An elderly man in Fairfax County is being forced to sell his longtime home because a squatter, who has lived in the residence for three years, refuses to leave.
The house, a simple five-bedroom home, is listed for $800,000 and stated that only cash offers are being accepted and that there is “NO ACCESS to see the lower level of the home,” adding it will be sold “as is only.” It also added that there will be “acknowledgment,” the listing said, “that [the] home will convey with a person(s) living [on the] lower level with no lease in place.” According to Zinta Rodger-Rickert, the listing agent, the additional person is a squatter who is using squatter’s rights and is taking advantage of an elderly sick man.
According to the New York Post:
“Three years ago, a woman was cleaning the senior owner’s house and she convinced him that she needed a place to stay,” Rodger-Rickert said. “So he offered her the basement, but then she never left. And she does not pay rent…It is essentially an individual taking advantage of a senior who is ill and currently in the hospital. He will likely end up in hospice.”
For the property’s current owners, an eviction process was too time-consuming and financially and emotionally draining. So Rodgers-Rickert offered to try selling the house along with the stipulation of basement tenants. The Fairfax housing market is highly competitive with a median sale price of $627,000, according to the real estate firm Redfin, so luckily for the elderly seller, the home is in contract after it received five cash offers, according to Rodger-Rickert.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think there would be this kind of interest in the property,” she said.
According to Newsweek, the broker said that she expects the new purchaser will start a formal eviction process. Would you buy a house with a squatter in it? There is high demand for the market and location the house was sold in, but I don’t think buying a house with a squatter refusing to leave would be something I’d be looking to deal with.