Recently purchased a property may have a squatter/tenant to evict

[Dana Blankinship]

I close on a distressed property on April 6 2018 (5 days from now), it is in Nebraska, the current owner has had a buddy living there rent free, no lease, no contracts for 3 years... he wants nothing to do with evicting the person and I purchased the property without ever going inside the unit...I did purchase the property in my LLC name, in cash and below what the land value is assessed at.I live within 10 miles of the property and have driven by multiple times.

Ive never seen any movement, there are no cars there however there is a porch light on and another light on in the house which has never been turned off when I drive by. 

I plan to let the person know in the next couple days via letter and face to face I will be purchasing the property and they need to vacate.

I plan to give 2 options:

Cash for keys and Ill help them move. ( I don't want to just throw someone out with no place to go)

or option 2 the sheriff will evict you and you get no help from me...

Any advice from anyone or anyone who has went down this road?

Thanks in advance,

Dana

[Jonathan Holmes]

If you go the cash for keys route make sure you have them sign something before hand saying they are terminating tenancy. Under most state laws they would not be considered squatters so you must follow the law to remove them. When they hand over keys and have all their stuff out you give them the money not before. Even if this means having it in a truck in the driveway.

Next is secure the property. This will mean changed locks and maybe even securing windows. My concern with this situation would be they may decide to take your money and break back in.

As far as an eviction goes you are in an odd situation and I would contact an attorney. In my state no lease means they default to a basic agreement based on state laws. With the addition on them not paying rent it’s a bit odd. I would not be surprised if you had to notify them of a change in rent, wait for them to not pay and then evict or Possibly you may just have to give them 30 Days notice to vacate and then proceed.