Squatters?

[AaronM]

So while we are off island for my wife's cancer treatments, my neighbor tells me that 3 druggies have moved in!

I am in contact with HPD and the Sheriff but was hoping to get some anecdotal advice from anyone who has experience with this shit.

I have never wanted to be on an airplane this bad and if you know me, you know I hate to fly.

TIA

[dobanion]

Yeah, I know a thing or two about this. I decided to allow an individual to live in a "structure" on my property, rather than wait for someone to help themself.

Then somebody else decided to become his roommate, then started beating him up, so he could "claim" the property by "improving it." In this case, my allowed occupant filed a restraining order and that made the shady character take his leave.

Somebody is telling folks that if they move in and do some landscaping the property becomes theirs. Not so, squatters rights require 20 uninterrupted years of occupation AND they have to pay the property taxes.

I'd recommend you call the cops ASAP and declare them as trespassers. Do not attempt to confront them personally, anything that blows up is likely to be on you.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I don't have any experience with squatters, but in other matters I find it's best to provide the police with the specific law(s) that is/are being broken.  For instance, I had someone bounce thousands of $ in checks and when I called the police they told me they aren't bill collectors.  When I provided them with the checks and statement from their bank that the account was closed, and cited the law against writing worthless checks, they responded.

In your case - - trespassing, drug use, commercial sales of drugs from a property in a residendial zoned area,  etc.  Probably best to check with an attorney about the drug use on your property so you aren't held responsible in some way.  You could also claim there are more than 5 unrelated people on the premises.  If you give police enough charges to press, something might stick.

[terracore]

I'm sorry this has happened to you. We have a neighbor who has been off island for awhile and I've been keeping their place looking lived in, mowing, etc, and I walk my dogs down there every day to make sure it's still vacant. My plan is if I encounter somebody explain to them that if they don't leave I'm coming back with the police. And then call the neighbor and tell him he'd better get on the next flight over because I don't run an eviction service.

I hope you have a speedy resolution to this serious problem and I hope you will be posting a good outcome soon. What did the police say?

"squatters rights require 20 uninterrupted years of occupation AND they have to pay the property taxes"

There is general misunderstanding that paying property taxes opens the doorway for eventual ownership for a squatter, and in some rare cases that happens, but squatters have no rights. The adverse possession laws were intended to protect a person who believes they have legal right to the land, not to give squatters the perception of having rights that they do not. An example might be if my wife and I bought a house together, but only my name was on the deed, but we weren't legally married. Then I passed away and the wife continued running the homestead. After 20 years she could legally get the property transferred to her name because anybody claiming to be an heir had 20 years to try and claim an inheritance. Of course the property taxes have to be paid because the county would have already taken and auctioned the property long before the 20 years were up anyway. Another example is an elderly farmer who hires a ranch hand with the understanding that in exchange for services, the ranch hand would take over the property when the owner dies. There are plenty of examples for homesteaders, sharecroppers, etc. A third example is when a person is occupying land that they think is theirs but due to a misunderstanding, bad surveying, or some other reason it turns out the property wasn't actually theirs. This was more common when the government used to give land away under homesteading laws. A lot of the land was never occupied and developed as required by whoever got the land grant and if it was abandoned for 20 years whoever accidentally wound up there had a pathway to ownership.

[ChunksterK]

I have helped with such situations here in HPP, and I can offer some advice, but more information is needed.

Did you report this to the cops as breaking and entering or squatting? Hopefully, the first.
Did you give the police ALL the details such as why you're gone and how long?
Did you tell the cops in no uncertain terms you want these people out?
What did they say they would do?
Would your neighbor or someone else on island be willing to act as your agent?

If the cops won't do their job, and sometimes they won't, there is a form they can email you which you can use to designate an agent. The agent then has to go the police with the form, which I suggest be notarized. That usually gets things going.

[terracore]

I have helped with such situations here in HPP, and I can offer some advice, but more information is needed.

Did you report this to the cops as breaking and entering or squatting?  Hopefully, the first.
Did you give the police ALL the details such as why you're gone and how long?
Did you tell the cops in no uncertain terms you want these people out?
What did they say they would do?
Would your neighbor or someone else on island be willing to act as your agent?

If the cops won't do their job, and sometimes they won't, there is a form they can email you which you can use to designate an agent.  The agent then has to go the police with the form, which I suggest be notarized.  That usually gets things going.

This all sounds like good advice.  

Does anybody know if Hawaii County police will do evictions currently?  I understand that landlord evictions are not like trespassing/squatter issues (apples/oranges) but last I researched it, a landlord on the BI who needed an eviction had to privately hire officers from Maui to do it, and the cost was over $10k after paying for travel, per diem, wages, etc.

[Durian Fiend]

I have helped with such situations here in HPP, and I can offer some advice, but more information is needed.

Did you report this to the cops as breaking and entering or squatting? ..

Yeah, how did they get in your house?  Perhaps you know someone willing to go there and inform these bums that unless they vacate, the police will be coming to arrest them for felony breaking and entering.

[AaronM]

Thank you everyone, lots of great advice.

From the pictures I was sent, they broke a window so the B&E angle should work.

I had a premonition(and our return date is uncertain) so all the valuables like hard drives, documents, tools, etc. went into the storage unit. After today's appointment with the oncologist and a trip to the billing department, I am inclined to hope they burn the place down so I can collect the insurance money! Although there is probably some loophole that the insurance company would use.

At any rate I will try to post updates, whatever they may be.

[SBH]

So sorry to hear this Aaron, there’s a bunch of squatters around us too.

If I was you I would edit your last comment above about being inclined.

[terracore]

Thank you everyone, lots of great advice.

From the pictures I was sent, they broke a window so the B&E angle should work.
 

I highly doubt that they are squatting there without helping themselves to whatever they want.  Yes they are squatting but it's also a slow-motion burglary taking place.  They should have been arrested already.