The Occupants from Hell!

[Will Barnard]

I am currently dealing with some occupants (who are no more than squatters) and getting them out so I can get in and start the rehab has been a daunting process. Typically, I get them out with cash for keys and it is never easy, but usually effective.

In this case, I purchased the property (practically stole it on price and terms)Feb 28th of this year and am still working on getting these morons out. I offered them $6k! for keys and they did not take it. I started eviction and they have used every tactic in the book to cause delays and extend the process. On the final hour before the summary judgement hearing, one of the two occupants filed for BK causing another 45 day or so delay. Unfortunately in CA, the laws, for some stupid reason, reside with occupants and not the legal owners. (I wont even get started on politics here!)

The good news is that I was able to have summary judgement against one of the occupants and already filed for the Sherriff to remove her from the premises. Should be within the next week or so for that. The kicker is that once it happens, her boyfriend still has rights to be there (until he is finally evicted) so I am quite sure she will just come right back. When that happens, I will make damn sure I make their lives as miserable as possible for the problems they have caused me. How can I do that legally you might ask? I will have periodic visits to the property and when I see she is there, I will call the Sherriff and inform them that she is illegally trespassing on my property and I want her removed/arrested. I will do this as many times as it takes until they get the point or until summary judgement against him occurs. Either way, screw them both!!! :roll:
What comes around goes around and theirs is coming.

***Update as of today 1-31-16: 5 years and 32 thread pages later, this is still ongoing. The following link was created by a BP Member in support of my situation found on page 32 of this thread. https://www.gofundme.com/OccupantsfromHell

This was approved by the heads of BP to be live in this thread. ***

[James DeRoest]

Once you know you're in the clear, I'm seconding the Craigslist advert. Everything FREE, post a weekend, let people pick through it and haul it off themselves. Then a dumpster for the rest. The place would be standing room only.

Last Friday, I put an ad up on CL for a free hot tub. I have no interest in it, I'm couldn't be bothered with it, wanted it gone there and then.

From placing the ad to the first call was 6 minutes. It was gone within 95 minutes - a guy drove from 50 miles away to get it.

[Kevin Yeats]

I hope this marks the end of your dealings with these lowlifes.

I hope that they don't feel that they can just wander back on the property to pick up "just a few more things"  especially since there is SO MUCH stuff unsecured in the back yard.

Did you post NO TRESPASSING signs?

[Ibrahim Hughes]

I thought the same thing Michaela.  It was obvious from both videos that they had not packed and were in complete denial about leaving.

[Roy N.]

@Will Barnard

What are the chances you'll now receive a citation for an unsightly premises? ;-)

[Wendell De Guzman]

Wow. @Will Barnard, I can feel your pain. I have my share of tenants from hell. I'm glad though that at least they are now out of the property and you can 'start over' on this deal. Since you got the house at a good price, I'm sure you'll still make money from it.

To the newbies out there: owning a rental property is NOT easy and don't let the gurus trick you into thinking this is easy. You got to do your homework and be diligent. And even then, bad tenants can slip through even the toughest screening process and so you got to have a Contingency Plan in case you get a bad tenant. 

Also, this is the reason you got to buy the property with some discount (or at good terms if you're buying it from a private seller). Buying a rental property at 100% of market value and relying on appreciation is NOT a good idea regardless what the market is doing or regardless of what some gurus want you to believe.

[Ann Howell]

Wow!  They did leave a mess.  At least they are out. It does not look like they actively damaged the house itself - just general neglect. 

[Edward Hamill]

Here in Florida, Craigslist is the way to go... I have had folks show up with sand shovels and pots/pans when I post that I am getting rid of decorative stone from a garden... Was not even a PEBBLE of that god awful white rock within 45 minutes of my post!

That said, might be worth having an appraiser go through the house first.  Some of that art, candy machine, etc. could net you a small "past rent" bonus.  

Congrats on finally getting them out!

[Claudette Attride]

Let me add my compliments to you on how you've handled this matter- legally.  I'll also add to David C' note about abandoned property.  I also think that you can put it in storage, send them a certified letter as to its whereabouts and - check with your attorney- I think they have 15 days to redeem it or you can sell it donate whatever and recover storage costs.   

Not legal advice, you know just adding my 2-cents.

Great job, nice house. Your video is a great learning tool, especially to so many who watch TV real estate shows and think it not hard work!  THANK YOU for posting.

Claudette

[Ryan Byrne]

It looks they really took advantage of living rent free for 5 years to get there financial lives in order and back on track to never end up in this situation again. So there is also that silver lining. (sarcasm) So pathetic. The judge should have toured the house and said "No pride of ownership here, your case is done."

[Christina R.]

the "bones" of the house look solid so once all the crap is gone you will be able to fully appreciate that they didnt pour concrete down the pipes etc., which really I was expecting something twisted like that. Blows my mind that they somehow procured a motor home and are living around the corner. Wire that house up with a survallence (i know thats not spelled right) system so you can catch these whackadoodles should they try to "avenge" their clearly mentally deranged behavior.

Like others, I'm curious.... what is your legal responsibility to their crap?

Congratulations!!!! Hopefully you went out and celebrated like crazy!!

And lastly..  when is the book coming out?? ;-)

[Andrew Yip]

Congratulations Will on finally evicting these scumbags. My blood boils as I read this thread and then seeing your video. I really can feel your pain and stress.. and really not looking forward to have one for my rental properties.

Thus, I encourage all Bpers experts.. especially the Californians with our crazy court system. Could we all please share the iron clad lease agreement so that something like this can be avoided?

I think it'll be powerful if Bps can create some sort of solid lease agreement template for californian landlord. 

I'm really scared of professional squatter. but I know someday I have to be ready to battle them. 

[Alan Grobmeier]

I read a lot of this, but there are a BUNCH of things I don't understand.

1.  How was the 'tenant' paying for water, power and sewer?  Living a property without water, power and sewer would be a little uncomfortable after a few days. 

2.  If these utilities were turned on in 'their' names, who pays for them?

3.  5+ YEARS of this BS?  I think I may have waited for them to leave the property and then torch or bulldoze the place.  ;-)  A lawsuit on the 'tenants' behalf' would have probably been less expensive and time consuming.

Glad it 'worked' out for you.  I am not sure I would have been so 'nice'.

[Matt R.]

Here is the most insane part about this greater LA area equation maybe? Will still ends up making money? Perhaps six figures IDK. Hopefully Will can delineate more details soon. But that would be 5 years no cash flow and the rest and he still ends up positive. Talk about being backed up by location. 

[Michaela G.]

@Alan Grobmeier 

I believe the 'squatter' was living there with the previous owner, thus he never had to turn off any utilities. They didn't pay rent, so they should have had enough to pay utilities. As to 3. It's easy to make those 'choices' looking back, but I guarantee you that Will never thought that this would take 5 years and expected it to be over at every hearing.....which didn't happen

[Anastasia Jordan]

Originally posted by @Manuel Gonzalez:

I would  have done it gangsta  style........

 I am sitting here thinking the same thing.

[Jayme R.]

@Will Barnard, any updates? Did they ever make a arrangements to pick up more of their stuff? Are they still in a motor home parked down the street? Have renovations begun? We certainly are all routing for you and hope that this can turn into a profitable flip at the very least! (aside from attorney fees) Best of luck!

[Bob E.]

@Will Barnard  I would like to thank you for you steady updates over far to many years.  You posts have been both entertaining and educational and your willingness to share your experience is truly what BP is all about.

Thank you and god bless.

[Will Barnard]

Soory for the delayed response, been quite busy with this house and a few other projects plus I manage my sons baseball team and we are only 1 of 4 teams remaining out of 20. 

To answer some of the questions, I suspect that the occupants paid their utilities and their attorney fees from the money they didn't have to pay in rent. The utilities were on in their names and continued to be after I took possession until I changed them over. Regarding the suggestions of torching or bulldozing, while those are great options in hindsight, I or anyone else could not of even dreamed this matter would take this long and there was no crystal ball to tell us so. It is very easy to think these thoughts and have the desire to take some illegal actions until you arebthenone facing the penalties.

At any rate, here is an update on this fiasco. The occupants remain out and the old man continues to live out of his motor home but not down the street anymore, he is a block away and somehow is parked is someone's driveway. (Maybe he knows somebody and gave them some sob story of how some evil and unscrupulous investor stole his home). There was one car left behind and parked down the street. I called parking enforcement and it has since been moved away.

I have a very nice neighbor who keeps an eye on my place and has called me a few times to report some minor issues which I have dealt with accordingly. I have no trespassing signs posted, the eviction notice remains posted, and a total of 3 40 yard dumpsters where used just to remove the crap left behind by the occupants. They were given the legal timeframes to come back and get their crap and they never did so it was considered abandoned and trashed. While posting adds on Craig's list or other means would seam to be a good option and perhaps get some money out of it, I did not want any more strangers around the property or know it even exists. The last thing I need is more problems so I avoided the attempt at getting back a few pennies and just trashed everything. Besides, I took great pleasure at opening up the window and tossing clothes and personal belongings out the window and into the front yard before tossing into the dumpster. While it was a lot of work, I did it all myself with the help of a family member not just to save money but for my own enjoyment and pleasure of trashing just about everything these morons owned and saved over a lifetime.

Another dumpster was used to remove construction demo and 3 low boy sumpsters used to remove asphalt from te driveway. Construction was started immediately after the trash removal and it is coming along on schedule and on budget so far. I will take a few pictures today and post them. The new addition I am adding (plans and permits all approved by city) already has the foundation poured and the framing just about completed as of today. Almost all new windows are in (2 were special order sizes and just came in yesterday) the rough plumbing and electrical completed, new HVAC rough completed, and a lot of other misc items completed.

 I will follow up again shortly.

[Rick H.]

Money and distractions aside, you've learned you can't fix crazy people. 

I initially though that your cautionary tale could be turned into an essay or even a book until it occurred to me that it could become a "cookbook" of sorts for potentional occupants to use as a recipe for future misdeeds.

Now that you've paid your dues, welcome to the survivors club!

[Julie Doke]

What an ordeal! Talk about needing persistence and fortitude WOW! So glad everything finally worked out for you!

[Account Closed]

Sorry for your troubles Will. Enough to turn any new investor away. I just hope these cases are few and far between. Good luck & thanks for sharing.

[Michael Elliott]

Who is at fault for all of this? City council? State legislature? Just stunning that a homeowner can be abused like this. Is this mostly a California thing?

[Jack B.]

Originally posted by @Michael Elliott:

Who is at fault for all of this? City council? State legislature? Just stunning that a homeowner can be abused like this. Is this mostly a California thing?

 Any liberal state will really look like this...The more liberal the worse it usually is. 

[Andrew Pennington]

Amazing story and thanks for sharing.  I started with the first 3 pages but then skipped to 32 in hopes to find that this had finally ended and congratulations!!  5 years and just in time as the tides of the market are slowly changing.  Look forward to seeing the pics and spreadsheet on this story.  You seriously need to do an episode or tv show on this, i hope you GoPro'd all the footage to at least a documentary, lol.  

Anyway, congratulations and onward and upward!! :)

[Joshua Springer]

This wouldn't be a real thread if we let it die after your friends left the property :)  Last update was a few months ago, I assume you're probably getting close to completion @Will Barnard ? 

Anymore issues pop up?  Are you going to end up breaking even/profit(minus opportunity cost and time value of money of course)