Squatter moved in my Mother's Trailer and won't leave!

[pepper33]

My Mother who lives in Florida on Social Security , bought a trailer for her brother 2 years ago when he was diagnosed with cancer. As he got sicker, he asked a woman to move in with him and help take care of him at night as he had a home care nurse in the day. In exchange he gave her free rent. She was only there for 7 days before he was put in the hospital and then a hospice where he died 8 weeks later. My Uncle died 3 weeks ago and the woman refuses to move out and now has her 19 year old son who is on probation there too. They have never paid a dime, have no rent agreement of any kind stating they could live there or were taking care of my Uncle. My Mother felt sorry for them at first as they gave her a big sob story about having no place to go and that the woman was soon getting money on 2 law suits she has going and wanted to buy the trailer, which my Mother desperately needs to sell because she can't afford the lot rent. She agreed to let them have over a month to buy the trailer or move out. She even had to take a small loan out to pay July's lot rent for them. They have now lived there for 15 weeks totally rent free! To show their thanks, 5 days ago my Mother received a notice that they have taken a construction lien out on the trailer for $5500 for taking care of my Uncle--who was in the hospital 8 of the 9 weeks she lived there while he was alive, and supposed home improvements, none were made to the trailer. My Mother does not have the money for a lawyer, or even the many costs of eviction, which just went up more than double 2 DAYS AGO, in Florida. The woman said to me "You Lost, not only is the trailer mine but your Mom still owes me money". My Mother is not only heartbroken, she really felt sorry for this woman and her son, she is now totally financially broke. Can this evil woman really get away with stealing my Mom's trailer. All it took that woman was to file a $10 paper with the court and because my Mom doesn't have hundreds of extra dollars to pay all the many fees involved in the eviction process and fight the totally bogus lien, this con artist is going to get every undeserved thing she wants. In all the research we have done, it seems that the tenant has all the rights, and the landlord is responsible for all the costs. Please, if anyone can help us out and give us some good advise on how to stop this terrible mess. My Mother is the most giving, goodhearted person and this is tearing her life apart.

Your mother needs to do a few steps. She must challenge the construction liens with the court since no work was ever done or authorized to be done to the trailer. (This woman may have a friend who is a contractor and he wrote up some bogus bills.)

Next your mother needs to have this woman served with a 15 day notice to vacate. This letter should basically state that the woman and all other occupants have 15 days to vacate the property. Give an end date and state that she must be out of the trailer by that date. Call the clerk of court and ask how this has to be served to the woman. Most states do not require a process server. The notice may have to be handed to the woman, or taped to the door of the property. Some states allow it to be sent by certified mail or by regular mail. Ask the clerk what the legal method of service is there and make sure the woman gets this letter. (If it has to be hand delivered, one of the easiest ways to get them to open the door is to have someone dressed in a pizza delivery shirt with an empty box go to their door. For some reason, this works! They always think he has the wrong place and they open the door. Many kids who deliver pizza will do this for a few bucks.) Ask the clerk about any regulations on the 15 days (some states say these days cannot include the day it is served, weekends, or holidays). They may have other restrictions, but the clerk can give you all that information for free. Keep a copy of this letter for your records as you may need it to evict.

If she doesn't leave in 15 days, which I doubt she will, your mother should call around for attorneys or check with legal aide. Look for an attorney that specializes in evictions and who does them for a flat fee. You should be able to find one who will do it for a few hundred dollars. (She will end up losing more than that if she gets the trailer repossessed or allows the liens to stand.) Have no further contact with this woman - don't answer her phone calls or e-mails. You may want to try to help her with this because it is her best option. Actually the laws in FL are better than in many states for LLs. Tenants don't have as many rights there as in other places. Best of luck to your mother and please update us on what happens.