Can I sell a house with Squatters?

Question

I have a townhouse in clairton, Pittsburgh. (I moved to another state) I had a guy with a verbal agreement to live there and fix the place up a little so I could sell it. Well he did not hold up his end of the bargain, so I had him move out. The house was empty. After a few months he must of told his friend that the house was empty (and I was out of state) and gave then the key he stole.

Apparently they've been there for 3 months or so and I was able to get her phone number and was trying to be nice and give her the chance to leave willingly before involving police/court. She said she was going to leave but wants a month to do so. I don't know if I can trust her or if in a month she will change her mind or come up with an excuse to not leave.

police won't remove her for tresspass since she was given a key, even though it was by someone who had no right and wasn't even a tenant at the time.

I have trash and sewer utility bills in my name from them. Although they say they are paying gas and electric. I am not sure if thats true.

At this point I just want to be done with this property. They are trashing the place. Im too far away to deal with this and its getting expensive.

What is the course of action here? Can I just sell the house (with the squatters) to someone local that feels like dealing with it?

Can I sue them for "unpaid rent" and the ultities? Sewage in this town can be put as a lien.

Any advice greatly appreciated thank you.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

1. Can you sell the home with a squatter? Yes. You can also sell the home with a sink full of feces but expect fewer buyers with discounted prices. If you want to sell for a decent price, you need to clean up the issues.

2. Tell the squatter to get out immediately or you will take them to court for the unpaid rent, utilities, cleaning, damages, court costs, attorney fees, and everything else. If they leave now, they pay nothing.

3. If they refuse to leave, do what you threatened to do in #2 and get it over with, correctly.

Rachel Degennaro · Answer

Sorry you had to go through this as well. Crazy that people can just enter your house, have rights and we get left to pay and deal with it.

I would consider cash for keys but I rather just be done. When I lived closer it was fine, now that I'm across the country it doesn't make sense anymore. But will keep that in mine thank you.

Account Closed · Answer

I'm sorry you are dealing with this. What a nightmare.You will have a really hard time finding a buyer. No one wants to deal with that. And you can't show it while they are there.

I would hire an eviction attorney to deal with it, now. Don't wait for her to get back to you. She has already shown you what kind of person she is.

Once out, then you can fix it up and sell, or hire a local property manager to rent it out for you.

Crystal Smith · Answer

My first recommendation is to consult an attorney in the area where the home is located.

We have purchased homes with squatters in them.  The only reason we did it was because the numbers were good enough that we were willing to pay the additional cost to get the squatters our.  So the answer to your question can you sell a home with squatters is yes.

If I was in your situation I'd file an eviction notice on public record to get them out. The police will only move to get the squatters out if they get an order from the court.  I'd also turn all utilities in my name off on the property.  Once the squatters are out the property should be secured with something like DAWGS

Michael Smythe · Answer

@Rachel Degennaro if you sell with squatters, who won't pay rent and probably won't cooperate with an inspection, you will have to sell at a minimum of a 15-20% discount for another investor to assume your problem.

Melanie P. · Answer

Anyone who has the balls to obtain a key from a friend and move into a vacant house is not going to be concerned with threats of lawsuits, unpaid rent, utilities, etc. They steal those things and this probably wasn't the first time. They will act concerned and appear to want to work with you if you can just give them a little more time...

If you were local there are more tricks you could use to get her out. But unless you have some local muscle who can show up and deal with the cops, OP needs to hire an eviction attorney ON MONDAY tell them what's happened and pay what you have to in order to have the eviction completed and the LOCKS CHANGED.

Rachel Degennaro · Answer

Thank you, I wasnt sure if it was legal or not.

Melanie P. · Answer

Yes, you can sell it as is. Contact your local REIA or the Ugly Houses people for lowball offers.

You'll come out ahead getting them out with the law or with a bit of money than you will making it someone else's problem.

Suzanne Reinbold · Answer

That sounds like a nightmare! I had a similar occurrence. Have you offered her “cash for keys”? It seems wrong to give a squatter a benefit after you have been taken advantage of already. But if it works to get her out, it might be the least expensive solution. Banks often offer “cash for keys” in foreclosure situations.

Rachel Degennaro · Answer

I haven't yet, she was supposed to message me today when she got her work schedule so we could agree on a date and that's when she started getting rude about it. I'll have to wait till Monday.

personally I'd like to just sell and be done, I just can't find any info of whether or not it's legal. I called one of those "we buy houses in any condition" numbers and they told me they would buy it but I had to get the squatters out..

Can I sell a house with Squatters?

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