territorial government that was bought and paid for by the plantation owners.

As to the OP, wouldn't it be tragically comedic if the "friend" (former?) of the owner was collecting under the table rent from the squatters?

Stupid Stupid and more Stupid.

My first father in law was actually a Native Hawaiian and BYU and the Mormons up at the Polynesian Culture Center tried that land grab crap after the land they had built it on was donated to them by his family years
before.

The courts stomped on the Mormons, so your full of it.

 

[werepossum]

Yep. I worked in foreclosure for a few years and this kind of thing was fairly common.
And more often than not, it was the tenant who was the victim, having paid rent and deposits to someone who wasn't the homeowner (or was no longer the homeowner).
That might not have been what happened here, but that's up to a court to determine, not the sheriff.

I'm not saying the friend necessarily did this as it's easy to claim one has been paying rent, but it can be very difficult to prove one has been paying rent if one is paying cash, and a smart fraudster would certainly require that. At the least, one wonders how a friend entrusted with watching a house does not notice that someone is living in and trashing the house.