Removing a "crasher" from house?

We own a vacant house that is on the market. We let a guy stay there for a couple of months rent free for doing some very minor yard work that took two days. Now, he's partying there and having known dope guys over at all hours, stolen vehicle in the driveway. You can imagine... Broke a window and just generally slapped us in the face with his lack of appreciation. We just wanted to do the guy a favor for a short time. Well, it is obviously time he gets OUT before any more damage is done. There was no papers signed as it wasn't a rental agreement, more like a short term favor. Anyone know how to approach this the most effective way? We warned him a month ago to get out, he's got one week left. I want to be prepared? Thanks, appreciate all advice!

We told him he had until the 1st of Jan.

In many states you have to proceed with an eviction even if you do not have a lease or have received rent. Depending on the state he may be able to stall for a while. This stinks, but the quickest resolution maybe to offer him money to get out ASAP. For example $200 if he gets out in the next two days. It is probably cheaper than going the eviction route, although you could pursue both in parallel(a carrot and a stick). If he does take the payment make sure you get in writing that he is vacating the premises and giving up any tenants rights that he may have had.

You would only have a case for tresspassing if he did not have your permission to move in.

Sorry to hear about your experience, but glad to hear it is resolved :) Report It

What do you mean he's got one week left. You should have charged him with trespassing a long time ago. Call the police and ask what steps you need to take.

You made a verbal agreement that he could stay in the house. That agreement had no details... like how long he could stay. I think you will have to start the legal eviction process to get him out.

This can get sticky... you might want to rent a half hour of advice from a real estate attorney to make sure your problem gets solved once and for all.

It really depends on where you are--- some jurisdictions actually honor "squatters rights" in which case you would have to go through a formal eviction. Call the local police and the local landlord/tenant court (or department of housing or whatever the regulatory board is in your area) for your legal rights. Ethically you should be able to put up a bunch of barbed wire and get a rottweiler to chase him away (LOL) but if you're in a squatter's rights state, you could actually get sued if you put bars up on the windows or take other means to keep him out of the house.

Get a notice of eviction and have a sheriff serve it as soon as possible. If he is not out by then have an arrest warrant issued for trespassing. Report the stolen vehicle. You got yourself in a real bind with this yo-yo.

Call the police and have him arrested for trespassing. Simply tell them that you have a trespasser on the property. Why wasn't he in jail already for the stolen vehicle?

Call the police when you know him and the dope dealers are there and have them arrested and press charges. That's what you do...

Many states will have different laws, so check with your local authorities first. However, best to prepare to hire a real estate attorney ASAP and start eviction. You allowed the person to stay, so I don't think trespassing will work. Whether money transfers hands or not, a verbal agreement as you discussed is effectively a lease. Best to let police deal with the drug use and vehicle, but effectively you will need to evict this person just as if you had a signed lease. Verbal warnings won't hold up in court. Get an attorney. The $1000 you spend on an eviction will be far less than the damage they can do to your house if you try to be nice.

If he does want to leave by law you will need to present him with an eviction notice so you might want to have one ready when his day is up.

You will have to file your eviction notice with the court and just continue to follow-up with same.

Your other resort is to tell him that the property has been sold and introduce him to a friend (who he does not know) who will act as the new owner and have that person advise him that he will need to vacate the premises.

The verbal agreement was made between you and this person meaning that the pretend so called owner has no obligations to him.

Well since you gave him permission to stay there and you don't have an agreement with him, you may have to serve him a 30 day notice to move, if he doesn't, then you can evict him.
The quickest way would be to try and talk him out of there, come up with a story, like you will be there with the Sheriffs Dept. on Jan 1and have him arrested for trespassing, if he is not gone.

go to the sheriff's office and file an eviction notice. it's simple, cheap and i bet this guy is not going to have the money to find a lawyer to fight this.