Taxes. & The "Pro Tennant" (Squatter..) in my boyfriend's house

[Carly Turow]

Hi BP community!

My boyfriend has a SFH in Tampa, FL that has a "pro tennant" in there and it's an absolute nightmare. My bf is in a long, drawn out lawsuit and HOPEFULLY will get the squatter evicted. Tomorrow is the scheduled civil court date, but this guy may (for the third time in a row) start the bankruptcy process (to put a 30 day stay and prevent the case from getting into civil court).

The short term rental agreement ended last march 31st and since then he hasn't paid and has been living there for free despite no written or verbal permission to occupy the home.

I was reading online about pro tennants and apparently there are ways that a pro tennant can wind up gaining ownership.

1. Upkeep/maintaining the home - he's done this, and has made improvements to the home

2. Visibly and openly living there - yes he's doing this

3. Pays taxes on the home - here's the one that concerns me, and I'd love anyone's feedback if you have any. My bf's bank/lender granted him an extension several times during covid so he hasn't had to pay the mortage since last march or april when covid hit. He's about to ask for another extension because he cant/we cant afford to pay the mortgage of 2,000 AND our rent in our apartment - all while this guy is living in the house for free. But, if my boyfriend isn't paying the taxes (since he's not paying the mortgage) is there a possibility that the squatter could somehow pay taxes on the house and gain "ownership" of the home??

If there's any chance of that, I absolutely need to tell my bf to at least pay the taxes on it before this guy has the chance to.

The last 2 times that there was finally a scheduled court date, this guy started filing for bankruptcy the day before the date. Today is the day before the court date (third time) and I am just waiting to hear this guy is pulling it a third time.