Can I wait till a squatter isn't home and move him out?

Question

OMG! Help! My parents' have had a rental property in northern Michigan for decades. I came to visit July 2 and I'm stuck here. I need to get rid of a squatter for them before I can drive back south to Texas. This story is HUGE but I'll try to keep it brief.

June 2019 a woman signs a 12 month contract that says she must get electric and gas in her own name prior to move it and no one except her can occupy the unit (she breaks all 3 of those)
Unknown to me - the man now squatting moves in with the former tenant

July 20, 2020 she suddenly has a huge amount of cash and pays over 5 months back rent - never pays rent again after this day
July 23, 2020 booked for a crime
Feb 2020 person moves into cabin next door and somehow put wrong cabin electric meter in their name
Nov, 2020 she's jailed
May 2021 my dad arrives and slowly starts realizing the scope of the problem
July 2, 2021 I arrive
July we get Real Estate One to be property managers starting Aug 1, REO agent meets with 2 current tenants and gets them on new contracts, REO makes a deal with squatter, he agrees, he never shows up to the REO office
Aug 9 post 7 day notice due to non payment
Aug 16 court house says can't because COVID, try 30 day notice to quit - post that
Aug 17 hand 30 day notice to quit to squatter (had to bang on his door at 7:15a to catch him as he'd been hiding from me for 2 weeks)
Aug 19 figure out squatter's cable is in the name of jailed tenant's daughter who lives 2 counties away with her legal guardian (yet Spectrum refuses to cancel service)
Aug 20 figure out the electric meter mix up. next door unit moved out in June yet was still be charged electric. why? wrong meter!
Aug 23 electric company comes and puts 3 day note on door of squatter while squatter is hiding inside
Aug 24 DTE informs us that the bill for this cabin hasn't been paid for a long time, bills are often sent back "return to sender", over $1,100 is owed, gas will be turned off soon
Aug 26 electric company comes and removes meter, we haven't seen squatter since Monday night, we knock expecting an empty unit, 14 year old daughter is inside, no electric, no water, no gas, phone battery low, and the house is the worse garbage pit I've ever seen - 5 full size black bags of kitchen waste sitting near door, goat path from room to room, dirty clothes piled everywhere. not hoarder situation, just super dirty situation. Call Child Protection Services for Michigan and have 1/2 hour talk. Call State Police - they see nothing they can do. Sherriff calls me back and suggests going back inside, document everything for CPS, keep pressing forward with eviction

Neighbor says squatter is definitely using meth. Squatter usually has 10 year old son living with him and sometimes 14 year old daughter. Former tenant may be out of jail now but hasn't appeared on property. Squatter and former tenant gave birth to a baby around Nov 2020.

No rent paid since July 2020 except from one payment of $700 cash handed from squatter to my father in early July 2021.
No electric paid June 2019 to now.
No gas paid June 2019 to now.
Cable seems paid but is in minor's name who has never lived at property and former tenant lost legal guardianship of.

Oh! And the fleas! I had to spray my legs and feet with deep woods off just to step back inside the cabin.

I'm hoping some of these details give one of you BP friends an idea, an angle we haven't tried yet.

Thanks y'all!

John Underwood · Answer

I'm my area I can call code enforcement and they can put all occupants out in 24 hours because house is not habitable without utilities turned on.

James Wise · Answer

Doing that is what we call a self help eviction. Unfortunately it's illegal. Not worth the liability. You've got to bite the bullet and utilize the legal process to remove the piece of crap from your home.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Robert Arnold you can but is it legal, probably not. However you can get CPS and the health department involved. More then one person can call CPS because they may not respond to just one call for negligence. As far as cable I have lots of cable lines laying on the ground because of a recent storm. Maybe you will have one soon.. of course the cable company may reconnect but that requires effort on their part. You can serve cure or quit for lease violations and evict for reasons other then non-payment.

Lynnette E. · Answer

Where I have rentals they will condemn a property for not having heat, water, electric. It is used sometimes to get someone removed--the property is condemned so they gotta go. Then when services are restored they will remove the notice.Might want to check about something like that in your area.

Drew Sygit · Answer

This person is NOT a squatter since your parents granted her access to the property.You need to file 30-day eviction for possession, not 7-day for nonpayment.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

This is bad enough that it doesn't really matter what the 'Law' thinks...they don't care anymore. Go get these people out.....Just my opinion.

Scott M. · Answer

Depends how important doing things legally are to you. If you are asking if you can legally? No, you can't. The "what if" is what if the squatter sues you or goes to the police. Is it likely? Probably less likely then more likely but it is a possibility. If they did the tables would turn and you would be the one in the hot seat. Not saying you wouldn't ultimately win as I think you would but self evicting someone in the middle of CDC ban etc......w/o the support of a judge is risky. Not saying you should or shouldn't but you should be aware of the risks.

Robert Arnold · Answer

OH! That's a new angle! I haven't heard folks around here suggest that. I'll check it out tomorrow. Thanks!!