I had residential rentals for a long time. While I never had a squatter, I did have a handful of evictions.

I know Landlord/Tenant law very well. I play by the rules.
This means I win. Every time.
I win every time.

Might take a few weeks, but the end result is the same.

Get stupid and do something dumb, like take the door or cut utilities, and now you've lost.
Might take a few weeks, but soon you'll be handing over either a really big check, or the deed to the property to the squatters.

It's possible the squatters would leave quietly, but most likely they know the law is on their side.

A few weeks, ha! Apparently you are unfamiliar with how things go in California. No way they are out by the end of the year, unless you pay them to leave. God help you if any of them are on disability

I know a LOT of people that are selling their rental properties here.

These people are not tenants, they are guests. Tenants pay rent, these people have not. The host passed away, and they are not guests of the new owner.

A few years ago I came close to buying a commercial property in California.
Numbers looked great, should provide a nice income.
Before signing the dotted line, thought I should look into California's tax code.

Wow! What an eye opener. Took what looked like a real gold mine to break even at best.

Stunning scenery, pleasant weather, but no thanks. Too crowded for my tastes, along with the goofy politics and over regulation, I'm not interested in ever having any property there.

So, you're correct. I had rentals when I lived in Washington State, so that's the Landlord/Tenant act to which I'm familiar.

In NY let’s say a home owner dies and the house is vacant and the house becomes a crack den inhabited by squatters. Property goes to foreclosure sale eventually and my client buys it, with squatters. I have to evict the squatters. Squatters definitely have rights in NY and most likely all states.

It’s probably for the best anyway because you would rather have the sheriff do this dangerous work than go into one of these properties yourself

I had squatters living in a rental house in FL.
Evicted the renter, but he was subletting to a BUNCH of others.
County told me I HAD to keep the water turned on , but not the electricity.
I ended up paying all the squatters to leave.
Told them in 30 days you are out with no money, or you can leave now with some money.
They took the money and ran.

Zeke has the best advice.
Frustrating as it is, anything "improper" you do now will destroy your day in court.

(or put up flyers in Compton for a "all you can smoke" crack party) /s

You obviously have a better plan, we'll see how everything works out in six months or so.

But cereal, if i were in that situation I would probably just put the property up for sale as is and let the next schmuck deal with the low-lifes.

Why wait for the invaders to get out..

The thought of selling have cross my mind too. Rent control bill is going turn this place upside down. The last recession was held together by real estate. This time with he rent control bill, its going to get heavy.

Not only disability, but if they have kids, owner's gonna to pay.

This.^^^

Someone who actually understands the law...on Pelican? Stop the presses. :eek:

I cringe at the thought of someone dumb enough to actually heed some of the "advice" given on these landlord/tenant threads that pop-up here like perennial flowers. There must be a dozen of them, all basically the same.

Certain aspects of L/T law can suck for landlords when they get a particularly evil tenant who knows how to manipulate the system. Landlords always win eviction cases here if they are legit and the LL follows the law, though. Always win. Unless they are stupid enough to break the law and get caught for it.

Squatters living rent-free are most definitely one of the nastiest things for an owner to deal with. Someone asked why squatters even have rights? It is because from a legal standpoint, almost anyone living in a structure is technically a tenant. It's just the way that L/T law is written and it's for everyone's protection. It can suck but the stories of evil, cockroach landlords outnumber squatter stories 100:1 around here. So there is that.

A guy I know bought a house for cheap in Highland Park a few years ago, that is a quickly gentrifying area just north of DTLA. It was dirt cheap because of one little catch; the previous owner had started his own religion/cult based around smoking weed, (Rasta lite), and granted a 100 year lease to the cult he'd formed. He sold the house to my acquaintance and took the $$ and bounced, leaving the other losers in the house for the next owner to deal with. It could not be a normal escrow because of this and once again, the buyer got a steal on it.

The buyer was asking me for advice, crying about the cost of a lawyer, etc. Said that the lawyer wanted a $5k retainer before doing anything. "$5k?," I asked..."do you have the $5k?" He did but didn't want to spend it. I asked if he had tried to deal w the squatters himself, he had not. I told him to go to the bank and get a couple grand out and go over and feel them out. No reason for hostility, ( I thought it would be counter-productive), just see if they would play ball. Explain to them nicely that you bought the house and want to move in, you realize that this would cause them to relocate and that you want to compensate them for this.

For less than $2k, (I think it was $1200), they all packed up their bongs and scampered away to the next place. Hella cheaper than the lawyer and more effective. If it hadn't worked, he would have had to move on to other tactics but every one of them would have been more expensive and taken longer. Sometimes pragmatism works out. "You can leave w $$ or leave w nothing...up to you," seems to work for landlords a lot.

And L/T laws exist everywhere, it is by no means a CA. specific problem, as this thread illustrates.

Its easy to sit on CA, its all. That said, we do have some pretty screwed up laws that protect renters.

It takes money to get rid of someone. You are correct, pay now or pay more later. Still, renters aren't stupid, especially the bottom of barrel ones. They want more then a couple thousand to leave now. Word has gotten out.

You are ignorant of how much worse the laws are here than anywhere else. Apparently you missed Dantilla's second post, where he said he considered buying rental property, until he read up on the laws in California and discovered how much worse it is here for landlords, bad enough to make a deal that appears okay into a losing proposition.

Just watch what happens to the rental market in California over the next few years, as it goes from bad to worse.

the OP's central problem is he is not the legal owner (yet)

so, either let the lawyer clear that up or toss some tear gas in thru a window, then pick them off as they run out

Which makes me wonder if he has any duty to keep the utilities current. These are the questions I would be asking my attorney .

If he is declared the executor of the estate, yes.

Can ya still squat wif broken knees? Meet yer new housemate :)

edited....I meant to say...who is yer new housemate?

Apparently, Paris has some squatter friendly laws as well. At least if you believe that Kevin Costner movie where he was a mechanic.

He came home to find a large immigrant family living in his crib. They told him he couldn’t throw them out until spring as it was winter. And even if he went to the cops, they wouldn’t evict squatters as it was cold out.

Costner explained to them that he wouldn’t go to the cops, he’d just bust a cap up in their ass. Then later reconsidered and let them stay. They became his alibi I think when he went and killed some other people, so it was a win for everyone!

Ahh, the movies!!

what area of CA?

If I walk into my house and there are people there that I did not invite into my home I can shoot them and am 100% protected by the law. Just sayin’.....