We are also trying to raise awareness of the threat squatters can have on homeowners.

Please share; it may save someone from going through the pain we have.

THIS IS REAL, it is happening today to your friends and neighbors, and it can happen to you. If someone told me this could happen, I would not believe them. Unfortunately, it is very real, and as a homeowner, you have no rights. It is a nightmare; it can be mentally and financially draining and very dangerous. These squatters have a history of drugs, reckless behavior, and violence, and we are forced to live with them until the months-long process of eviction is over. The sheriff will not help because somehow this is all perfectly legal. This is happening to us, and we are paying the ultimate price for protecting ourselves.

1. They find a building to squat in for a period of 1 month. It doesn’t matter whether they signed a lease, broke and entered without the owner’s knowledge, or asked for permission to stay for a short time to get back on their feet. Vacation properties or rural properties are ideal targets, but any building not occupied for a period of one month will do. You wonder how it can happen to you? Go on vacation, work out of town, go to the hospital. The worst thing you can do is trust them to do the right thing.

2. Now they can begin their reign of terror with little threat of legal intervention, while the landowner begins to navigate the months-long eviction process.

3. First, they can use as much electricity as they want. They aren’t paying rent or utilities, but the landowner is not allowed to shut off electricity. Don’t think you are not the landlord just because you don’t have a contract. You are, and it's worse because you don’t have one. They can press charges if you turn it off, and they can sue you if they get hurt. They installed heaters and air conditioners in an uninsulated shed. They run a welder. My bills have hit $2500 a month!

4. Next, why pay for dumping when they can throw all their trash outside? In the words of the police, being a dirty person is not a crime. They defecate anywhere they want. It’s not their fault they didn’t move into a building with a toilet, and it wouldn’t matter if they did. If they need extra money for drugs, they can offer people discounted “dump” runs. Owners can't stop this; it’s a civil matter. The $16,000 bill from the county for excess trash will still be the homeowner's responsibility, but you can't stop it. You are forced to watch it happen. You can’t legally make them stop for months. It’s a civil matter.

5. They vandalize! But unless they are caught on tape and show their ID while smiling to the camera, there is no crime! Steal or destroy property, drop bags of nails on the road, sabotage the well: none of it is a criminal matter. They leave spigots going all week, draining our well and ruining our pumps. It’s a civil matter, and the Sheriff can't help.

6. They can threaten the homeowners. Apparently you can leave voicemails describing how they would cut our throats in our sleep. They can even use their own phone because that is not enough evidence for the sheriff to make an arrest. Because anyone could have picked up their phone and changed their voice to sound just like them. Duh!

7. They can bring dangerous dogs with them. They have had 2 litters while waiting to be evicted. They don’t bother feeding or caring for these animals in any way. They roam the property starving in search of food. They attack us, and animal control takes weeks to show up, then they deny they are theirs. So the burden is on us to deal with them.

8. They threaten to burn our house down if we follow through with eviction. But threatening is not a crime. They police say I need to call back if they actually do it. Never mind the neighbor's house mysteriously burned down after an altercation with them.

9. They can shoot guns constantly 50 yards from my house, because they live there. Apparently, it doesn’t matter one is on parole. But if they see the owner of the property has a gun, they call the police and tell them they felt threatened. The police show up with 4 squad cars ready to make an arrest.

10. They have escalated tactics as we get closer to the eviction date. They chased my husband down the road and slammed on their brakes trying to pin him on a one lane road while my high school age son was in the car, but luckily they got away. A few days later, they chased my husband down a dead end road on our property, and successfully pinned him. One got out yelling at my husband while intimating to have a gun under their jacket while screaming at him. My husband is not timid, and he absolutely feared for life. My son, seeing this while working with a plumber to fix the well that had been vandalized, sprinted after them and shot a warning shot when he saw that he was reaching for a gun.

I realize the Sheriff is trying to do their job, and there is nothing they can do to help because it is legal to squat in California. The taxpaying homeowner, unfortunately, has no rights for the property they worked hard for and is treated like a criminal. Squatters can threaten, vandalize, and steal from you, costing homeowners thousands of dollars a month, with little chance of repercussions. Of course, I can sue them, but they are homeless junkies, what good will that do? We shouldn’t have to live in fear. We need to be protected, and if we are not, we are forced to protect ourselves.

The police tell us constantly we need to have guns to in a rural area and should use them if we feel threatened. Unfortunately we are now facing paying with our lives for protecting ourselves. And still the squatters have had no repercussions. We are waiting for a judge to finalize the eviction, so I hope you are all prepared for when they need to find a new homeowner to harass.

Please share; it may save someone from going through the pain we have. If this does not make sense, you are not alone. These laws need to change. They protect violent criminals who know how to game the system and get away with it at the expense of law-abiding homeowners. Please help and pass this on.