Bad caretaker, advise welcomed

[dobanion]

So, I have a place with a unpermitted structure I built. Initial plan was to make it livable but not fancy, and spend a few weeks a year there.

After it got put up, but not even close to finished (think no door or windows), I get a call from one of my neighbors. He had a "friend" who was living on a nearby lot, and it had been bought, and the new owner wanted him gone. Big mistake, I agreed he could crash at my place IF he kept a eye on things and acted as a caretaker, namely, keeping the weeds at bay.

Years on, I'm sure most of you can guess how well this went. He got lazy, quit working, doesn't do a damn thing (the weeds are 6ft tall 10ft away from the structure). I tolerated this for awhile. I called him "the devil I know," comforting myself that at least I didn't have a aggressive squatter. Couple of trips I even helped him load up a bunch of crap and took it to the dump.

Well, not one to know how good he had it, the "caretaker" just keeps testing my tolerance and patience. He bought a cheap car, that broke down, then another, that broke down, now I have a few of them on my property. He has his friends over, and my neighbors like to share the stories of them making noise all hours. He bothers my neighbors by asking for rides to town constantly, and has offered drugs as payment. One of the friends is a known (by locals and cops) as a thief, stealing various items from people in the neighborhood. Finally, I got a story that one of the broke down cars was on fire recently, and my "caretaker" was seen drunk in the yard, clutching a bottle of booze, watching the blaze while the neighbors called the fire department.

Essentially, I have had it with this guy. I now have good neighbors on both sides that have agreed to keep a eye on my place and call the cops if someone attempts to squat.

My plan at the moment is to write up a termination letter, telling him to vacate, delivered in person, and give him 30 days. I'm tempted to offer $500 contingent on no theft or vandalism to my property, obviously paid out after he's gone.

Any thoughts, advise, or stories are welcome.

[ChunksterK]

You can try to bribe him to leave, but I wouldn't count on it working because there is nothing comparable that is likely to be available to him. Formal eviction will probably be necessary because you have allowed him to stay there so long, and good luck with that. We finally got rid of the last of the squatters in our neighborhood who were in a foreclosed property. A powerful national financial instution went to court and got an eviction order in a matter of weeks, but thanks to there being no Hawaii County Sheriffs to process evictions, it took eight months on a waiting list for the Maui Sheriffs to come over and do the job. Not everyone gets such speedy service. Our mayor and legislative delegation do not consider property owners to have any rights because this situation has been going on since before Covid. And they wonder why rentals are so expensive and becoming harder to find. Rant over. I truly wish you luck.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

We had squatters in a neighborhood house.  One of the ideas tossed around was a stink bomb (homemade or Amazon).  It was never tried as police came by often enough to get them out.  There were no other houses in the neighborhood they could move to, so may not be advisable in your case should he decide to break into your home as an alternative living situation.  Also, your neighbors may not be happy if they are downwind.

[Punatang]

It sounds like he was reasonable enough to move to your place when the situation changed at his last "residence".  Very respectfully, change the situation.  Create a deadline. Offer to help with a load or two.  He may surprise you.

You could list it with a Realtor for effect.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you have some pretty cool geometry of the home. Realtors are bored right now.

Get orange tape and find your pins.

Ask for his help on all of these things.  Start expecting work to be done.

Brush hog the place to reduce privacy and potentially discover automobiles and other treasures...

If he's a natch shopper then a backpack sprayer full of anything but called "roundup" (vinegar and salt water even)  is enough to loosen his roots a bit.

Put the address on here and we can all go by and stomp around to "look at the property" and ask him buying  questions at all hours.

Call him every day with new developments.

Whatever you do, keep smiling and do it with aloha.

[dobanion]

We had squatters in a neighborhood house.  One of the ideas tossed around was a stink bomb (homemade or Amazon).  It was never tried as police came by often enough to get them out.  There were no other houses in the neighborhood they could move to, so may not be advisable in your case should he decide to break into your home as an alternative living situation.  Also, your neighbors may not be happy if they are downwind.

I have heard various things to the effect of what the cops can vs cannot do. As I understand it (and PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong), once I deliver a notice, with a timeframe, and if he's still there after that time, he's trespassing. At which point I cannot "evict" him with Hawaii county police, but I can report him as a trespasser, at which point they'll stop by and remind him. This sounds like a good plan to me.

As for doing it with Aloha, I do hear that. I have however, feel like I have been taken advantage of so far by using a little too much Aloha spirit with him. To that end I was thinking of offering him another option. If he can be ready to leave within 10 days, I'll offer the $500 plus moving assistance. I'll take you and your stuff and $500 wherever you want to go, handshake, best of luck to you.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

what the cops can vs cannot do.

Yes. In the situation I mentioned the squatters were always trespassing so the police continued to show up to tell them to leave.  The challenge was to call the police when the squatters were “home” and hope they stayed long enough for a non-emergency police response.  Sometimes the squatters ran out the door opposite from the one police knocked on.

I once paid a roommate to move out of a house on Maui.  Best $400 I ever spent. The amount you offer has to be large enough for them to realize there’s no way they could get that much money for doing nothing, and buy a few things they could never otherwise afford.  In my case, it was $400 in the year 1988.

[MyManao]

Any thoughts..

SWAT the place. Repeatedly.

[terracore]

I've known a lot of landlords who got put through hell by tenants that turned into squatters. And these were in states where the rule of law was enforced, something we don't have here.

The moral of each story they told played out the same: They wished they had bribed them sooner.

If I were in your shoes, which would be gross because my feet aren't just ugly they also sweat a lot, I would be frank and firm. Tell him that you have plans for the property that don't include him being there (you can invent whatever story you want if you think it will help) and you need him, and all his shit, out by whatever date, and ask him what kind of help he needs to make that happen because the date is firm. I wouldn't offer any money at the beginning because once people see dollar signs it's easy for them to imagine them growing and they will want more later.

After that, make regular visits to check on his progress and work on the place. You mentioned drugs and alcohol, so it might give you an advantage to run things like weed whackers earlier in the morning when he's normally sleeping it off or nursing a hangover. It will feel less like home to him. You can also get a progress report and assess your future actions. Meanwhile you're getting the property back in shape.

As Eviction Day nears you'll have a better idea to determine if he's really going to leave or not. If he mentions that money is the issue, offer him some empathy and suggest that money is tight everywhere and that's one of the reasons you need him gone and reference whatever story you told during the first visit if applicable. But if it seems appropriate, you can offer him a "loan" to GTFO. Of course you'll never see the money again, but he'll be less likely to be greedy and ask for more if he believes you don't have more to give him. And whatever you do, don't actually give him the money until he's out. Otherwise he'll blow it on drugs, he'll still be there, and you'll have a worse problem than you have today.

[Punatang]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^that sounds a LOT like post #4

[HiloJulie]

If you’re going to give him money, whatever amount you deem necessary, get the cash, wave it in front of him and immediately rip the cash in half. Give him one half and tell him he gets the other half when he leaves.