Mom has passed away. Caregiver won't vacate home. Was notified in writing services no longer needed. Caregiver was employee not tenant according to Calif. law. Caregiver was paid $6,000.00 per month in pay, along with free rent including half the building being used as storage for caregiver's belongings. Caregiver has received written notice service is no longer needed and the same day caregiver showed me where he is defecating and urinating in every room on the carpet. His cat is also defecating and urinating in all the rooms. How do I get this guy out?
My handyman informed me that they were causing damage to the unit. That was the last straw. I had to do something. You see these “Squatters” know all the loop holes to the law. He always left his wife at the apt, she would never come out. Preventing any landlord from getting cute and changing the locks, even though it’s against the law to change the locks if you have a “Squatter”. The law protects them. Yes believe it. Well we knew that every Tuesday he would take his wife who was morbidly obese to the doctor or somewhere at 10am without fail and didn't return for about an hour. This was the moment. I organized my brothers and we came up with a plan to enter the unit, move their belonging in a trailer and change the locks. Tuesday came. 10 am like clockwork they were gone. And we were ready. We gained access to the unit. Changed the locks. Loaded up their belongings and moved them to an undisclosed location. All in record time. Then I patiently waited in my office. Upon their return I saw that they were just standing in the parking lot with a stunned look on their face. Soon a police unit arrived and after talking to them came over to talk to me. I briefed him on the original incident and told him I had a pending eviction on them. The officer asked me if I knew anything about their property being missing or the changing of the locks. No I replied. The apartment was vacated or abandoned so I secured my property by changing the locks. The officer then told me if their property was removed without their consent they could press charges. I said press charges on who? He said well first let me see if they want to make a report. As soon as the officer asked the old man for some identification on both of them they decided not to even make an incident report. The officer explained to them that it was a “civil matter” and that there was nothing more he could do. I asked the officer if he could escort them off my the property and before the officer could answer they said “We are leaving already” and left. The next day the old man called me over and over until I finally took his call. He was crying and pleading for his belongings and said that if I returned them he would never do this “scam” to anyone else again. The property was all junk really. I said I don’t believe you and consider this a lesson that you hopefully will learn late in your life! And hung-up. Street justice had prevailed. The next day my handyman spotted him on the road close to our property and followed him to a trailer park. I went over to speak to the owners. Turns out they were about to scam a retired U.S. Veteran and his wife with the same “Squatter Scam” they did to me. He said yeah he felt bad and gave him a job cleaning one of his trailers. He was gonna start tomorrow morning. Needless to say the old man was not gonna change. I’m not saying that this is what you should do, there was a risk on my part, but my Dad always did tell me “With risk comes great reward”. Turns out Thomas Jefferson said that too or was it Uncle Ben from Spiderman? Anyway the bottom line is that sometimes “what comes around goes around”. I hope you resolve your dilemma and wish you the best. If you do take him to court, you might get lucky and the judge will remove him quickly. But if he doesn’t…Rest assured that somewhere down the line he will get his.
Have you contacted local law enforcement, shown them the contract, notice to vacate and his destruction of the property?
I would start there, turn all utilities off, serve him with a 5 day letter to pay or vacate along with a huge rental amount.
I will tell you, my experience in NV, squatters have serious rights, I would check that law in CA before I used that.
A good real estate attorney or even a good property management company can guide you on what the fastest course of action is. I would check into willful destruction of private property as well. Kinda scary this nutter was a caregiver.
Just a mention that turning lights off was considered a “terroristic action” when my uncle turned them off when squatters moved into an empty house on his property. (Might have been made worse in that he was carrying a shotgun when he walked onto his own property and turned the lights off on an outdoor switch). Uncle ended up in trouble with the law. They had to go through full eviction to get the folks out. It went on for several months.
I agree check the Ca laws on eviction.
I know I might get some backlash for giving you this advise or merely telling you my experience. But before anyone passes some judgement on me, keep in mind that you probably have not experienced this situation. Sometimes the law doesn't prevail and in some cases the law should be changed. And that law is pertaining to protecting "Squatters". This law leaves the victims of this crime feeling helpless, frustrated and violated. So sometimes there is "Street Justice" or if it makes you feel better there is this saying "what comes around goes around". Just a little background. My father and I invested in a retirement plan for him by purchasing 12 apartment units 60/40 split. I would run them as the landlord and handle the day to day operations. He would just have to kick back and wait for his monthly check. Several years passed and everything was going as we planned and the investment was a success and my father was enjoying his retirement. We are a very generous and hard working family, we help others in need whenever we can, but I must admit sometimes the ones you help can also take advantage of you. In this case it was an old man who knocked at the property office and said he was a handyman and was looking for work. I really didn't have any work for him since I already had maintenance covered by my long term handyman. The old man was on the verge of tears and begging for any job whatsoever. I thought how can I help this man? I said ok look do you have any experience in painting? He said yes. I told him my handyman was about to paint an apt for a new lease I had just signed up and if he would like to do the job. He took it. We agreed on a price. He was to start very early the next morning and since I gave my handyman the day off he gave him the keys to access the apt and I would check on his progress later that day. So far pretty good story right... Well it's about to go South. I arrived to my usual work routine and then I went over to check on his progress and to my surprise I didn't see his van and the door to the apt was locked. It was too early for lunch and he had all the supplies he needed. I called the old man and no answer. I tried to open the unit with my master key front or back. No luck. I looked through one of the windows and the place looked furnished and I could see a rather large woman sitting on a chair. So I knocked and knocked but no one would come to the door. At first I was puzzled but slowly I was putting it together in my mind. So I called the police. The police unit arrived and I explained the situation. He said sounds like you have a "squatter". He could not do a thing about it, but document the incident saying it was a “Civil Matter” to be resolved in court. I was shocked and to be honest felt embarrassed, but then angry. I took them to court and even though they had no defense for their actions the Judge told me I would have to wait for the proper process to take place in order to evict them. Minimum of 3 months if it went in my favor. I could not sleep or even do my job properly over the next couple of weeks. Keep in mind I would see them there every day. He even came over to the office to complain about his neighbor. I went up to him and said how could you do something like this after I was willing to help you. He simply shrugged and said there is nothing you can do about it. It took everything I had inside of me not to bash his face in. Couldn't even collect rent because that would make him a tenant. I had to let the process take its course. Or did I?
Well done.
Seek the advice of your will/trust attorney as this house must be sold to satisfy probate or will/trust. My God, what if he acquires a homeless GF with minor children, then you have problems that are going to be harder to get rid of. What if he slips and falls or they do, another big lawsuit opportunity.
And for everyone else thinking of hiring one 24/7 live in. DO NOT EVER. That is basically hiring a homeless person. If anything, such a person should be nights only and their stuff should be kept to a minimum. Do not allow them to receive mail there as a permanent address. And indy or not, know your minimum wage and hour laws, such as overtime.
Some jobs like restaurant waitstaff and live-in caregivers do not have to pay minimum wage. Live-in caregivers work on salary not hourly.
The poster will probably have to serve this guy with Notice To Quit/Eviction. In some states (California may be one of them) people living in a place can have squatter's rights.
If you can get him physically out of the house, change the locks, throw his stuff on the lawn, and take back the house.
Was curious if there was any relationship between you and the caretaker at all? Did you discuss anything after she died, thanked him for his service, talked about next steps? Not that it matters but it seems he is either mad at the way he was dismissed and/or he is completely insane. You will get your best advice from a good lawyer and don't wait another minute to get it. Keep us posted please!
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