Squatters destroy house, steal car...no charges.

[CoGirl303]

I dont understand this state and how squatters are protected. Why do these vermin have more rights than the homeowner?

Not to mention the homeowners have to pay thousands of dollars to lawyers and courts to get these animals out of their houses.


http://www.koaa.com/story/37433724/m...e-and-take-car


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[Eric P]

Squatters take over my house while I'm on vacation, I'll invoke make my day if they don't leave immediately.

The x who stole my guns tried breaking into my house after she was released on bail. Never made it past the door. The sheriff said I had to let her in since she established residency by living there. I refused, and said if he forces to me let her in they would be returning a few hours later to arrest me for murder. I had already tossed all her crap and there was no evidence of her ever living in the house. So it came down to he said, she said. The deputy eventually told her to go away and if she wanted in she had to go to court to get a civil ruling. I was then advised to evict her also. I consulted with the county victim advocate the next day and was told the same, but she skipped her court date that day and had a warrant. While at the sheriff's department, she happened to call the county to inquire about her rights and being allowed into her residence when her lanflord locked her out... Well the county said they would send a deputy to assist her entry, but they were going to arrest her instead for skipping bail.

Land owners need better rights. No signed contract to live on your property should mean there are no legal protections for these invaders. The police should remove them immediately and not force the land owner to pony up and feed cash to the legal system. Let the leaches pony up and prove they have a legal right to live there.

[68Charger]

To paraphrase a GnR song "what's so civil about squatters, anyway"

As soceity moves more left, they view property as more "communal"... doesn't make it right.
We considered holding CO property and renting it out while living in TX... situations like this are why we decided against that.

[encorehunter]

The last tenants I had did a lot of damage and skipped on rent. They also took the car they made two payments on under contrac5t, and took it with them when they left. I can't find them to sue them or get my car back. I went and tried to report it stolen, but because it has a contract the PD can't report it stolen. I went to the DA, who said to report it stolen. After $7000 in damages and skipping on $2200 for a car, I'm done "helping" people.
The laws are definitely written to protect law breakers. I'm no longer going to be a landlord because of all the BS laws.

[roberth]

The last tenants I had did a lot of damage and skipped on rent. They also took the car they made two payments on under contrac5t, and took it with them when they left. I can't find them to sue them or get my car back. I went and tried to report it stolen, but because it has a contract the PD can't report it stolen. I went to the DA, who said to report it stolen. After $7000 in damages and skipping on $2200 for a car, I'm done "helping" people.
The laws are definitely written to protect law breakers. I'm no longer going to be a landlord because of all the BS laws.

That's a tough lesson.

[TheGrey]

The last tenants I had did a lot of damage and skipped on rent. They also took the car they made two payments on under contrac5t, and took it with them when they left. I can't find them to sue them or get my car back. I went and tried to report it stolen, but because it has a contract the PD can't report it stolen. I went to the DA, who said to report it stolen. After $7000 in damages and skipping on $2200 for a car, I'm done "helping" people.
The laws are definitely written to protect law breakers. I'm no longer going to be a landlord because of all the BS laws.

How awful. You could hire a skip-tracer to find out where they went. It'll cost a bit of money, and they may not be ale to locate them until about 30 days have passed, but it may be worth it.

[brutal]

Tbh I'd call it a lesson learned. Chances are they have little recoverable, already have other judgments/collections (likely even garnishments) and would file for BK protection if you tried to recover the car. Either way you'd be out the attorney fees from a case (not likely to get a fee award). I've found it takes a reasonably high threshold before you have a probability of getting any ROI. It's sad, but it's the nature of our screwed up system resulting from a few centuries of attorney monopoly....

If you did pursue it, stick to small claims and go pro se. You'll have a 7,500 cap but at least much lower cost. Done right, you might even be able to get a default judgement if they are truly "off the map". Then you can hire certain services to see where they have bank accounts, and garnish those directly. (that costs ~$350 by itself) **the more you know*** still, tbh, I'd just call it a lesson learned. Scummy people rarely have anything to collect from, so it's an exercise in futility.

When we moved to Colorado in 1992, the housing market in WI was soft so we leased our house out on a month-month contract with an option for ether party to cancel with 60 days notice. They also had a "rent-to-own" option where we would apply the rent to a sale. While he worked "construction," she was in a wheelchair on permanent disability and receiving SS benefits. We had semi-local family to keep an eye on the place, and thought we could trust the tenants. Arrangements were made for them to make their rent check directly with our bank (nearby branch) that held the mortgage, and the bank would notify us of any late payment. 3 months in, they stopped paying rent. They were also making it hard on the RE agent to setup showings. Took a few months to get them evicted and got a judgement against them for unpaid rent totalling $2,500, but they didn't pay and skipped. The deposit was used to pay an attorney. The family helped clean it up enough to price it for a fire sale. At least they didn't trash it. I had to write a check at closing and lost the little equity we had in the place (I made ~$20K in improvements not including my labor).

Apparently, you can't garnish SS benefits. The construction worker was likely working for cash for the most part and obviously under reporting his income. Never saw a penny and chalked it up as a life experience. Never again. I put it behind me and never really think about it anymore until this thread brought it back to light.

[roberth]

Welcome to (D) paradise, where everything belongs to the people who didn't earn anything.

[izzy]

I could write for days on this topic. Both as a land lord and as someone who's been not allowed into their own home because of an ex. I'll sum it up though as absolute and complete hogwash. The rules are 100% not fair.

[Martinjmpr]

WRT financing a car privately, I have to ask: Does it EVER work?

It just seems to me that when someone says "I really need to buy this $4000 car but I only have $150. Can I just make payments to you?" what they are basically saying is "please let me steal your car."

I haven't had it happen to me in over a decade but back around 2006 I put my old Subaru up for sale. I got at least half a dozen people emailing me with stories of woe and asking could they make payments, swearing they were "good for it" and adding that "I'll let you hold on to the title!" as if that is any kind of security.

I told them all the same thing: If you need a loan, go to the bank.

But the fact that they asked told me that there were people out there who actually do this and it amazed me. I could see maybe - MAYBE - doing this kind of arrangement with a family member but a total stranger? No way in hell.