Hat tip to Susie for sending in this story from Potato Land!
The list price for the house was $134,900, and the photos on Zillow made it obvious that the house was vacant:
http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/couple-fights-to-evict-stranger-from-nampa-home/128686427
CALDWELL — A Canyon County couple is back to the drawing board after a judge ruled against allowing them to fast-track the eviction of a stranger who moved into their house without permission.
Brian and Renae Prindle discovered last month that someone was living inside the home at 37 South Westwood they had put up for sale.
The pair said they checked on the vacant property multiple times a month. Brian Prindle testified Monday that he stopped by the house March 25 after his wife noticed rocking chairs in front of the home had been moved.
Inside the home were several people, including a woman who told Prindle she lived there and had a lease.
The woman, Debbra Smith, said she moved into the home after calling a number on a sign advertising rental properties. Smith said she believed the person she dealt with was the owner – she gave him more than $1,500 in rent and deposits, and he gave her a key to the house.
The Prindles say police told them the issue was a civil matter, and they weren’t allowed to just kick Smith out.
Instead, the couple has been forced to wade into the thorny eviction process, even though Smith was never their tenant and is not paying them any money to stay in the house.
In the meantime, the property has found a buyer in California who wants to close on the house this week.
Renea Prindle said the situation has left her feeling “sick to my stomach.”
“It’s highly possible we could lose the sale of the home after everything we went through to make it happen,” she said.
The pair say Smith has allowed her cat to relieve itself on the carpet indoors, and someone has repeatedly kicked the walls of the home, leaving marks.
They also accused the woman of using drugs, and brought pictures they had taken of marijuana bags and pipes they say they found in the house to court Monday to plead their case. Under Idaho law, homeowners and landlords can expedite the eviction process if a tenant is using or selling drugs on the property.
But Judge Debra Orr denied the Prindles’ request, saying there was no proof the substances in the photos were drugs because they had not been tested in a lab.
Orr said she understood the homeowners’ predicament, but that they needed to pursue a traditional eviction to get Smith out.
“She’s not there legally, obviously,” Orr told the couple. “There’s a way to get her out properly, but you have not met your burden [of evidence of drug use.]”
Smith denied using drugs, and argued the Prindles were not the only ones who had been swindled.
“We’ve both been victims,” she told the judge. “They’re frustrated – I understand that.”
She said the pair had cut off power and water to the home in order to force her out, and had briefly taken the locks off the doors, resulting in some of her belongings being stolen.
Smith said she had been unable to find another place to live after the Prindles asked her to move out, and had given all her money to the man with the fake lease.
But the Prindles’ attorney Tiffany Hales cast doubt on Smith’s story, noting the woman had been evicted from a home near the Westwood Street house for not paying rent just five days before turning up on the Prindles’ property.
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/37-S-Westwood-St-Nampa-ID-83651/72343204_zpid/
Why isn’t this just breaking and entering?
UPDATE: The prospective buyer of the house is 72 years old, and has already sold her house in CA. She was slated to move into her new home this weekend.
To make matters worse, the buyer broke her neck while working on her house during the escrow period in CA for the sale of her previous home. Local news showed a photo of her recently in the hospital with a steel apparatus on, and interviewed her by phone. She says she will live with a grandchild in nearby Boise until the case is resolved.
Debbra Smith, the squatter, now has 20 days to respond to the homeowners’ eviction notice. The eviction process could take 60-90 days. She hid her face outside the courthouse as the reporter explained the judge’s ruling.
The Prindles worry that now they will owe 1000’s of dollars in court fees and repair costs when (and if) they get their home back.
Personally, I was absolutely shocked with the judge’s ruling…
Myriad,
It is B&E but the ‘tenant’ claimed that she paid somebody rent, so the judge gave her a break.
The critical evidence is the key – how did she get in? If she has a the same key as the owners, then somebody else was involved.
Sellers – if you were looking for one more reason to use staging, this is it. The listing photos made it look extremely vacant.
“Why isn’t this just breaking and entering?”
Because state law overwhelmingly favors tenants rights. If someone breaks into your house while you’re away, and changes the locks, when you call the police, that someone can claim you rented the house to them, and the police will walk away. In the meantime, you’re a de facto landlord for you own home, with a new crappy tenant you have to “evict.”
Good luck getting a court date. Our system is overloaded. Getting them out can take a lot of time.
You should rent the movie “Pacific Heights.” It’s like “Psycho” for home owners, but instead of a knife, Norman Bates attacks with the California Civil Code.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNRE6i7UxAA&nohtml5=False
I should imagine a good way to solve this would be for the complainants to go and squat at the judges house? Would concentrate his mind as to the law most marvelously by citing precedent?
LATEST UPDATE: Debbra Smith, the squatter, has been arrested and booked in county jail for a probation violation. Stay tuned to bubbleinfo for further updates after the 10PM local news.
In other news, tomorrow afternoon I have two closings: First as a seller of my present home (which Jim previewed in January, 2011 on bubbleinfo), then as a buyer of a newly-built home by a premier builder here.
JtR, you were right! I love my present home, but I love the next one too. I move in Friday morning, 4/15. Appreciate your advice and support in the last 11 months. You’re simply the best! (Get good help).
I am from Caldwell and am trying all angles to help this couple, the new possible owner, and the realtor. The lease looks like it was written in the same handwriting including the fact that the “landlord’s” signature is illegible in long narrow sweeps then if you look at Ms. Smith’s signature she has a section in hers that is suddenly written that way completely different from any of her other writing. If you overlay them they look like they are the same width and height as the landlords writing.
Also Ms. Smith has been evicted 4 times this year already. Where did she come up with $1500 + 1st months rent for this new place only 5 days after being evicted from the previous residence a few blocks away? Wouldn’t it have been less burden and stress to just pay your existing rent?
I have also asked for the attorney to ask Ms. Smith to provide the location of the sign she got the information from and what color it was or any description. Also if she made contact with this person over the phone at the number provided on the lease can she show on her phone the date and time and length of the conversation? Has anyone verified ownership of the number she called? What about the address for the landlord? Where was she supposed to make her next month payment?
It just seems like there is no effort being made by the justice system to help the homeowners while this vagrant is even locked up right now on other charges!
Sorry its just frustrating. Any ideas? Bobbi W.
Another fun fact about this case is the attorney for the Prindles is the same attorney that evicted Ms. Smith from her prior rental (purely coincidental). The judge refuses to take any of these questions into consideration.
I am trying to find a case that I can show some kind of legal example for when its possible the tenant created the rental agreement themselves. I am looking for a hand writing analyst that could possibly prove the theory and that would give cause for an expedited eviction and fraud charges.
This is so unjust.