Idaho bill would protect homeowners from squatters

Idaho is taking new measures to make it more difficult for squatters to take over your home.

This week state lawmakers are looking at a bill that will allow landlords or homeowners to get in front of a judge within three days after filing a complaint against a tenant or a squatter.

Under the current law, landlords can only be granted fast-tracked evictions if their tenants are either not paying rent or using illegal drugs.

Greg Johnston is a realtor and property manager with Johnston Property Management said this is a serious problem in a lot of areas. He said he hasn’t had too many run-ins with squatters, but there have been a few instances he’s stumbled upon.

“I went to show the house and there was someone in there. They had been living in there for several days and even had kitchen utensils and food,” Johnston said. “They just found an empty house because they had nowhere to go.”

He said this goes beyond squatters, who usually pick an empty home, move all of their stuff in, and refuse to leave.

“The real problems we have are when people move in with friends, they are not on the lease, and we can’t get them out,” Johnston added.

He said folks will often times go as far as to change the locks to gain full control of a piece of property or a home they aren’t paying to occupy.

Most recently, a home on the 2200 block of Satterfield Drive burned from an unknown explosion still being investigated. But police later discovered squatters had been occupying the home after the homeowner moved out of the state.

This past year, a couple from Nampa had a nightmare of an experience after finding a stranger had moved into their vacant home and wouldn’t leave. Because of this, the couple brought this issue before state lawmakers.

Garret Durrant is the owner of Real Property Management and agrees with the proposed legislation, saying just for a simple eviction, that could take months and costs add-up to the thousands in attorney fees and lost revenue.

“This needs to be in place because, even if you’re selling a home, someone could go in there because they see that ‘For Sale’ sign out front and they could just go in there, and you can’t do anything about it,” Durrant said. “They’re just living there for months and it takes forever to go through the court process to get them out.”

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously agreed to advance the proposal. It must now clear the full Senate.