Any stories about "squatter"? (Honolulu: apartment, renter, eviction)
Big IslandThe Island of Hawaii
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Around where I live now, we used to have some squatter problems during the height of the sub-prime fiasco. But typically once discovered, the squatters can be kicked out.
What are some of the squatter stories in Puna that you know of?
What's the difference between a renter that stops paying and a squatter?
If you have accepted a single penny or promise of barter from somebody they are a renter and it's a civil issue for the courts to decide. If you haven't accepted anything (including promises) from them, they are a squatter, subject to criminal codes, and the police will intervene (even in Puna). They will help land owners. Landlords, not so much.
What's the difference between a renter that stops paying and a squatter?
If you have accepted a single penny or promise of barter from somebody they are a renter and it's a civil issue for the courts to decide. If you haven't accepted anything (including promises) from them, they are a squatter, subject to criminal codes, and the police will intervene (even in Puna). They will help land owners. Landlords, not so much.
Seems to me in a renter/landlord dispute facts are often more complex and harder to determine, thus must be left to the court to sort out. In a squatting situation the facts can be much clearer and the enforcement part can kick in faster.
What's the difference between a renter that stops paying and a squatter?
If you have accepted a single penny or promise of barter from somebody they are a renter and it's a civil issue for the courts to decide. If you haven't accepted anything (including promises) from them, they are a squatter, subject to criminal codes, and the police will intervene (even in Puna). They will help land owners. Landlords, not so much.
You are right TC! I have a home in Kapa'a, Kauai. It's rather large at almost 2000 sq ft living space. My granddaughter, along with her boyfriend and FOUR kids moved in while I was not there without my permission. My son was living in the house, doing some work on it. I guess he felt sorry for them and let them move in. When I arrived after a few months I let them stay until they could find a place of their own. It's the same old story, "we're looking." In the meantime I found tenants who were willing to pay a little less if they would let them stay in the very large family room while they looked for housing. And that's where they live, in one large room where they moved a large refrigerator I had in the garage and using an electric hot plate for cooking. At one time the agreement was they would pay me little every month. That never happened. Oh sometimes she would send me some money, but right now she is about $5000 in arrears. A sum that they will never ever be able to come up with.
Well, it's now been over a year and a half and I can't get them out. I called KPD and they say it's a civil matter. In Hawaii landlords are the evil people, squatters are poor locals who have been exploited by the bad people with money. And thus the authorities, in this case the police, are not interested in intervening. I contacted someone who said he could help. Yeah, if I paid him $10.000.00! So now I want to sell the house but no realtor will list it as long as there are squatters living in the house.
If I go through the courts it will take a lot of time and a lot of money. The squatters have already indicated to me that they will *never* move out, that they "know their rights" HUH? What rights? Evidently there must be some kind of "rights" that you can't just put people out and make them live on the streets or the beach.
A complex issue for sure.
If anyone has any suggestions, I sure would like to hear them.
EL
ps, have cross-posted to Kauai forum
It looks like you can't evict them without a court judgement. The process "looks" fairly straight forward, though not particularly easy and definitely not quick: serve them the eviction notice, file the court papers, wait for court date, get judgement, and THEN the police get involved:
"If the landlord prevails, the court will issue a Writ of Possession and a Judgment for Possession. A sheriff’s deputy or police officer will serve this on the tenant while giving the tenant some time to move out. If the tenant does not leave, the deputy or officer can physically remove the tenant and store all possessions. The tenant must pay the storage charges and remove these items within a certain time or the landlord can sell or dispose of them."
There is also the possibility that once you initiate the process, they may leave voluntarily rather than waiting for the police to come kick them out.
I had a friend who owned a rental and had the Tenant From Hell and he wound up paying her $10k to move out. He started the eviction process and she retaliated by filing several false lawsuits against him. His attorney told him he would win all his cases but his legal fees might be more than $10k.
I had another friend who lived in a rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco. He was a good tenant but the landlord needed him to move out voluntarily so that he could jack the rent up so he offered my friend a few months free rent plus a thousand dollars cash to go. Unknown to the landlord, my friend had to move out in a few months anyway but he said "I'm not moving out for anything less than $10k" and the landlord didn't hesitate to jump on the offer, leaving my friend to believe he could have probably got a lot more.
Last edited by terracore; 11-27-2016 at 02:43 PM..
Eddie, I know it will cost you money, but I suggest that you contact an attorney. One who knows the tenant/landlord rights in Hawaii. It's going to cost you money whichever way you go, but maybe a good attorney can make it happen quicker?
The process "looks" fairly straight forward, though not particularly easy and definitely not quick:
That is just really bad misinformation - Hawaii has one of the fastest and easiest eviction processes even if it is contested. Having evicted a couple of tenants over the years it is a far easier process than let's say pet quarantine.
Here are the cliff notes for non-payment of rent (the most common issue).
1). When the rent is late for non-payment post a 5 day notice to pay rent. Take a photo or better yet a video with your smartphone in case they say they didn't get notice. On day 6, go to court to start the eviction process - the court will issue an answer date within days.
2). Serve the papers - get a police officer or sheriff or someone over 18 who isn't part of the eviction. Since they may not answer the door the officer will just tape it to the door.
3). Answer date - if they no show you win. If they show up and deny you'll get a trial date within days.
4). Trial date (in Honolulu you'll actually have a pre-trial also). A no show and you'll win. Otherwise, the tenant has to prove they've made payment. The judge will have tolerance for lame excuses like the refrigerator is broken unless they can prove they've informed the landlord.
5). Evict with police officer or sheriff. This entire process start to finish is days to a max couple of weeks.
6). Collect your judgement. You can garnish wages or collect from tenants bank account with court order. Get the judgement on their credit report.
That was an interesting YouTube video about the squatters. In the squatter cases where the house has become a drug house, it seems a no-brained to me that the police should round up the squatters, arrest them, and throw them in jail for illegal drug possession.
It sounds like a very liberal attitude that homes that are owned by someone who cannot be contacted can simply be given to a homeless person. Homeless people should have no rights to take someone else's property, even if the owner cannot be located or contacted. The homeless people need to take at least some responsibility for what made them become homeless, and need to rely on government or charity homeless centers. The homeless should not have the rights to simply steal and occupy someone else's property. In many countries the homeless have no government assistance. If they can't make it, they simply die. The people in the US are much more generous for the homeless, but simply giving the homeless access to someone else's property is simply unacceptable in my view.
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