I recently had a tenant move out of their toh. They sold the home to someone who plans on living in the park. The tenant who moved out had two people living with them that I wasn’t aware of and who were not on the lease. These people are now refusing to leave. My lease states that guests must register and may not be in home for an extended period of time. If anyone has any experience with this please feel free to share what you’ve done to get the squatters out. Are the squatters considered trespassers since I wasn’t aware of them being in the park and they weren’t on the lease?
I have never had that exact situation but I have done dozens of evictions and more than a handful of forecloses, so I think I have a reasonably good handle on how these things work.
Unless you are in a strongly pro landlord state (if such a magical place still exists) the new homeowner will have to go through the unlawful retainer process.
In other words; the sheriff will not kick them out without a writ of execution. Why? Because how does he know that the squatters are squatters and not lease holders? That is to say, there could be an explanation of why they within their rights to stay put. And it is not the sheriff’s job to review the evidence, weigh both sides and sort the situation out.
That is a job for a judge.
Yes, what you describe is trespassing. I would start with getting the sheriff to enforce no trespassing against the squatters. They are not on a lease, then they have no right to be there. Or what gives them that right? They ought to have to show something.
If they have something (say a water bill) to satisfy the sheriff that they ought to be allowed to stay, then you would go through the eviction or unlawful detainer (I believe it is unlawful detainer not retainer) process in the courthouse and get a writ evicting the documented “tenants” (with scare quotes because no lease).
If they have a lease (because your state law gives squatters lease-like rights) then you have to go through the eviction process. Or “Unlawful detainer.”
If the police try to remove them they can state they have a verbal rental agreement with the old owner, and the police will probably not remove them. You will need to go through he eviction process with the person that signed the lease agreement. Your eviction notice, your pay or quit etc will state the notice is for the resident and all other occupants. So they are caught in the big net.
I have dealt with squatters in the past and they can be a pain for sure. I have had to evict like this in the past and if your in the apartment / mobile home / house rental business long enough, it just happens.
Remember- verbal agreements are enforceable. Hard to prove, but if they just say they had the right to be there, the court will decide who is right, not the police. They enforce laws, they do not decide guilt or innocence.