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First, thanks for taking this time to read this to help my wife and I. We live in Los Angeles, California. We in a bit of a stressful dilemma with our house guest. My wife being the nice person she is, took in a acquaintance of hers that she originally met from her work place. They hit it off well enough for my wife to agree to let her stay for a bit, while the now house guest went through school. It was a verbal agreement, the house guest agreed to $200 a month. At the time she was on food stamps and other aids to help her with living. Only a month went by and the food stamps stopped as well did the aid she was given elsewhere. Part of this help was from her mother.
About 6 months passed quickly, at this time our house guest's stay was over-welcomed. We were receiving no rent money. Her mother once offered us $200 in about month 5 but we refused it so she could give it to her daughter to help her look for a new place. The house guest pleaded for us to give her "a few more weeks" to look for a job and a new place. She failed to find a job plus the environment my wife and I were living in was starting to get very uncomfortable.
The house guest's mother was then involved in a car accident. She wanted to visit her mother in another state for 2 weeks. About the 12th day of the two weeks she was out of state, my wife and I text her that we're giving her 30 days to find somewhere else to stay and that we can talk about it when she returns. Why a text message? The house guest was ignoring our calls. Our house guest's mother visited us shortly after she returned from out of state. It was an awkward visit and our house guest and her mother gave my wife and I no heads up at what time they were stopping by. The visit was awkward and short but no mention of the 30 day notice we gave her daughter. We soon found out she was also visiting our neighbors and telling them lies about how poorly my wife and I have been treating our house guest.
At this point our house guest began ignoring our text messages and phone calls altogether and even try to avoid us at the apartment. The person would only be in our apartment to sleep, shower and eat. And she knew our work schedule so she knew when to be there and when not to. The 30th day was the following day and we've had very little if no contact with the house guest. It was at this point we told our apartment manager about the situation. She informed my wife and I to change the locks, she told us that she would be allowed access to the apartment but that she's doesn't need a key because she's not on the lease.
We soon found out that changing the locks was not a good idea. This infuriated the house guest. With a already very uncomfortable living situation my wife and I started the eviction process for our house guest. We also found out we violated our lease agreement. Which means if our house guest doesn't leave our property at the end of the 3rd day from which we hand her our eviction notice that my wife and I will be evicted within 30 days from our own place.
Our house guest was aware of this, being that she hates to be wrong and manipulates people so well. She's also working with an attorney 1 day a week as in internship we found out. So for the past 2 days after handing her the eviction notice we've been harassed by her in the apartment. She threatened that if were were to talk back she wouldn't leave on the 3rd day and force my wife and I to get evicted from our own place just in spite.
On the day of this post it is the 2nd of the 3rd day. Most of her stuff is gone, all but the necessities remain. She still sleeps on our couch and still showers and uses our appliances to cook, all while my wife and I are being harassed and taken advantaged of. All the things we have done for her in the past whether it was giving her gas money, food and shelter doesn't matter now. It's like helping her all this time didn't matter. She still has no job and no place to go. She tries to make us feel guilty that she will soon be living in her car.
My wife and I are just praying she be gone by this Wednesday night, if not my wife and I will be served eviction papers. We learned so much from this the hard way and we were wondering if we missed anything. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. We need this Squatter GONE!
I don't understand. Why is she still there if you changed the locks? Also, was it in the eviction process that you were told you violated your lease or was it your landlord? Maybe I'm confused. Anyway I feel for you. It seems a better idea these days more and more not to help others (in that way anyway). Sad really. Good luck to you. I'd keep trying to legally get her out. Have a cop do it if you can. She has family to sponge off of. She's obviously got problems but it's not your problem.
I have to admit to not being aware of US laws but if she was to remain after the 3rd day is it possible to have her removed by the police for tresspass?
In the UK it is illegal for someone to be in your house without permission. It's sometimes used over here by parents clearing out kids 'surprise' parties and by landlords having overstaying tenants removed.
Here a 'squatter' is someone that moves into a property when there is no-one in residence in the house, on holiday for example and then they need to be evicted by a court.
We can't put her things outside or change the locks preventing her from coming in before her eviction notice expires because after 12 days I believe your house guest can become a tenant to an extent in California. She has Squatters right's now. Calling the cops won't help, they just allow her in plus that'll **** her off even more and than want her to 100% get my wife and I evicted after Wednesday by staying put. Legally she now has 26 days to move out, if she isn't out by Thursday of this week my wife and I will be served eviction papers due to a lease violation of her staying as long as she did. Our hands are tied.
If she wasn't gone within the next two days I wouldn't give a rat's patootie what the law says, I would change the locks and dump the rest of her stuff outside. If she kicked up a stink I'd call the police and tell them she threatened me and physically put her hands on me, I was afraid for my own safety and that of my wife, that I made every attempt to do things the right way but that I had no choice but to revert to self-help as things got worse.
That's one of the things I would love to do STT. That goes through my mind all day and night. The way she's treating us alone in our own home should be enough for us to call the cops. She's acting like she's invincible right now and can do or say what ever she wants around us. I'm also worried she'll steal something from us right before she leaves and try to pawn it for money.
I'm just saying that in my mind it's an option and if I had to add some spice to make it palatable on those justice scales you can bet your life I would and wouldn't hesitate for even a second. I'm very protective of my home/my castle/my privacy and I'll be damned if anyone would impose on me in such a manner. Good luck!
I'm not a LL, but damn - If I want somebody out of my house, they better get out. I will never have anybody stay with me, other than my son.
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