A man has taken possession of a $300,000 house in a suburb of Dallas for just $16, and while neighbors call him a "squatter," he is apparently in the home legally thanks to an obscure Texas law.
According to a
report in the Daily Mail, Kenneth Robinson found the abandoned house in
the upscale surburb of Flower Mound. The house was in foreclosure --
the owner walked away, and the mortgage company went bust.
After doing some research, Robinson found a law called "adverse possession," filled out the $16 paperwork, and moved in.
The
law states that if someone moves into the abandoned house, to get the
house back the owner would have to pay off the mortgage, then file a
lawsuit to remove the person living there.
Robinson believes the
cost of doing all of that would be prohibitive, so he thinks he is there
to stay. Under occupancy laws, if he remains there for three years he
can ask the court for the title.
"I want to be owner of record.
At this point, because I possess it, I am the owner," he told Dallas TV
station WFAA. "This is not a normal process, but it is not a process
that is not known. It's just not known to everybody."
Neighbors have called police to evict Robinson, but they say they can't because it is a civil matter.
"What
paperwork is it and how is it legally binding if he doesn't legally own
the house? He just squats there," Robinson's reluctant new neighbor
Leigh Lowrie said. "If he wants the house, buy the house like everyone
else had to. Get the money, buy the house."
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