Originally posted by @Matt Devincenzo:
Originally posted by @Donald Hendricks:
Originally posted by @Charlie Hampton:
@George Paiva
Wrong! You, the lawful owner of a single family dwelling, have things in a detached shed. Anything left on the property after closing is yours to do with as you please. Your zest to be a legal eagle, has legitimized his claim and gave him standing to drag this out in the courts. No one is entitled to inhabit a shed, especially one without proper electrical and plumbing. You gave him standing where no standing previously existed. It isn't as though he was in a proper and lawful dwelling.
Just wait until he hurts himself on your property.
This is some horrible advice. There are rules regarding personal property and how to go about disposing of it. Just going in and clearing it out with a squatter that it turns out is a himself a "legal eagle" and knows the court system would have left you open to a claim for the lost/damaged property.
Remember this squatter originally claimed "equitable interest" in the property. Whether he claimed ownership or just tenancy he would have been entitled to some rights whether time or compensation, defeating that claim is what needs to happen to remove him and not remain open to another potential suit for circumventing the court system.
Really? There was no claim until the OP called the police and had a witness to the bum claiming.... Well he doesn't know what he is claiming, he just knows he likes living in a SHED.
So by your way of thinking, anytime someone buys a property with anything in it besides old nasty carpets and torn up blinds, the new owner now must hold onto any and all property and store it for XYZ days, but only after having sent a duly sworn and certified letter to the last known address of some mystery person. Do I have that right?
Right or wrong that crap and shed would have been gone post-haste. What? That was yours? Really? Who are you? I just bought this property? I thought it was some kids club house, no reasonable person would think that an adult would live in such deplorable condition in a shed. Golly gee mister, I don't know what to tell you. What, your going to file a lawsuit? Go ahead.
The lawsuit would then be turned over to my insurance company who would foot the bill to defend against such non-sense. Oh, he wants to claim ownership, well, I bought a title policy for that. They can work that out.
Instead, the OP treated this person as some bonafide tenant and gave the fool standing to appeal, appeal, appeal and standing for a 40k lawsuit for calling him a squatter in court. All of which the OP has to foot the bill to defend against.
Sometimes, as clearly the case is here, you have to do a little rough justice and think outside the box, otherwise you get stuck dancing with an irrational person.
Perhaps the OP could offer cash for keys.... Oh wait, this is a shed.
